Understanding Spatio-temporal Patterns of Soil Moisture at the Field Scale
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Since 1905, the Department of Agricultural Engineering, now the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE), has been a leader in providing engineering solutions to agricultural problems in the United States and the world. The department’s original mission was to mechanize agriculture. That mission has evolved to encompass a global view of the entire food production system–the wise management of natural resources in the production, processing, storage, handling, and use of food fiber and other biological products.
History
In 1905 Agricultural Engineering was recognized as a subdivision of the Department of Agronomy, and in 1907 it was recognized as a unique department. It was renamed the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering in 1990. The department merged with the Department of Industrial Education and Technology in 2004.
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1905–present
Historical Names
- Department of Agricultural Engineering (1907–1990)
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- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Engineering (parent college)
- Department of Industrial Education and Technology, (merged, 2004)
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Abstract
Spatial patterns of soil moisture across a field seem to exhibit some degree of temporal stability, which has been proved to be related to such invariant attributes as topography and soil characteristics. However, how these patterns and locations might be predicted from these attributes is not well understood. Motivated by a desire to understand these relationships, the objective of this study is to determine how elevation relates to underlying stable and consistent moisture patterns. The characteristics of temporal stability of soil moisture across the field have been analyzed during the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons for a 10-ha field near Ames, IA. Ordinary Kriging (OK) and kriging with external drift (KED) have been used as interpolation tools to estimate the spatial pattern of soil moisture across the field in each observing date. Temporally stable locations can be used to accurately predict the field mean soil moisture. Also, kriging predictions of soil moisture on un-sampled locations using OK and KED have no significant differences in the predicted soil moisture surfaces, but on their standard error of prediction.
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This is an ASABE Meeting Presentation, Paper No. 072108.