From Research to Operations
AFBI Large Park, Hillsborough BT26 6DR, UK
24-26 September 2024
Background
AFBI is hosting this workshop at Royal Hillsborough, the site of a COSMOS-UK station since 2016, and also neighbouring the more recent Irish Soil Moisture Observation Network (ISMON), one of the first networks operated by a national meteorological service.
The cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) technique for soil water content measurement was established over a decade ago. Rapid adoption by the scientific community was in-part facilitated by implementation of national Cosmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing Systems (COSMOS), in the USA, Germany, Australia, and in the UK. As we continue to improve our understanding of CRNS, research applications of the CRNS technology are sufficiently mature to enable us to make the leap from research to operations and allow us to address key societal challenges and opportunities.
There are initiatives now that point towards operational use in the future due to the attractive non-contact field-scale (~12 Ha) footprint of the CRNS soil moisture measurement, which is difficult and inconvenient to achieve with traditional buried point measurements, and has previously limited our understanding of how the soil’s inherent heterogeneity influences environmental processes. We believe this is the right time to gather again under the theme 'From Research to Operations', as a community, to share knowledge and celebrate the successes of applications using the CRNS technology for the 7th International COSMOS Workshop.
Abstract Submission
We are grateful to the University of Bristol, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH, and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology for support in organising this workshop. The University of Bristol, with others, are also developing operational systems for irrigation management and leading efforts to establish a community-driven Global COSMOS observational platform, vital for improved water use efficiency in agriculture and natural lands for sustainable crop production in a changing climate.