The soil acidification model SMART2 requires 25 input variables for each point support location it is run. For the regional modelling of soil acidification, the model is run at a dense grid of point locations, and point support model output (aluminium concentration below the root zone) is spatially aggregated to values for 10 km × 10 km blocks. Monte Carlo analysis was used to assess the uncert...

tially variable soil properties that affect crop yield to better optimize crop productivity and to maintain the Crop yield inconsistently correlates with apparent soil electrical sustainability of agriculture. conductivity (ECa) because of the influence of soil properties (e.g., Site-specific crop management is the management of salinity, water content, texture, etc.) that may or may not influe...

Methodological development and tests were carried out in the Savukoski-Pelkosenniemi area and eastern Rovaniemi during the project ‘Novel technologies for greenfield exploration’ funded by Tekes. The aims were to develop or provide recommendations for suitable drilling equipments and methods that would enable the sampling of both basal till and bedrock at the same time, as well as stratigraphic...

This dissertation describes efforts to overcome the challenges in designing in situ soil moisture observation network. The surface soil moisture data collected at two spatial scales in a working field in Iowa throughout the growing seasons in 2004 to 2008 were used to describe the spatio-temporal characteristics of soil moisture at field scale. The rank stability analysis was used to identify t...

Satellite soil moisture products, such as those from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), require diverse landscapes for validation. Semi-arid landscapes present a particular challenge to satellite remote sensing validation using traditional techniques because of the high spatial variability and potentially rapid rates of temporal change in moisture conditions. In this study, temporal...

Land surveys of soil attributes can provide valuable information on the geographic distribution of important soil attributes and summarize the levels found. Landscape position can have a major influence on soil attributes. Consideration of field landscape variables in selecting sampling locations and interpreting results, even in large-scale surveys, should help to reduce unexplained variabilit...

BACKGROUND As a result of Hurricane Katrina, > 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and a significant amount of sediment was deposited throughout the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Researchers have identified the potential for increased lead hazards from environmental lead contamination of soils. OBJECTIVES We assessed the distribution of residential soil and dust lead 2 years poststorm a...

BACKGROUND The soil dwelling Gram-negative pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei is the cause of melioidosis. The diversity and population structure of this organism in the environment is poorly defined. METHODS AND FINDINGS We undertook a study of B. pseudomallei in soil sampled from 100 equally spaced points within 237.5 m(2) of disused land in northeast Thailand. B. pseudomallei was present o...

[1] The oxygen isotope contents (dO) of soil, xylem, and leaf water and ecosystem respiration were studied in a ponderosa pine forest during summer 2001. Our goal was to assess whether dO of CO2 could be used to quantify the relative contributions of soil and foliar respiration to total nocturnal ecosystem respiration. The dO in leaf and soil water showed enrichment over a 2-week sampling perio...

In this review, we examine house dust and residential soil and their use for identifying sources and the quantifying levels of toxicants for the estimation of exposure. We answer critical questions that focus on the selection of samples or sampling strategies for collection and discuss areas of uncertainty and gaps in knowledge. We discuss the evolution of dust sampling with a special emphasis ...