Testing a novel sensor design to jointly measure cosmic-ray neutrons, muons and gamma rays for non-invasive soil moisture estimation
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) has emerged as a reliable method for soil moisture and snow estimation. However, the applicability of this method beyond research has been limited due to, among others, the use of relatively large and expensive sensors. This paper presents the tests conducted on a new scintillator-based sensor especially designed to jointly measure neutron counts, muons and total gammarays. Theneutron signal is first compared against two conventional gas-tube-based CRNS sensors at two locations.
