COSMOS: the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System

Abstract. The newly-developed cosmic-ray method for measuring area-average soil moisture at the hectometer horizontal scale is being implemented in the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System (or the COSMOS). The stationary cosmic-ray soil moisture probe measures the neutrons that are generated by cosmic rays within air and soil and other materials, moderated by mainly hydrogen atoms located primarily in soil water, and emitted to the atmosphere where they mix instantaneously at a scale of hundreds of meters and whose density is inversely correlated with soil moisture. The COSMOS has already deployed more than 50 of the eventual 500 cosmic-ray probes, distributed mainly in the USA, each generating a time…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: EAR-0636110, 0636110, EAR-0345440, 0345440, 0126209, 0001191, 0126241
• DA
  David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• OS
  Oklahoma State University
• UO
  University of Bern
• EC
  European Commission

  Award: 213007
• AR
  Army Research Office

  Award: 43857-EV