At the Soil Health Interpretive Centre, soil weighing lysimeters and soil water sensors are used to quantify water balance components of precipitation, evapotranspiration, drainage, and soil water content. The water balance data collected from the lysimeters is used to determine the effects of a diverse vs conventional crop rotation and the effects of a warmer climate on the hydrological cycle of agro-ecosystems.
The lysimeters are equipped with a high precision weighing system (Vishay load cell with Nobel Weighing Systems AST 3P) that can detect changes in the mass of the soil column with an accuracy of +/- 10 g. Increases in the soil core weight corresponds to precipitation events, and increases in the weight of the drainage tank provides information about the rate of soil drainage and nutrient leaching. Decreases in lysimeter weight reflects the amount of water lost to evapotranspiration. Additionally, soil water sensors (UMS T8 Tensiometer) are used to obtain information about matric potential and the movement of water in the soil.
Follow this link to access the complete lysimeter data set.