Proximal Soil Sensing for Soil Monitoring

Abstract

The need for soil information is higher now than ever before. Agriculture and the way in which we use and manage our soils are being changed with the concerns over food security and global climate change. Mainly, soil data is necessary to be used in soil and natural resource management, e.g. for environmental modeling for a better understanding of soil processes and reducing risks in decision-making. Conventional soil survey cannot efficiently offer these data because the techniques are time-consuming and expensive. Proximal Soil Sensing (PSS), which has become a multidisciplinary area, aims to develop field-based techniques for acquiring information on the soil from close by, or within the soil. It can be used to monitor soil both surface and subsurface spatial and temporal information rapidly, cheaply and with less labor. This chapter reports on developments in PSS and its application in soil science and environmental assessment with specific attention to Iraq soils. It will review some of the technologies that may be used for PSS and proposes a framework for their use in Iraq soil and environmental monitoring. The chapter brings together ideas and examples from developing and using proximal sensors for applications such as precision agriculture and soil contamination monitoring, where there is a particular need for high spatial resolution information.