Sensing Soil Quality in Lab and Field

This page:

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
Spectral Library Approach
Reflectance Measurements
Test of Spectral Library Approach - Conclusions

Linked pages:

Spectral Library of African Soils
Spectral Library of Organic Resources
Sensing Soil Functional Attributes
Sensing Organic Resource Quality

Summary

We have developed a scheme for development and use of soil spectral libraries for rapid non-destructive estimation of soil properties based on analysis of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, using a commercially available, portable spectrometer. The technology is as simple as taking a photo, but digitally captures light reflection over hundreds of wavelength bands from the visible through the infrared (0.35 to 2.5 µm). A number of soil properties can be calibrated to the soil spectra including soil carbon, soil particle size distribution and various soil fertility tests. However, the greatest promise of the technique is in providing integrated indices of soil quality that relate well to sequences of soil degradation and enrichment in the landscape. The spectral library approach opens up new possibilities for modeling, assessment and management of risk in soil evaluations in agricultural, environmental and engineering applications. We also extend the approach to the characterization of resource quality of organic ameliorants used in soil management.

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
Conventional assessments of soil capacity to perform specific production, engineering or environmental functions rely on local calibration of observations on soil functional capacity (soil quality) to measured soil properties. However, soil analyses are expensive and dense sampling is required to adequately characterize spatial variability of an area, making broad-scale quantitative evaluation difficult. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, also called near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, is now routinely used for the rapid non-destructive characterization of a wide range of materials. Although soil scientists have investigated reflectance spectroscopy for several decades, the technology has not been taken up and routinely applied in soil studies. Our research focuses on the development of soil spectral libraries for application to risk-based approaches to soil evaluation that explicitly consider uncertainty in predictions and interpretations of soil properties.
Spectral Library Approach

We have proposed a scheme for the use of spectral libraries as a tool for building risk-based approaches to soil evaluation (Shepherd and Walsh, 2002).

The first step is to widely sample the soils from a target area and scan the samples through the spectrometer. The ability to rapidly and non-destructively characterize soils using reflectance spectroscopy permits thorough sampling of the variation within a target population of soils. The spectral data space is then systematically sampled to provide a small subset of soils for further characterization. Soil properties or attributes of soil functional capacity are then measured only on this selection of soils. These attributes can include laboratory measurements (e.g. aggregate stability) or field measurements (e.g. infiltration rate, crop response to phosphorus application). Calibrations are made between the soil attributes and the reflectance spectra. If, on the basis of cross-validation or holdout validation methods, calibrations are found to be insufficiently accurate for user requirements, the calibration sample size can be increased. The resultant calibrations between soil functional attributes and soil reflectance are then used to predict the soil functional attributes for the entire soil library and for new samples that belong to the same population as the library soils. Poorly described soils, whose spectra are not representative of the library spectra, are further characterized and added to the calibration library.In this way the value of the library is iteratively increased.

Reflectance Measurements

We measure diffuse reflectance spectra using a portable spectrometer (Analytical Spectral Devices) with a spectral range of 0.35 to 2.5 µm.

In earlier studies, air-dried soil samples werepacked into petri dishes and viewed from above using lamps (method details).

In current studies, we scan samples through glass petri dishes use a High Intensity Source Probe. With this method, a single operator can comfortably scan hundreds of samples a day.

We are also researching the feasibility of direct field use of the spectrometer using a High Intensity Reflectance Probe.

Test of Spectral Library Approach

We tested the overall spectral library approach for the prediction of several important soil properties and soil fertility tests using a spectral library of over 1000 African topsoils. We tested basic relationships between soil properties and soil reflectance, and investigated the response of prediction error to (i) variation in calibration sample size, and (ii) screening for library outliers when predicting new samples (corresponding to the decision nodes in the above scheme).

These are our conclusions

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Reflectance spectroscopy used in the laboratory can provide rapid and simultaneous prediction of several fundamental soil physical and chemical properties. Calibrations and screening tests for various soil properties and soil fertility constraints can be developed, based on a limited number of samples selected from soil spectral libraries, to an accuracy level that is typically acceptable for large-area applications. Even for site-specific management, the method would allow large numbers of samples to be taken from a field, which may give a better overall estimate of a given soil property than more accurate measurements of the property at a lower density sampling. The number of calibration samples required depends on the strength of the calibration with soil reflectance for a given soil attribute and the required level of accuracy. When predicting new soil samples, detection of spectral outliers allows the population of soils for which predictions are applicable to be systematically increased, thereby iteratively increasing the value of the spectral library. Computer programs could be developed for routine use of spectral libraries as an integral part of the spectrometer software.

A spectral library approach provides a tool for generalizing results of soil assessments that are conducted at a limited number of sites, and thereby increases the efficiency of expensive and time-consuming soil-related studies. The rapid nature of the measurement allows soil variability to be more adequately sampled than with conventional approaches and thereby facilitates risk-based approaches to soil assessments. For example, knowledge of the uncertainty in prediction of soil functional attributes, taking into account soil variability, allows users to make informed decisions about the trade off between the cost of the measurement and the risk (or potential for regret) associated with using the prediction.

Further investigations should test reflectance spectroscopy for direct prediction of a wide range of soil functional attributes for agricultural, environmental and engineering applications, both in the laboratory and field, and develop operational schemes for its use in risk-based soil assessments.Because soil reflectance provides an integrated measure of number of fundamental soil properties, such calibrations could perform better, and would certainly be more rapid, than pedotransfer functions based on conventional measurements of soil properties. Soil functional attributes that are often predicted from basic soil properties tested in this study include net primary productivity, plant growth response to soil constraints and ameliorants, soil erodibility, soil compressibility and shrinkage, water retention and conductivity, and capacity to adsorb wastes and pollutants.

The spectral library approach provides a coherent framework for linking soil information with remote sensing information for improved spatial prediction of soil functional capacity. Remote sensing of soil properties directly from space platforms is hampered by problems such as atmospheric interference, shade and shadow effects, mixtures of materials within pixels, and variation in soil moisture content. Studies on the effect of soil moisture content on calibrations between soil functional attributes and soil reflectance would help to evaluate the potential of reflectance spectroscopy in the field. Future studies should explore approaches that combine soil spectral libraries, and other geo-referenced information, such as from digital terrain models and field observations, with information from multi- and hyper-spectral remote sensing imagery (e.g. Shepherd and Walsh, 2002).

Methods and results of the test of the spectral library approach on 1000 African topsoils.