Do data from the RISMA soil monitoring network support agricultural modeling requirements?

Abstract

The Real‐Time In‐Situ Soil Monitoring for Agriculture (RISMA) network provides soil water and agri‐environmental data for conceptualization, calibration, and validation of remote sensing and modeling products for Canadian agriculture at 32 stations in seven watersheds in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The data support work in precision agriculture, flood and drought management, and greenhouse gas management. However, project‐based development has led to inconsistent data collection. This work assesses the adequacy of data collected by the RISMA network to support agricultural modeling. The work provides expert modeler review of parameter requirements for Versatile Soil Moisture Budget (VSMB), Soil, Vegetation, and Snow (SVS), Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC), Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX)/ArcAPEX, Hydrogeosphere, HYDRUS, Denitrification‐Decomposition (DNDCv.CAN), and Hydrologic Engineering Center's Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC‐HMS) and qualitatively assesses the alignment between network observations and model input requirements. All RISMA stations collect soil volumetric water content, soil temperature, soil electrical conductivity, and liquid precipitation. Select sites also collect precipitation by weight, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and crop‐related data such as yields, tillage, and crop species. To better support modeling, the RISMA network should standardize collection of weather, soil, snowfall, and crop production data, including planting and harvest dates, crop type, tillage, and fertilizer application. Standardizing these observations will enhance the network's value for supporting site‐specific modeling, regional upscaling, and assessing variability where local data are unavailable.