Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-37-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-37-2026
Original research article
 | 
13 Jan 2026
Original research article |  | 13 Jan 2026

An in-situ methodology to separate the contribution of soil water content and salinity to EMI-based soil electrical conductivity

Dario Autovino, Antonio Coppola, Roberto De Mascellis, Mohammad Farzamian, and Angelo Basile

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Cited articles

Altdorff, D., Galagedara, L., Nadeem, M., Cheema, M., and Unc, A.: Effect of agronomic treatments on the accuracy of soil moisture mapping by electromagnetic induction, Catena (Amst), 164, 96–106, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2017.12.036, 2018. 
Alves, A. C., de Souza, E. R., de Melo, H. F., Oliveira Pinto, J. G., de Andrade Rego Junior, F. E., de Souza Júnior, V. S., Adriano Marques, F., do Santos, M. A., Schaffer, B., and Raj Gheyi, H.: Comparison of solution extraction methods for estimating electrical conductivity in soils with contrasting mineralogical assemblages and textures, Catena (Amst), 218, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106581, 2022. 
Badewa, E., Unc, A., Cheema, M., Kavanagh, V., and Galagedara, L.: Soil moisture mapping using multi-frequency and multi-coil electromagnetic induction sensors on managed podzols, Agronomy, 8, https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8100224, 2018. 
Bartoli, F., Regalado, C. M., Basile, A., Buurman, P., and Coppola, A.: Physical properties in European volcanic soils: a synthesis and recent developments, in: Soils of Volcanic Regions in Europe, edited by: Arnalds, Ó., Óskarsson, H., Bartoli, F., Buurman, P., Stoops, G., and García-Rodeja, E., Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 515–537, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48711-1_36, 2007. 
Bonfante, A., Monaco, E., Manna, P., De Mascellis, R., Basile, A., Buonanno, M., Cantilena, G., Esposito, A., Tedeschi, A., De Michele, C., Belfiore, O., Catapano, I., Ludeno, G., Salinas, K., and Brook, A.: LCIS DSS—An irrigation supporting system for water use efficiency improvement in precision agriculture: A maize case study, Agric Syst, 176, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102646, 2019. 
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Short summary
In this article, we developed a method to better understand how soil water moisture and salt content affect electrical signals measured from the surface by electromagnetic induction technique. This helps farmers manage irrigation, especially in areas using salty water. By combining field and lab data, we could tell how much each factor—water or salt—affected the signal. This technique offers a faster, easier way to track soil health and could improve how we use water in farming.
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