Abstract
Soil erosion is a problem of global significance; yet obtaining data on rates of soil erosion is not straightforward. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) offers the prospect of improvements in estimates of these rates through better understanding of the movement of individual soil particles. We report on two laboratory experiments to measure the travel distances of surrogate soil particles during erosion events. In the first experiment, we used RFID tags that need to be placed within a reader for identification. In the second, we used tags with a booster antenna that allowed remote detection. The recovery rate of particles in the first experiment was 81.7%. Most likely, lost particles were buried by other moving sediment. The distribution of travel distances is well fitted by a Burr 4-parameter distribution which lends support to its use for modelling travel distances of eroded particles. In the second experiment, the average distance from which particles could be detected was 62 mm and the average error in locating particles was 17.9 mm. We attribute much of this error to the assumptions that the detection field is a circle on the ground with the reader at its centre, and that the same detection range exists for all positions of the reader. RFID is shown to provide insights into the movement of individual soil particles, but improvements are needed in both particle detection range and modelling of soil particle movement before the full potential of RFID for measuring soil erosion can be realized.
Highlights
Soil erosion is a problem of global significance
Reference [6] reported on real-time tracking of individual fluorescent particles in a laboratory study, and Reference [7] used Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders to monitor the movement of tagged artificial ‘soil’ particles in both laboratory
The need to physically locate the tagged particles in order to identify them and record is a weakness of this use of RFID for measuring soil erosion, and limits its practical application their travel distance is a weakness of this use of RFID for measuring soil erosion, and limits its to (i) the understanding of processes, (ii) studies of factors controlling rates of erosion conducted practical application to (i) the understanding of processes, (ii) studies of factors controlling rates of in the laboratory or controlled field experiments, and (iii) providing parametrisation for models of erosion conducted in the laboratory or controlled field experiments, and (iii) providing soil erosion
Summary
Soil erosion is a problem of global significance. Of the variety of agencies that may be responsible for soil erosion, water is a principal one. An estimate by Reference [1] put the annual global cost of soil erosion by water in excess of US$ 7 billion. 23) commented that to obtain estimates of rates of erosion “Emphasis should be given to measuring the distance particles are transported by splash, wash and rills in an erosion event.”. Because of their size and number, tracking the movement of individual soil particles has proved difficult in the past. Reference [6] reported on real-time tracking of individual fluorescent particles in a laboratory study, and Reference [7] used Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders to monitor the movement of tagged artificial ‘soil’ particles in both laboratory
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