Thesis subject

MSc thesis topic: Remote laser-induced fluorescence observation of soil

Environmental exploitation creates a harsh condition for the abiotic constituents of the ecosystem – such as soil. To ensure the survivability of the resources and the ecosystem, monitoring and early detection of negative impacts of extensive anthropogenic activities and industrial pollution is a must in order to ensure proper remedial activities for numerous cases of degradation and damage of soil resulting from agricultural overexploitation and hazardous leakages from industry. Therefore, the development of novel techniques and instrumentation for real-time non-invasive monitoring of the ecosystem is of high demand.

With appropriate excitation wavelength, soil exhibit fluorescence from a number of naturally occurring substances or pollutants, and the fluorescence emission peaks are distinctive. Usually fluorescence intensity is  proportional to the concentration of the fluorescing material. Thus, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) can potentially be used to detect and measure the concentration of the fluorescing substances. LIF can thus be appropriate for airborne monitoring for chlorophyll, oil, soil organic matter (SOM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), trace metals or other fluorescing materials that are indicators of soil quality. This thesis project aims at the exploration and feasibility of a lighweight LIF technique that can be implemented onboard an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Objectives

  • Review of literature on LIF measurement of soil
  • Preparation of different grades of samples to mimic the real world top soil enviroments
  • Experimentation of LIF of prepared soil samples
  • Analysis of the results and correlation with other measurement techniques.

Literature

  • Milori, D. M. B. P., Galeti, H. V. A., Martin-Neto, L., Dieckow, J., González-Pérez, M., Bayer, C., & Salton, J. (2006). Organic matter study of whole soil samples using laser‐induced fluorescence spectroscopy. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 70(1), 57-63.

Sensing & measuring