Influence of Bound-Water Relaxation Frequency on Soil Moisture Measurements

In this paper, microwave remote sensing, together with in situ moisture probes, is used to investigate temperature effects on the soil dielectric constant. Field and specific laboratory measurements were performed for different soil water content over a wide range of temperatures. The experimental results lead to the following evidences: (1) temperature effect is different for bound and free waters in soil; (2) bound-water relaxation frequency falls within the range of frequencies that are used by impedance soil moisture probes for field measurements; and (3) the increase of bound-water relaxation frequency with soil temperature interferes in a significant way with moisture measurements when bound-water fraction is important. These results have implications in field experimentation since most moisture sensors operate under 500 MHz and are affected by this phenomena of relaxation.