More soil moisture information at your fingertips

The new and improved Agriculture Victoria soil moisture monitoring website shows data from the 36 Agriculture Victoria soil moisture probe sites (17 crop and 19 pasture) across various locations and agricultural industries. Soil moisture and temperature to depth are measured hourly at each site, so data is available from the last time they were uploaded from the paddock. The site also provides some information on soil type/texture and pasture or crop species.

The improved search function will allow farmers to distinguish between crop types being monitored, pasture types, soil types and locations, all of which influence soil moisture. The new website has been funded by the Dry Seasonal Conditions program. It is a great asset because the reporting function will be valuable in all years, not just dry seasons. The top view of the landing page showing the site locations is shown in Figure 5.

The summary information you see first for a site is shown in Figure 6. In this example, moisture has infiltrated down to 50cm this season. Although 0 to 20cm was saturated in mid-winter, limited rain in July saw the topsoil drying. Soil temperature is 4.2 °C at 10cm, following a big frost that morning (27 July). Moisture is 55 per cent, compared with 80 per cent at this time last year. The seasonal outlook model forecasts are also shown for the next three months. Detailed daily soil moisture and temperature graphs are also provided at each soil depth, from 2018.

To receive updates on what is going on (above and below ground) at these sites and some more detailed interpretation, subscribe to the soil moisture monitoring e-newsletter – one is produced for crops and one for pastures. Subscription is easy from the Soil Moisture Monitoring site.