Natural springs can serve as water supplies for many residents and farmers in rural Costa Rica. Springs are locations where groundwater intersects land surface. Springs in this setting are very dependent on rainfall recharge to groundwater. How much rain does it take to recharge groundwater? How can we measure and better understand how rainfall recharges groundwater and impacts how natural springs change in water flow and water quality? To help address these and other future geotechnical monitoring questions, we installed a relatively new type of sensor from Campbell Scientific called a SoilVUE-10 soil moisture and temperature profile sensor (probe). We used a 0.5 meter long version of the probe and installed in at a location near and across slope from the location of the CS650 30-cm long soil moisture and temperature probes. There were two of these probes installed at 10- and 35-cm depths.

To help understand the relationship between soil moisture and rainfall, the below plots also show data from two other sensors. The below leaf wetness measurements are made with a Campbell Scientific LWS sensor installed at a 1-meter elevation. The air temperature and relative humidity measurements are made with a Campbell Scientific HygroVUE10 probe that is installed in a RAD10E METSPEC 10-Plate Solar Radiation Shield.