IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v285y2023ics0378377423002299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating soil water and salt contents from field measurements with time domain reflectometry using machine learning algorithms

Author

Listed:
  • Wan, Heyang
  • Qi, Hongwei
  • Shang, Songhao

Abstract

Soil water and salt contents are key soil physical parameters that play a crucial role in soil-related hydrological, ecological, environmental, and agricultural processes. Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is commonly used to measure in-situ soil water and salt contents, and provide possible solutions to quickly obtain soil bulk density (BD). However, the measurement accuracy is greatly influenced by the interaction of soil water and salt contents on the measured soil dielectric constant and electrical conductivity, especially for salinized soils. To accurately estimate the soil gravimetric (GWC) and volumetric (VWC) water contents, soil salt content (TS), and BD based on the TDR measurements, we designed different model input schemes to quantify the effect of different soil factors, and applied eight machine learning algorithms to map the non-linear relationship between model inputs and each target soil property. Results of a case study in Hetao Irrigation District in Northwest China indicated that soil particle-size fractions (psfs) are important inputs to predict all the above soil properties. Furthermore, BD mainly contributes to the prediction of soil GWC, and soil surface temperature (T) is effective in improving the GWC and TS estimations. Among eight machine learning algorithms used, extreme gradient boosting (XGB) and gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT) showed good robustness and strong learning capacity. It is recommended to apply XGB to precisely estimate GWC and BD, which resulted in the coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.80 and 0.69, respectively. On the other hand, GBRT precisely estimated the VWC and TS with R2 of 0.71 and 0.84, respectively. The evaluation of spatial distribution characteristic indicated that it is reliable to obtain the spatial distributions of the above soil properties from the TDR measurements based on the recommended model input schemes and machine learning algorithms.

Suggested Citation

  • Wan, Heyang & Qi, Hongwei & Shang, Songhao, 2023. "Estimating soil water and salt contents from field measurements with time domain reflectometry using machine learning algorithms," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:285:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423002299
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108364
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377423002299
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108364?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feng, Zhao-Zhong & Wang, Xiao-Ke & Feng, Zong-Wei, 2005. "Soil N and salinity leaching after the autumn irrigation and its impact on groundwater in Hetao Irrigation District, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 131-143, February.
    2. Oates, M.J. & Fernández-López, A. & Ferrández-Villena, M. & Ruiz-Canales, A., 2017. "Temperature compensation in a low cost frequency domain (capacitance based) soil moisture sensor," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 86-93.
    3. Taweh Beysolow II, 2017. "Introduction to Deep Learning Using R," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-1-4842-2734-3, December.
    4. Chen Jun & Yifang Ban & Songnian Li, 2014. "Open access to Earth land-cover map," Nature, Nature, vol. 514(7523), pages 434-434, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qianning Zhang & Zhu Xu, 2021. "Fully Portraying Patch Area Scaling with Resolution: An Analytics and Descriptive Statistics-Combined Approach," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Hao Wang & Huimin Yan & Yunfeng Hu & Yue Xi & Yichen Yang, 2022. "Consistency and Accuracy of Four High-Resolution LULC Datasets—Indochina Peninsula Case Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, May.
    3. Jingyi Wang & Chen Weng & Zhen Wang & Chunming Li & Tingting Wang, 2022. "What Constitutes the High-Quality Soundscape in Human Habitats? Utilizing a Random Forest Model to Explore Soundscape and Its Geospatial Factors Behind," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Qing Yang & Zhanqiang Chang & Chou Xie & Chaoyong Shen & Bangsen Tian & Haoran Fang & Yihong Guo & Yu Zhu & Daoqin Zhou & Xin Yao & Guanwen Chen & Tao Xie, 2023. "Combining Soil Moisture and MT-InSAR Data to Evaluate Regional Landslide Susceptibility in Weining, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-34, July.
    5. Gang Lin & Dong Jiang & Xiang Li & Jingying Fu, 2022. "Accounting for Carbon Sink and Its Dominant Influencing Factors in Chinese Ecological Space," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, October.
    6. Hao Wang & Yunfeng Hu, 2021. "Simulation of Biocapacity and Spatial-Temporal Evolution Analysis of Loess Plateau in Northern Shaanxi Based on the CA–Markov Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    7. Huang, Ya & Zhang, Zhe & Li, Zhenhua & Dai, Danqiong & Li, Yanping, 2022. "Evaluation of water use efficiency and optimal irrigation quantity of spring maize in Hetao Irrigation District using the Noah-MP Land Surface Model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    8. Du, Ruiqi & Chen, Junying & Zhang, Zhitao & Chen, Yinwen & He, Yujie & Yin, Haoyuan, 2022. "Simultaneous estimation of surface soil moisture and salinity during irrigation with the moisture-salinity-dependent spectral response model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Liu, Meihan & Paredes, Paula & Shi, Haibin & Ramos, Tiago B. & Dou, Xu & Dai, Liping & Pereira, Luis S., 2022. "Impacts of a shallow saline water table on maize evapotranspiration and groundwater contribution using static water table lysimeters and the dual Kc water balance model SIMDualKc," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    10. Mu Li & Lingli Zhang & Yuanyuan Chen & Shuangliang Liu & Mingyao Cai & Qiangqiang Sun, 2024. "Construction of Landscape Ecological Risk Collaborative Management Network in Mountainous Cities—A Case Study of Zhangjiakou," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-28, September.
    11. Yunchen Wang & Boyan Li, 2022. "The Spatial Disparities of Land-Use Efficiency in Mainland China from 2000 to 2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    12. Guanfang Sun & Yan Zhu & Zhaoliang Gao & Jinzhong Yang & Zhongyi Qu & Wei Mao & Jingwei Wu, 2022. "Spatiotemporal Patterns and Key Driving Factors of Soil Salinity in Dry and Wet Years in an Arid Agricultural Area with Shallow Groundwater Table," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    13. Liu, Meihan & Shi, Haibin & Paredes, Paula & Ramos, Tiago B. & Dai, Liping & Feng, Zhuangzhuang & Pereira, Luis S., 2022. "Estimating and partitioning maize evapotranspiration as affected by salinity using weighing lysimeters and the SIMDualKc model," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    14. Zhang, Shaoyao & Deng, Wei & Zhang, Hao & Wang, Zhanyun, 2023. "Identification and analysis of transitional zone patterns along urban-rural-natural landscape gradients: An application to China’s southwest mountains," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    15. Chaoqing Huang & Chao He & Qian Wu & MinhThu Nguyen & Song Hong, 2023. "Classification of the Land Cover of a Megacity in ASEAN Using Two Band Combinations and Three Machine Learning Algorithms: A Case Study in Ho Chi Minh City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-27, April.
    16. Wei Guo & Yongjia Teng & Yueguan Yan & Chuanwu Zhao & Wanqiu Zhang & Xianglin Ji, 2022. "Simulation of Land Use and Carbon Storage Evolution in Multi-Scenario: A Case Study in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    17. Zhang, Huimeng & Xiong, Yunwu & Huang, Guanhua & Xu, Xu & Huang, Quanzhong, 2017. "Effects of water stress on processing tomatoes yield, quality and water use efficiency with plastic mulched drip irrigation in sandy soil of the Hetao Irrigation District," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 205-214.
    18. Ziqian Kang & Shuo Wang & Ling Xu & Fenglin Yang & Shushen Zhang, 2021. "Suitability assessment of urban land use in Dalian, China using PNN and GIS," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 106(1), pages 913-936, March.
    19. Myroslava Lesiv & Anatoly Shvidenko & Dmitry Schepaschenko & Linda See & Steffen Fritz, 2019. "A spatial assessment of the forest carbon budget for Ukraine," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 985-1006, August.
    20. Feng Zhang & Xiasong Hu & Jing Zhang & Chengyi Li & Yupeng Zhang & Xilai Li, 2022. "Change in Alpine Grassland NPP in Response to Climate Variation and Human Activities in the Yellow River Source Zone from 2000 to 2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:285:y:2023:i:c:s0378377423002299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.