Assessment of a new non-invasive soil moisture sensor based on cosmic-ray neutrons

In this study, the performance of a new optimized scintillator-based cosmic-ray neutron detector called CRNSFINAPP for large-scale soil moisture estimation is presented and discussed. The assessment is based on the comparison to two commercial detectors commonly used for this application at two experimental sites and based on independent gravimetric soil moisture measurements collected at one additional irrigated cropped field. The results showed good performance of the new detector at all the experimental sites, with values well in agreement with the different benchmarks. Thus, this new detector demonstrates to be a valid alternative to existing cosmic-ray neutron devices. Considering its lower cost and the smaller dimension, it opens the path to wider use of this method in many applications.