Evaluation of Continuous In Situ Monitoring of Soil Changes with Varying Flooding Regimes

Abstract

To support investigations of flood tolerance occurring at a field‐based research facility, changes in soil volumetric water content, temperature, redox potential, dissolved oxygen content, and pH over the course of flood events were monitored. Electronic sensors connected to dataloggers for continuous monitoring of these parameters were installed, and soil redox potential and pH were also monitored manually for comparison. Soil volumetric water content showed that soils became saturated quickly following inundation. Soil redox potentials revealed a reduction of the soil with inundation; however, stagnant water treatments did not result in lower redox potentials than flowing water treatments. Similarly, dissolved oxygen content was not lower in the stagnant water treatment. The automated and manual systems detected similar trends in redox potential response to flooding; however, redox potentials measured manually were generally higher and significantly different from those obtained with the automated system. Anomalous readings were detected with the automated measurement of soil pH, indicating further need for improvement of this system.

Keywords:

• Flooding
• in situ monitoring
• long‐term monitoring
• redox potential
• soil inundation
• soil pH

Acknowledgments

This work was funded through the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry under cooperative agreements 58‐6227‐1‐004, 58‐6227‐2‐008, and 58‐6227‐5‐029 with the Agricultural Research Service. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The authors thank Dennis Meinert, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the Soil Characterization Laboratory on the University of Missouri–Columbia campus for assistance with soil characterization. We also to thank Ray Glendening, Eduardo Navarro, and Dennis Priest for their assistance with the installation of the automated monitoring system as well as manual monitoring.