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Data Extent

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Data from: A field-scale sensor network data set for monitoring and modeling the spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture in a dryland agricultural field

Automated in situ soil sensor network - the data set includes hourly and daily measurements of volumetric water content, soil temperature, and bulk electrical conductivity, collected at 42 monitoring locations and 5 depths (30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 cm) across Cook Agronomy Farm. Data collection was initiated in April 2007 and is ongoing.

Description of data

Tabular data

CAF_sensors: folder with Daily and Hourly subfolders, each containing 42 '.txt' files of water content and temperature sensor readings.
Each file represents readings from a single location, indicated in the file name (i.e. CAF003.txt) and in the 'Location' field of the table.
Readings are organized by 'Date' (4/20/2007 - 6/16/2016), ‘Time’ (24 hr clock, only in hourly files), and with property (VW or T) and sensor 'Depth' as follows:

  • VW_30cm: volumetric water readings at 30 cm depth (m^3/m^3)
  • VW_60cm: volumetric water readings at 60 cm depth (m^3/m^3)
  • VW_90cm: volumetric water readings at 90 cm depth (m^3/m^3)
  • VW_120cm: volumetric water readings at 120 cm depth (m^3/m^3)
  • VW_150cm: volumetric water readings at 150 cm depth (m^3/m^3)
  • T_30cm: temperature readings at 30 cm depth (C)
  • T_60cm: temperature readings at 60 cm depth (C)
  • T_90cm: temperature readings at 90 cm depth (C)
  • T_120cm: temperature readings at 120 cm depth (C)
  • T_150cm: temperature readings at 150 cm depth (C)

Volumetric water content readings are calibrated according to:
Gasch, CK, DJ Brown, ES Brooks, M Yourek, M Poggio, DR Cobos, CS Campbell. 2017. A pragmatic, automated approach for retroactive calibration
of soil moisture sensors using a two-step, soil specific correction. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 137: 29-40.
Temperature readings are factory calibrated.

CAF_BulkDensity.txt: file containing bulk density values ('BulkDensity' in g/cm^3) for sensor depths at each of the 42 instrumented
locations at Cook Farm. Location is indicated in 'Location' field, and sample depths are defined (in cm) by the ’Depth’ field.

CAF_CropID.txt: file containing crop codes for each sub-field (A, B and C) and strip (1-6 for A and B, 1-8 for C) at Cook Farm for 2007-2016.
This is also part of the attribute table for 'CAF_strips.shp'

CAF_CropCodes.txt: file containing crop code names and crop identities, used in 'CAF_CropID.txt' and 'CAF_strips.shp'

CAF_ParticleSize.txt: file containing particle size fractions ('Sand', 'Silt', and 'Clay' as percent) for each 'Location' at sensor depths
('Depth', in cm).

Spatial data

All spatial data have spatial reference NAD83, UTM11N

CAF_sensors.shp: file containing locations of each of the 42 monitoring locations, the 'Location' field contains the location name,
which coincides with locations in tabular files.

CAF_strips.shp: file containing areal extents of each sub-field, stip, and crop identities for 2007-2016. Crop identity codes are listed
in 'CAF_CropCodes.txt'

CAF_DEM.tif: file containing a 10 x 10 m elevation (in m) grid for Cook Farm.

CAF_Spring_ECa.tif, CAF_Fall_ECa.tif: files containing 10 x 10 m apparent electrical conductivity (dS/m) grids to 1.5 m depth for spring
and fall at Cook Farm.

CAF_Bt_30cm.tif, CAF_Bt_60cm.tif, CAF_Bt_90cm.tif, CAF_Bt_120cm.tif, CAF_Bt_150cm.tif: files containing 10 x 10 m predictive surfaces for
probability (0-1) of Bt horizon at the five sensor depths.

Quality Control

The Flags folder consists of the files containing the quality control flags for the Cook Farm Sensor Dataset.

The nomenclature for the files indicates flags for either temperature (T) or water content (VW) and sensor depths. For example:

  • T_30 is for the temperature data at 30cm. depth
  • VW_120 is for the Volumetric water content at 120 cm. depth

Files starting with “missing” contain flags (“M”) for locations and dates (mm/dd/yyyy) with missing data (NA in original dataset).

Files starting with “range” contain flags for locations and dates (mm/dd/yyyy) with values outside acceptable ranges:

  • Soil moisture (0-0.6 m^3/m^3) flagged as “C”
  • Soil temperature (<0 deg. C) flagged as “D”

Files starting with the name “flats” contain flags (“D”) for locations, dates (mm/dd/yyyy), and times (hh:mm) with constant values (within 1%) for a 24 hour period, as in Dorigo et al. 2013.

Files starting with the name “spikes” contain flags (“D”) for locations, dates (mm/dd/yyy), and times (hh:mm) with sudden spikes in VWC readings.

Files starting with the name “breaks” contain flags (“D”) for locations, dates (mm/dd/yyy), and times (hh:mm) with sudden breaks (jumps or drops) in VWC readings.

Code (implemented in R) for the screening and flagging is included in “Code Snippet.txt”

A list of the sensor versions as of 06/16/16 at each location and depth.

See all >>
FieldValue
Tags
EARTH SCIENCE > AGRICULTURE > SOILS > SOIL TEMPERATURE
electrical conductivity
automated sensors
Modified
2022-09-14
Release Date
2017-04-04
Frequency
Irregularly
Identifier
250bee41-4d51-46b1-a7a6-1508e8240fcb
Spatial / Geographical Coverage Area
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Publisher
Ag Data Commons
Temporal Coverage
April 20, 2007 to June 16, 2016
License
U.S. Public Domain
Contact Name
Brown, David
Contact Email
david_brown@wsu.edu
Public Access Level
Public
Program Code
005:040 - Department of Agriculture - National Research
Bureau Code
005:18 - Agricultural Research Service
Extended Metadata: 
FieldValue
Authors
Gasch, Caley (ORCID)
Brown, David (ORCID)
Peer Reviewed
No
Intended Use
These data can be used for long- and short-term monitoring of soil properties across the farm, collected at high temporal frequency. Volumetric water data needs to be corrected with a site-specific calibration prior to use; a calibration has been developed and detailed in associated publications. Soil temperature and electrical conductivity have not been explored for accuracy and should be used with caution.
Use Limitations
Missing data occurs throughout (indicated by ‘NA’) due to sensor failure, logger failure, maintenance, field operations, etc. Soil temperature and electrical conductivity data have not been assessed for accuracy or calibration needs. Note that bulk electrical conductivity needs to be converted to pore water EC prior to interpretation (as in Hilhorst, M.,2000. A pore water conductivity sensor.SoilSci.Soc.Am.J.64,1922–1925).
Funding Sources
Agricultural Research Service
Primary Article

Gasch, C. K., Brown, D. J., Campbell, C. S., Cobos, D. R., Brooks, E. S., Chahal, M., & Poggio, M. (2017). A Field‐Scale Sensor Network Data Set for Monitoring and Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation of Soil Water Content in a Dryland Agricultural Field. Water Resources Research, 53(12), 10878-10887. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021307

AgID: 7308018
Related Articles

Gasch, C. K., Brown, D. J., Brooks, E. S., Yourek, M., Poggio, M., Cobos, D. R., & Campbell, C. S. (2017). A pragmatic, automated approach for retroactive calibration of soil moisture sensors using a two-step, soil-specific correction. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 137, 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2017.03.018

AgID: 5657520

Gasch, C. K., Hengl, T., Gräler, B., Meyer, H., Magney, T. S., & Brown, D. J. (2015). Spatio-temporal interpolation of soil water, temperature, and electrical conductivity in 3D + T: The Cook Agronomy Farm data set. Spatial Statistics, 14, 70-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spasta.2015.04.001
Dataset DOI (digital object identifier)
10.15482/USDA.ADC/1349683
Product Type
Dataset
FieldValue
OSTI Identifier
ISO Topic(s)
farming
State or Territory
Washington
National Agricultural Library Thesaurus Term
agronomy
monitoring
silt
sand
farms
spatial data
data collection
particle size
bulk density
water content
electrical conductivity
B horizons
soil water
soil temperature
electronics
Ag Data Commons Keywords
  • Agroecosystems & Environment
  • Agroecosystems & Environment
  • Water
  • Agroecosystems & Environment
  • Soil
Program
Long-Term Agroecosystem Research - LTAR
Cook Agronomy Farm

Suggested Citations:

(original article) Gasch, C. K., Brown, D. J., Campbell, C. S., Cobos, D. R., Brooks, E. S., Chahal, M., & Poggio, M. (2017). A Field‐Scale Sensor Network Data Set for Monitoring and Modeling the Spatial and Temporal Variation of Soil Water Content in a Dryland Agricultural Field. Water Resources Research, 53(12), 10878-10887. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017wr021307

(dataset) Gasch, Caley; Brown, David (2017). Data from: A field-scale sensor network data set for monitoring and modeling the spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture in a dryland agricultural field. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1349683. Accessed 2023-06-10.