A network for measuring soil physical parameters

Abstract

The Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC) currently has a network of 14 automatic stations that measure the soil water content and temperature. These stations are installed in vineyards that have migrated to higher levels to search for more humid and colder climatic conditions (adaptation to climate change). Stations consist of various environmental sensors (rainfall, solar radiation, air temperature and humidity) and a set of sensors, buried into the ground at 5, 20, 50 and 100 cm depths, to measure water content and temperature, enabling to compare the environmental parameters with the physical ones of the soil. They are autonomous stations powered by solar energy that, through a modem, periodically transfer data to a remote database located at the ICGC headquarters. These data are displayed graphically and downloaded through an open web app, which also provides information about the soil where the station is located. Obtained data, in addition to compute the climatic regimes of soils, in the medium term will be useful to carry out hydrological and climate change studies; although for the latter, at least longer years of registration are needed, so it will still have to wait since because the first automatic stations were installed in 2017.