ICT International
Newsletter June - August 2011
Rinntech Thermal Properties Decagon in 2012
In July 2011 Dr. Frank Rinn of Measurement In 2012 Dr. Doug Cobos of Decagon
Rinntech, Germany, will be visiting Devices will be visiting Australia and
The measurement of thermal
Australia. Dr. Rinn has been described New Zealand as part of a workshop
properties in soils and building
by one ICT customer as “legendary” tour.
materials is becoming increasingly
– a label well deserved! Since the
important for: The workshops focus on plant, soil
late 1980’s Dr. Rinn has been at
the forefront of tree ring and health 1. Underground power cable, design and thermal properties methodologies
instrumentation and analysis. and installation. and instrumentation. Dr. Cobos
2. Development of customised explains in simple terms complex
The RESISTOGRAPH and ARBOTOM scientific concepts.
backfill materials with low thermal
can measure the inner health of
resistivity.
a tree – similar to taking an x-ray. The movement of water from
3. LPG facilities.
The LINTAB has been used by soil, through the plant, and to the
4. Development of building materials
dendrochronologers in the fields atmosphere is explained in down
for more efficient energy design.
of botany, climate change, ecology to earth biophysical terms. The
5. Climatology and boundary layer
and geomorphology and even workshops also consist of hands-on
processes.
archaeology. Users of the software practical sessions where participants
TSAP, which specialises in tree The thermal conductivity of a material use instruments first hand.
ring analysis, range from forestry depends on the temperature, density
scientists, marine science and even and moisture content. Dr. Cobos is a world expert on
law enforcement agencies. thermal science. In 2009 Dr. Cobos
The soil moisture can have a large researched and designed a thermal
Dr. Rinn will be visiting universities in effect on the thermal conductivity. sensor to analyse soil on Mars.
Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales Adding water to the soil can drastically
and Queensland in the week of 18 to decrease its thermal resistance or As part of NASA’s Phoenix Scout
22nd July. If you would like to meet Dr. increase its thermal conductivity. This Lander project, the thermal sensor
Rinn please contact ICT International. is critical as soil moisture content in was extremely important and was part
Dr. Rinn will also be presenting the vadose zone can fluctuate with of the overall conclusion that there
at the International Association of rainfall and vegetation water use. may indeed be water on Mars.
Arboriculture Conference and Trade ICT International represents the
Show, Parramatta, NSW, 23rd to 27th Decagon Devices and Hukseflux To have a workshop in your
July. ranges of thermal property sensors. area in early 2012 contact ICT
CID Bio-Science These are suitable for both field and International immediately.
laboratory applications.
The International Botanical Congress
is being held in Melbourne, 27th to Upcoming Conference and Trade Show Events
30th July 2011. CID Bio-Science and
ICT International will be present with a • July 13th to 15th, It’s All About Water Workshop, focus on sap
booth. flow, stem psychrometer and neutron probe. Barossa Valley,
CID specialise in plant physiology South Australia.
instrumentation. Instruments include
Leaf Area Index analysers, leaf area • July 18th to 22nd, Dr. Frank Rinn tours eastern Australia.
meters, portable and lightweight
• July 23rd to 27th, International Association of Arboriculture
photosynthesis systems, root
scanners and user friendly root Conference and Trade Show, Parramatta, New South Wales.
analysis software, leaf spectrometer
and the recently released portable
• July 27th to 30th, International Botanical Congress,
ethylene gas analyser. Melbourne
• Early 2012, Decagon Workshops in Australia and New
Zealand – express your interest now.
Solutions for soil, plant & meteorology
www.ictinternational.com
INTERNATIONAL
Ph: +61 2 6772 6770 sales@ictinternational.com.au
ICT International Workshop on Sap Flow - Freising
Germany, March 2011
In late March, 2011, ICT International (A)0.75 cm (outer)
conducted a one week workshop on (B)2.25 cm (inner)
sap flow and stem psychrometry in 25
Freising, Germany. The workshop Sunny Cloudy Rainy Foggy
was organised in partnership with ICT 20 Day Day Day Day
International’s German distributers,
Sap Velocity (cm h- 1 )
UGT (Unwelt-Geräte-Technik). 15 3pm
The workshop brought together 33
10
experts on sap flow from all over
Europe including Germany, Spain, Towards
5 Leaves
Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic,
Poland, Hungary and Italy (Figure 1).
0
Participants heard presentations from Reverse Flow Towards
Roots
sap flow scientists, and undertook -5
practical sessions, and even attended
midday midday midday midday midday
an evening tour of Munich followed
by dinner at the world famous
Hofbräuhaus! Fortunately, the workshop was blessed
with variable weather resulting in
Feedback from all participants an interesting and exciting sap flow
was excellent and no doubt more data set. The first two days of data
workshops will soon follow. were collected under fine weather
conditions with barely a cloud in the
Numerous leading scientists, who sky.
have decades of sap flow experience,
gave presentations and shared their On the third day it was cooler and
knowledge at the workshop. cloudier and there was a noticeable
decline in sap flow. The fourth day was
The main focus of the workshop characterised by very cold and very
was on heat ratio method, heat field wet weather and the SFM1 indicated
deformation technique, and the use of zero and reverse patterns of sap flow.
Sap Flow Tool software.
Sap Flow Meters (SFM1) and Heat Most interesting was the fifth day. This
Field Deformation sensors were day was characterised by a heavy fog
installed on spruce and other pine in the morning followed by a clear,
species (Figure 2). sunny afternoon.
Peak rates of sap flow occurred
Fig 2 at approximately 3pm whereas
Participants learnt installation peak flows on the first two days
techniques as well as procedures to of measurement occurred at
optimise data collection. approximately 12pm.
Data were collected throughout the
Participants were interested to see
duration of the workshop and on the
these patterns and the ease with
last day data were analysed using the
which the data were collected.
Sap Flow Tool software.
ICT International will be
(Figure 3) shows some example
data collected on a spruce tree in the
holding sap flow workshops
Kranzberg Forest. A Sap Flow Meter in the future. For more
(SFM1) was installed on the trunk at information or to express
Fig 1 approximately breast height (1.3m). interest in a workshop near
Data were collected over a 5 day you please contact us:
period.
sales@ictinternational.com.au
Solutions for soil, plant & meteorology
www.ictinternational.com
INTERNATIONAL
Ph: +61 2 6772 6770 sales@ictinternational.com.au
Featured Product - Soil Moisture Meter
ICT International recently released ICT International offers two models of Soil Moisture Meter
a Soil Moisture Meter (SMM) for sensors employing the standing wave
the continuous monitoring of soil principle – the MP406 and MP306.
volumetric moisture content. The Both models are made of stainless
SMM (Figure 4) is ideally suited to ICT steel needles embedded in a strong
International’s soil moisture sensor, epoxy body. Due to the high quality
MP406 (Figure 5) or MP306 (Figure manufacturing the sensors can be
6), or Decagon’s10HS (Figure 7) or installed in the most extreme soil
EC-5 (Figure 8). environments.
The SMM is a self-contained unit with The MP406 is ideally suited to
internal logging and data storage. industrial applications such as mine
Data can be stored at the most sites, landfills, toxic and saline soils.
frequent rate of 1 minute intervals or,
more commonly, half hour or hourly The MP306 with its parrallel needles
intervals or real time display on a is commonly used in laboratory
computer screen. There is a 2GB applications such as soil column
storage capacity – enough for several studies. Both sensors are also widely
months to years of data. used in agriculture, ecohydrology,
plant physiology and civil engineering
Communication with the SMM is applications.
either directly via USB cable or Fig 4
wireless to a computer or internet with MP406
ICT International’s MCC. Wireless
communication can be made up to
250m distance.
The SMM is powered either via a solar
panel connected to an external battery
or via mains electrical supply. Fig 5
ICT International manufactures its
own soil moisture sensor based on MP306
standing wave principle. This method
is the equivalent of sending an electric
pulse down a coaxial cable and it
measures the dielectric constant of the
soil.
The standing wave principle Fig 6
measures accurately the volumetric
soil water content enabling accurate 10HS
determination of plant water use or
drainage volumes. This is important
for example when:
• Hydrologists need to develop
coupled hydraulic and vegetation
models.
Fig 7
• Geotechnical engineers need
precise water content and soil suction EC-5
relationships.
Fig 8
Solutions for soil, plant & meteorology
www.ictinternational.com
INTERNATIONAL
Ph: +61 2 6772 6770 sales@ictinternational.com.au
ICT International Instruments
Soils Soil Oxygen Meter (SOM) Plants
Soil Tension Meter (STM) Continuously measure oxygen Sap Flow Meter (SFM1)
concentration in soils (expressed as %).
Measures soil suction or tension Continuously measure tree
in the range +100 to -100kPa with transpiration and water use in litres
tensiometers (Jetfill Tensiometers). per hour, per day or per year. The
Accuracy: ±1%. SFM1 employs the heat ratio method
for highly accurate measurements of
tree water use (range: -10 to +60 cm3/
cm-2/h-1; accuracy: 0.5 cm3/cm-2/h-1).
Temperature Sensor Meter (TSM)
Measures temperature of soils,
atmosphere, or liquids via thermistors
embedded in epoxy or stainless steel.
Range: -50°C to +105°C; accuracy:
Soil Matric Potential Meter (SMP) ±1%.
Measures matric potential of soil using Systems are being used in soil,
either the Decagon MPS-1 sensor borehole monitoring (50 metre cable) SFM1
(range: 0 to - 500kPa; accuracy: and concrete testing. Meteorology
±10%.) or the thermal matric potential
Custom temperature sensors have Automatic Weather Station (AWS)
sensor (range: 0 to -100,000kPa
been made to measure GCL (Geo-
with calibration. Custom calibration
Synthetic Clay Liner) behavior in A scientific and cost-effective weather
provided by ICT International.
landfills or leaf temperature in plant station that can also measure
Automatic Infiltration Meter (AIM) canopies. potential evapotranspiration and
vapour pressure deficit. Sensors:
Automatically and continuously Soil Water Samplers solar radiation, temperature, humidity,
measuring infiltration with either a barometric pressure, wind speed, wind
Soil Water Samplers collect soil
tension infiltrometer, hood infiltrometer, direction and rainfall.
solution samples in the soil profile.
or Guelph permeameter. There is no
The samplers consist of a porous Stainless Steel Rain Gauge (SRG1)
longer any need to manually read
ceramic cup and a collection tube.
infiltration rates. The AIM does the job
A stainless steel tipping bucket rain
for you automatically. A vacuum pump is used to create gauge with or without an internal data
a vacuum in the sampler, which logger. Low power requirement and
draws water from the soil through the maintenance, the SRG1 is ideally
ceramic cup and into the sampler. suited to remote rainfall monitoring
Typical applications include collecting (range: 500mm/hr; accuracy: ±2% at
samples for analysis of herbicide 500mm/hr).
and fertiliser movement into the
groundwater, e.g. The Great Barrier
Reef.
Tension Infiltrometer
1900 Installed SRG1
Solutions for soil, plant & meteorology
www.ictinternational.com
INTERNATIONAL
Ph: +61 2 6772 6770 sales@ictinternational.com.au