The UK is in the process of bringing back into use vast areas of land that has been used previously for a range of tasks, from landfill to industrial to military.

Geophysical consultants are usually the first to be called upon to get a picture of what may be hidden under the top layers of grass and soil. On-site monitoring of moisture levels can be carried out into using Campbell Scientific’s SoilCOM systems, combining multi-depth probes with logging and telemetry, so you can install the system and collect and analyse the data from the comfort of your office. (The SoilCOM probes have a length of 1 or 2 metres with up to 16 sensors placed at user specified depths. Longer lengths can be made up if required.)

The SoilCOM probes have been a huge success in irrigation management and crop root research and are often included in Campbell’s Met Office approved weather station systems. The advantages of accurate soil moisture monitoring in contaminated land situations are apparent at different stages of a project. During assessment the system can provide a picture of soil stability, leachate and run-off, whilst in the clean-up stage it can assist in determining correct quantities of chemicals or bio-remediators, speeding up the operation and saving money on time and materials.

Consultants making land-assessments have begun to use ground conductivity and magnetic measurements coupled with DGPS, finding it effective, accurate and time saving for geophysical studies. Campbell's Allegro hand-held PC is often used as an on-site data capture device, and each data point can be 'stamped' with a DGPS reference enabling a plan of the geophysical information to be obtained in minutes back at the desk.

Data can then be transposed into a proprietary CAD package and combined with an existing topographic plan. This allows surface features to be related to the sub-surface data, simplifying the planning process and eliminating 'nasty surprises' when development work starts.

For more information visit: www.campbellsci.co.uk/land