Print Email Facebook Twitter A distributed-temperature-sensing-based soil temperature profiler Title A distributed-temperature-sensing-based soil temperature profiler Author Schilperoort, B. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing; Netherlands eScience Center) JIMENEZ RODRIGUEZ, C.D. (TU Delft Water Resources; Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) van de Wiel, B.J.H. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing) Coenders-Gerrits, Miriam (TU Delft Water Resources) Date 2024 Abstract Storage change in heat in the soil is one of the main components of the energy balance and is essential in studying the land-Atmosphere heat exchange. However, its measurement proves to be difficult due to (vertical) soil heterogeneity and sensors easily disturbing the soil. Improvements in the precision and resolution of distributed temperature sensing (DTS) equipment has resulted in its widespread use in geoscientific studies. Multiple studies have shown the added value of spatially distributed measurements of soil temperature and soil heat flux. However, due to the spatial resolution of DTS measurements (g1/430gcm), soil temperature measurements with DTS have generally been restricted to (horizontal) spatially distributed measurements. This paper presents a device which allows high-resolution measurements of (vertical) soil temperature profiles by making use of a 3D-printed screw-like structure. A 50gcm tall probe is created from segments manufactured with fused-filament 3D printing and has a helical groove to guide and protect a fiber-optic (FO) cable. This configuration increases the effective DTS measurement resolution and will inhibit preferential flow along the probe. The probe was tested in the field, where the results were in agreement with the reference sensors. The high vertical resolution of the DTS-measured soil temperature allowed determination of the thermal diffusivity of the soil at a resolution of 2.5gcm, many times better than what is feasible using discrete probes. A future improvement in the design could be the use of integrated reference temperature probes, which would remove the need for DTS calibration baths. This could, in turn, support making the probes "plug and play"into the shelf instruments without the need to splice cables or experience in DTS setup design. The design can also support the integration of an electrical conductor into the probe and allow heat tracer experiments to derive both the heat capacity and the thermal conductivity over depth at high resolution. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:12832728-576f-479b-956b-7fcf59191019 DOI https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-85-2024 ISSN 2193-0856 Source Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, 13 (1), 85-95 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 B. Schilperoort, C.D. JIMENEZ RODRIGUEZ, B.J.H. van de Wiel, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits Files PDF gi-13-85-2024.pdf 6.45 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:12832728-576f-479b-956b-7fcf59191019/datastream/OBJ/view