Sensitivity analysis is critically needed to better understand the microwave emission model for soil moisture retrieval using passive microwave remote sensing data. The vegetation b-factor along with vegetation water content and surface characteristics has significant impact in model prediction. This study evaluates the sensitivity of the b-factor, which is function of vegetation type. The anal...

Currently used methods for estimation of moisture content in paper pulp are restricted to levels of moisture concentration under 90%. Some of the existing methods require less practical double-sided contact measurements. A few other methods make restrictive assumptions, such as the constituents of the pulp that determine its conductance. This paper presents a technique that uses fringing field ...

Stomatal responsiveness to evaporative demand (air vapour pressure deficit (VPD)) ranges widely between species and cultivars, and mechanisms for stomatal control in response to VPD remain obscure. The interaction of irrigation and soil moisture with VPD on stomatal conductance is particularly difficult to predict, but nevertheless is critical to instantaneous transpiration and vulnerability to...

Soil moisture is a critical hydrological variable that links the terrestrial water, energy and carbon cycles. Global and regional observations of soil moisture are needed to estimate the water and energy fluxes at the land surface, to quantify the net carbon flux in boreal landscapes, to enhance weather and climate forecast skill and to develop improved flood prediction and drought monitoring c...

The combined effect of soil moisture in unsaturated soil layers and pore-water pressure in saturated soil layers is critical to predict landslides. An improved infinite slope stability model, that directly includes unsaturated zone soil moisture and groundwater, is derived and used to analyze the factor of safety’s sensitivity to unsaturated zone soil moisture. This sensitivity, the change in t...

In regions affected by seasonal and permanently frozen conditions soil moisture influences the thermal regime of the ground as well as its ice content, which is one of the main factors controlling the sensitivity of mountain permafrost to climate changes. In this study, several well established soil moisture monitoring techniques were combined with data from geophysical measurements to assess t...

Moisture diffusion analysis (MDA) has been developed as a new non-destructive evaluation methodology to monitor the strength degradation of graphite-epoxy composite materials. Studies of composite strength degradation due to high moisture identify reversible strength loss due to current moisture content and irreversible strength loss related to prior moisture exposure with microstructure damage...

The sensitivity of microwave scattering to the dielectric properties and the geometric structure of soil surfaces makes radar remote sensing a challenge for a wide range of environmental issues directly related to the condition of natural surfaces. Especially, the potential for retrieving soil moisture with a high spatial and/or temporal resolution represents a significant contribution to hydro...

Currently used methods for estimation of moisture content in paper pulp are restricted to levels of moisture concentration under 90%, and also assume that there are no additives in the pulp. This paper presents a technique that uses fringing field interdigital sensors to measure moisture concentration in paper pulp in the presence of calcium carbonate. The method proposed in this paper uses sin...