Summary
This paper documents the establishment and first year of operation (April 2016–April 2017) of the Raam soil moisture monitoring network in the Netherlands, comprising 12 stations within the Raam catchment and 5 within the Hooge Raam sub-catchment. The network uses Decagon 5TM sensors with soil-specific laboratory calibration functions and provides spatially distributed, multi-depth measurements to support water management decisions and validation of earth observation and hydrological models in a region experiencing both summer water stress and winter excess precipitation. The dataset and associated meteorological, hydrogeological and soil characterisation data are made publicly available for scientific research.
UK applicability
The monitoring methodology and sensor calibration protocols are directly applicable to UK conditions, particularly for agricultural regions facing similar water availability challenges from climate variability. UK water managers and researchers could adopt or adapt this network design for catchment-scale water resource assessment and model validation.
Key measures
Soil moisture content (m³ m⁻³) at depths of 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 cm; soil temperature; phreatic groundwater levels; meteorological data; sensor calibration accuracy (0.02 m³ m⁻³)
Outcomes reported
The study established and described a soil moisture profile monitoring network across 15 fields (14 agricultural and 1 natural grassland) in the Raam region, Netherlands, equipped with sensors measuring soil moisture and temperature at five depths. The network provides calibrated in situ measurements for water availability assessment and validation of remote sensing and modelling products.
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