Application of cosmic‐ray neutron probes for measuring soil moisture in rocky areas of the Taihang Mountains, North China

The cosmic‐ray neutron probe (CRNP) is a mesoscale and noninvasive method for measuring soil moisture and has been widely studied and applied. However, studies of its applicability in rocky mountainous areas are still challenging in complex topography and high gravel content. In this study, a field experiment was carried out to assess the applicability of the CRNP for measuring soil moisture in rocky areas of Taihang Mountains of North China. The results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficient and the root mean square error between the soil moisture from CRNP and the drying method are 0.911 and 0.025 m3 m−3, respectively, indicating that the CRNP can estimate the average soil moisture well in the study area. Compared with the capacitive sensor, the CRNP overestimated soil moisture when small rainfall events occurred, which was caused by the interception of canopy and litter. The nonlinear weighting method performed better than the linear weighting method in representing average soil moisture within the CRNP footprint. The high gravel content that contained high lattice water content reduced the penetration depth of CRNP. Biomass reduces the accuracy of the CRNP by affecting the neutron intensity. In summary, CRNP can measure soil moisture accurately in rocky areas of the Taihang Mountains, especially in dry environments with low biomass. Core Ideas The applicability of cosmic‐ray neutron probe in rocky areas has been assessed. The performance of both linear weighting and nonlinear weighting methods in this study area has been analyzed. There is an overestimation of the cosmic‐ray neutron probe soil moisture when small rainfall events occurred, which was caused by the interception of canopy and litter. Core Ideas The applicability of cosmic‐ray neutron probe in rocky areas has been assessed. The performance of both linear weighting and nonlinear weighting methods has been analyzed. There is an overestimation of the cosmic‐ray neutron probe soil moisture when small rainfall events occurred, which was caused by the interception of canopy and litter.