Using Soil Moisture Measured by the Cosmic Ray Neutron Probe in Hydrological Models

Abstract

Scattered neutrons which occur as a result of the collision between cosmic rays and the Earth surface, lose their energy when they come into contact with hydrogen. The soil moisture of a region can be determined with high success by counting these neutrons with reduced energy. Cosmic ray neutron probe (CRNP) works using this principle, it was first tested in Turkey at Çakıt basin and the results are presented in this study. CRNP can continuously provide soil moisture information for an area with a diameter of approximately 670 meters, thus, constitutes an important alternative for hydrological studies that require soil moisture data with high spatial and temporal resolution. Between 11 November 2016 and 01 July 2019, regular hourly data were obtained with CRNP, and it was determined that the data has very consistent results with the time domain reflectometer (TDR) located in the study area. NAM, which is a lumped conceptual model, helps determining the effects of hydrological variables on the discharge outputs. In this study, soil moisture data obtained with CRNP were used to improve the NAM conceptual model and Kling-Gupta Efficiency score for the discharge data of Çakıt Basin increased from 0.56(Calibration) and 0.42(Validation) to 0.81(Calibration) and 0.64(Validation). Similar improvements were noted for most of the statistical measures for both Çakıt Basin and Darboğaz sub-basin.

Keywords

• Cosmic Ray Neutron Probe
• CRNP
• Soil Moisture
• Conceptual Hydrological Model

Kozmik Işın Nötron Sayacı ile Ölçülen Toprak Neminin Hidrolojik Modellerde Kullanımı

Abstract

Kozmik ışınlar yeryüzüne çarptığında ortaya çıkan nötronlar hidrojen ile temas ettiklerinde enerjilerini kaybetmektedirler. Enerjisi azalmış nötronlar sayılarak bir bölgenin toprak nemi yüksek başarı ile tespit edilebilmektedir. Bu prensip ile çalışan kozmik ışın nötron sayacı (CRNP) ülkemizde ilk olarak Niğde-Çakıt havzasında denenmiş ve elde edilen sonuçlar bu çalışmada sunulmuştur. Yaklaşık 670 metre çapında bir alan için toprak nemi bilgisini sürekli olarak sağlayabilen CRNP, yüksek mekânsal ve zamansal çözünürlükte toprak nemi verisine ihtiyaç duyan hidrolojik çalışmalar için önemli bir alternatif oluşturmaktadır. 11 Kasım 2016 ile 01 Temmuz 2019 tarihleri arasında, CRNP ile saatlik olarak düzenli veri temini yapılmış olup, elde edilen verilerin aynı bölgede bulunan zaman alanı reflektometresi (TDR) cihazıyla da çok uyumlu sonuçlar verdiği tespit edilmiştir. Biriktirmeli kavramsal bir model olan NAM modeli ile hidrolojik değişkenlerin akıma olan etkileri belirlenebilmektedir. Bu çalışmada CRNP ile elde edilen toprak nemi verileri NAM kavramsal modelinin iyileştirilmesinde kullanılmış, modelin kalibrasyonunda toprak nemi verilerinin de dikkate alınmasıyla Çakıt Havzası debi verileri için Kling-Gupta Verimlilik skoru 0,56(Kalibrasyon) ve 0,42(Doğrulama)'dan 0,81(Kalibrasyon) ve 0,64(Doğrulama)'ya yükselmiştir. Hem Çakıt Havzası hem de Darboğaz Alt Havzası için istatistiksel ölçütlerin çoğunda benzer gelişmeler kaydedilmiştir.

Keywords

• Kozmik Işın Nötron Sayacı
• CRNP
• Toprak Nemi
• Kavramsal Hidrolojik Model

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