Top Five Blog Posts in 2017
In case you missed them the first time around, here are the most popular Environmental Biophysics.org blog posts in 2017.
Soil Moisture Sensors: Why TDR vs. Capacitance May Be Missing the Point
Soil moisture sensor
Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) vs. capacitance is a common question for scientists who want to measure volumetric water content (VWC) of soil, but is it the right question? Dr. Colin S. Campbell, soil scientist, explains some of the history and technology behind TDR vs. capacitance and the most important questions scientists need to ask before investing in a sensor system. Read more…
Get More From your NDVI Sensor
Modern technology has made it possible to sample Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across a range of scales both in space and in time, from satellites sampling the entire earth’s surface to handheld small sensors that measure individual plants or even leaves. Read more…
Improved Methods Save Money in Future Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Design
Globally, the gap between the energy production and consumption is growing wider. To promote sustainability, University of California San Diego PhD candidate and ASCE GI Sustainability in Geotechnical Engineering committee member, Tugce Baser, Dr. John McCartney, Associate Professor, and their research team, Dr. Ning Lu, Professor at Colorado School of Mines and Dr. Yi Dong, Postdoctoral Researcher at Colorado School of Mines, are working on improving methods for borehole thermal energy storage (BTES), a system which stores solar heat in the soil during the summer months for reuse in homes during the winter. Read more…
New Weather Station Technology in Africa
Weather data, used for flight safety, disaster relief, crop and property insurance, and emergency services, contributes over $30 billion in direct value to U.S. consumers annually. Since the 1990’s in Africa, however, there’s been a consistent decline in the availability of weather observations. Read more…
Electrical Conductivity of Soil as a Predictor of Plant Response
Plants require nutrients to grow, and if we fail to supply the proper nutrients in the proper concentrations, plant function is affected. Fertilizer in too high concentration can also affect plant function, and sometimes is fatal. Read more…
And our three most popular blogs of all time:
Estimating Relative Humidity in Soil: How to Stop Doing it Wrong
Estimating the relative humidity in soil? Most people do it wrong…every time. Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell shares a lesson on how to correctly estimate soil relative humidity from his new book, Soil Physics with Python, which he recently co-authored with Dr. Marco Bittelli. Read more…
How to Measure Water Potential
In the conclusion of our three-part water potential series, we discuss how to measure water potential—different methods, their strengths, and their limitations. Read more…
Do the Standards for Field Capacity and Permanent Wilting Point Need to be Reexamined?
We were inspired by this Freakonomics podcast, which highlights the book, This Idea Must Die: Scientific Problems that are Blocking Progress, to come up with our own answers to the question: Which scientific ideas are ready for retirement? We asked scientist, Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell, which scientific idea he thinks impedes progress. Here’s what he had to say about the standards for field capacity and permanent wilting point. Read more…
Get info on applied environmental research in our
See weather sensor performance data for the ATMOS 41 weather station.
Explore which weather station is right for you.
Download the “Researcher’s complete guide to soil moisture”—>
