Soil Moisture, Cosmic Ray Soil Moisture Sensor, Tumbarumba Wet Eucalypt SuperSite, 2013

A cosmic ray soil moisture sensor was installed at the Tumbarumba Wet Eucalypt Supersite on 03 Apr 2011 by the Australian Cosmic Ray Soil Moisture Monitoring Network (CosmOz; http://www.ermt.csiro.au/html/cosmoz.html). CosmOz represents just one of a growing number of networks around the World. Other networks are found in USA, Germany, and the UK with other projects adopting the technology in South America, Africa and Europe. These sensors use cosmic rays originating from outer space to measure average soil moisture over an area of about 40 hectares to a depth up to 90 cm. The system measures fast neutrons that are produced from interactions of cosmic rays with the atmosphere and top few meters of soil. The intensity of these neutrons are moderated largely by water molecules in the soil. The number of neutrons counted over a period of time is inversely proportional to the amount of water in the soil. To estimate volumetric water content, each system is calibrated against soil samples that are collected from dry and wet moisture regimes using a standard protocol. Data is collected every 60 min and uploaded to data portal infrastructure which is maintained by the University of Arizona. This infrastructure and associated web interface were established as part of the US based Cosmic-ray Soil Moisture Observation System (COSMOS, http://cosmos.hwr.arizona.edu/). Collaboration between Australian and US researchers has facilitated a data hosting agreement which has now resulted in a growing international data portal for delivering and processing data from cosmic-ray probes. Tumbarumba Supersite land cover: Wet sclerophyll eucalyptus forest, Land use: native/plantation forestry, Soil type: Acidic, eutrophic red dermosol, 3 - 4 m deep Tumbarumba data can be downloaded from http://cosmos.hwr.arizona.edu/Probes/StationDat/077/index.php

2011年4月3日，澳大利亚宇宙射线土壤水分监测网络（CosmOz；http://www.ermt.csiro.au/html/cosmoz.html）于汤姆巴伦比湿润桉树林超级观测点安装了一台宇宙射线土壤水分传感器。
CosmOz仅是全球日益壮大的同类监测网络之一，美国、德国、英国均已建成相关监测网络，南美、非洲与欧洲的多项科研项目也已应用该技术。
该类传感器依托源自外太空的宇宙射线，可对约40公顷范围内、深度达90厘米的土壤平均含水量开展监测。系统通过探测宇宙射线与大气及表层数米土壤相互作用产生的快中子进行观测，土壤中的水分子会极大程度地减缓这些中子的运动强度，单位时段内探测到的中子计数与土壤含水量呈反比关系。为估算土壤体积含水量，每套系统均需依据标准规程，采集不同干湿水分状态下的土壤样本进行标定。
数据每60分钟采集一次，并上传至由亚利桑那大学运维的数据门户基础设施。该基础设施及配套网页界面是美国宇宙射线土壤水分观测系统（COSMOS；http://cosmos.hwr.arizona.edu/）的组成部分。澳美两国科研人员的合作推动了数据托管协议的达成，如今该协议已发展为可提供并处理宇宙射线探测器数据的国际化数据门户。
汤姆巴伦比超级观测点的土地覆被类型为湿润硬叶桉树林，土地利用类型为原生/人工林，土壤类型为酸性肥沃红色粘化土（dermosol），厚度为3至4米。
汤姆巴伦比站点的数据可从http://cosmos.hwr.arizona.edu/Probes/StationDat/077/index.php 下载获取。