Assessing the suitability of proximal soil sensors for peat characterization

TY - ABST

T1 - Assessing the suitability of proximal soil sensors for peat characterization

AU - Koganti, Triven

AU - Adetsu, Diana Vigah

AU - Henrion, Maud

AU - Beucher, Amélie Marie

AU - Lambot, Sébastien

AU - Greve, Mogens Humlekrog

PY - 2024/9

Y1 - 2024/9

N2 - Thanks to technological advances in the 21st century, proximal soil sensors (PSS) are becoming increasingly popular to augment tedious soil sampling and laboratory analysis procedures as they become more affordable and easy to deploy. However, challenges remain in managing expectations of their suitabilities and limitations due to the lack of a framework, and numerous resources can be wasted without acknowledging this. Hence, more research is warranted in this direction. For degraded peatlands, a thorough assessment of their inventory, especially the carbon stocks, water table levels, and geological setting, is necessary to plan and initiate rewetting strategies, as their restoration is crucial for slowing global warming. Here, we demonstrate a succinct overview of our experience and recommend best practices for characterizing different types of peatlands (bogs vs. fens) using on-the-go electromagnetic methods, specifically, electromagnetic induction (EMI), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and gamma-ray spectroscopy (GR). Our results suggest that an EMI sensor proved superior in the three-dimensional (3D) characterization of fens, and GPR is promising for delineating the peat thickness in bogs. However, deploying these sensors in a peatland environment can be difficult due to the need for surveying with close contact with the ground. A GR sensor proved to be an excellent resource as it can easily be mobilized using an unmanned aerial vehicle and provided remarkable results for demarcating the spatial extent of the peatlands. It is especially beneficial in delineating agricultural peatlands where optical sensors might be unsuitable due to atypical vegetation types. All in all, the knowledge of the peatland type manifests itself to dictate the sensors’ success rate thereby holding decisive information for sensor choice. In general, we recommend performing PSS surveys following a hierarchal approach, i.e., conducting the GR surveys first for spatial extent delineation, followed by EMI surveys for 3D mapping and comprehension of geological setting and hydrology, and then finally with a GPR for a high-resolution mapping of peat thickness. This is because EMI surveys are generally less expensive, easy to analyze and more importantly, are also useful for assessing GPR land suitability.

AB - Thanks to technological advances in the 21st century, proximal soil sensors (PSS) are becoming increasingly popular to augment tedious soil sampling and laboratory analysis procedures as they become more affordable and easy to deploy. However, challenges remain in managing expectations of their suitabilities and limitations due to the lack of a framework, and numerous resources can be wasted without acknowledging this. Hence, more research is warranted in this direction. For degraded peatlands, a thorough assessment of their inventory, especially the carbon stocks, water table levels, and geological setting, is necessary to plan and initiate rewetting strategies, as their restoration is crucial for slowing global warming. Here, we demonstrate a succinct overview of our experience and recommend best practices for characterizing different types of peatlands (bogs vs. fens) using on-the-go electromagnetic methods, specifically, electromagnetic induction (EMI), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and gamma-ray spectroscopy (GR). Our results suggest that an EMI sensor proved superior in the three-dimensional (3D) characterization of fens, and GPR is promising for delineating the peat thickness in bogs. However, deploying these sensors in a peatland environment can be difficult due to the need for surveying with close contact with the ground. A GR sensor proved to be an excellent resource as it can easily be mobilized using an unmanned aerial vehicle and provided remarkable results for demarcating the spatial extent of the peatlands. It is especially beneficial in delineating agricultural peatlands where optical sensors might be unsuitable due to atypical vegetation types. All in all, the knowledge of the peatland type manifests itself to dictate the sensors’ success rate thereby holding decisive information for sensor choice. In general, we recommend performing PSS surveys following a hierarchal approach, i.e., conducting the GR surveys first for spatial extent delineation, followed by EMI surveys for 3D mapping and comprehension of geological setting and hydrology, and then finally with a GPR for a high-resolution mapping of peat thickness. This is because EMI surveys are generally less expensive, easy to analyze and more importantly, are also useful for assessing GPR land suitability.

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

T2 - Global symposium on soil information and data

Y2 - 25 September 2024 through 28 September 2024

ER -