Soil Moisture and Air Humidity Dependence of the Above-Ground Cosmic-Ray Neutron Intensity

Investigations of neutron transport through air and soil by Monte Carlo simulations led to major advancements toward a precise interpretation of measurements; they particularly improved the understanding of the cosmic-ray neutron footprint. Up to now, the conversion of soil moisture to a detectable neutron count rate has relied mainly on the equation presented by Desilets and Zreda in 2010. While in general a hyperbolic expression can be derived from theoretical considerations, their empiric parameterization needs to be revised for two reasons. Firstly, a rigorous mathematical treatment reveals that the values of the four parameters are ambiguous because their values are not independent. We found a three-parameter equation with unambiguous values of the parameters that is equivalent in any other respect to the four-parameter equation. Secondly, high-resolution Monte-Carlo simulations revealed a systematic deviation of the count rate to soil moisture relation especially for extremely dry conditions as well as very humid conditions. That is a hint that a smaller contribution to the intensity was forgotten or not adequately treated by the conventional approach. Investigating the above-ground neutron flux through a broadly based Monte-Carlo simulation campaign revealed a more detailed understanding of different contributions to this signal, especially targeting air humidity corrections. The packages MCNP and URANOS were used to derive a function able to describe the respective dependencies, including the effect of different hydrogen pools and the detector-specific response function. The new relationship has been tested at two exemplary measurement sites, and its remarkable performance allows for a promising prospect of more comprehensive data quality in the future.

Automated summary

Investigations using Monte Carlo simulations into neutron transport through air and soil led to advancements in understanding cosmic-ray neutron footprints, with the traditional equation for converting soil moisture to detectable neutron count rate found to be in need of revision due to ambiguous parameter values and systematic deviations in extremely dry or humid conditions. Additionally, a more detailed understanding of above-ground neutron flux through Monte Carlo simulation campaigns improved corrections for air humidity, leading to the development of a new relationship tested at measurement sites with promising results for data quality improvements in the future.