Pages: 29 -37

Authors: Senada AVDIĆ

Abstract

This paper is focused on the space and temporal variability of soil moisture experimental data acquired at a few locations near landmine fields in the Tuzla Canton, as well as on the quantification of the statistical nature of soil moisture data on a small spatial scale. Measurements of soil water content at the surface were performed by an electromagnetic sensor over 1, 25, and 100 m 2 grids, at intervals of 0.2, 0.5, and 1 m, respectively. The sampling of soil moisture at different spatial resolutions and over different grid sizes has been investigated in order to achieve the quantification of the statistical nature of soil moisture distribution. The statistical characterization of spatial variability was performed through variogram and correlogram analysis of measurement results. The temporal variability of the said samples was examined over a two-season period. For both sampling periods, the spatial correlation length is about 1 to 2 m, respectively, or less. Thus, sampling should be done on a larger spatial scale, in order to capture the variability of the investigated areas. Since the characteristics of many landmine sensors depend on soil moisture, the results of this study could form a useful database for multisensor landmine detection systems with a promising performance.

Key words: landmine, neutron backscattering technique, soil moisture, spatial and temporal
variability, variogram, correlogram

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