Abstract
Accurate and timely information on soil salinity is crucial for vegetation growth and agricultural productivity in coastal regions. This study investigates the potential of using Wifi POGO, an in situ electromagnetic sensor, for soil salinity assessment over saline coastal regions in eastern China. The sensor readings, soil moisture, and temperature-corrected apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) were used to generate models for EC1:5 (a surrogate for soil salinity) estimation. Two salty areas with distinct soil textures, sandy loam (Shuntai) and clay (Dongxin), were selected. This study revealed that the difference between soil salinity and the in situ measured soil ECa (i.e., EC1:5-ECa) had a strong curvilinear relationship with soil moisture. Such a relationship allows for the direct estimation of soil salinity from soil ECa with the aid of soil moisture information. Both ECa and soil moisture can be measured in situ using a Wifi POGO, a low-cost ground-based soil sensor. By using the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV), the achieved root mean square error (RMSE) and relative RMSE (RRMSE) in EC1:5 estimation were 0.0109 S/m and 19.24% respectively in Shuntai, and 0.0157 S/m and 16.05%, in Dongxin. This new method offers a simple, cost-effective and reliable tool for assessing soil salinity in dynamic coastal regions.
Highlights
Soil salinization is a widespread and serious issue worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid inland areas and humid coastal regions
This study investigated the potential of using Wifi POGO (Stevens Water Monitoring Systems, Inc., Portland, OR, USA), a low-cost ground-based portable wireless electromagnetic soil sensor, for accurate soil salinity estimation
Results from this study revealed that EC1:5 exhibited positive correlations with in situ measured electrical conductivity (ECa) in both study areas (Figure 2)
Summary
Soil salinization is a widespread and serious issue worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid inland areas and humid coastal regions. Salt-affected areas cover about one billion hectares, approximately 7% of the earth’s continental surface [1]. In addition to these natural salt-affected areas, there are 77 million hectares of salinized land, resulting from human activities, especially in fields that are extensively irrigated with bad-quality water and are poorly drained [2]. Soil salinity affects plants through osmotic stress and ion toxicity [4]. Keeping track of changes in soil salinity can help making well-informed management decisions to reduce salinity-induced stress on plants [2]
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