Maricao Soil Moisture Monitoring Station
University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez - United States Geological Survey
Data from the monitoring station is displayed in the charts below, click to enlarge. Please refresh the page to see the most recent available information.
This graph shows a time series plot of the volumetric water content, hourly rainfall, soil suction, and groundwater head.
This graph shows a time series plot of the soil base saturation, hourly rainfall, air temperature, soil temperature, and battery voltage. The most recent values reported are indicated in the inset boxes.
Maricao Station
Maricao Station Details
Geologic Unit: Porphyritic hornblende diorite
Soil Unit: Mucara clay
Elevation: 400 m
Slope: 40°
Landslide Susceptibility: Very High
Sensor Depths: 33cm, 66cm, 99cm, 130cm
Date Installed: Dec-2022
Collaborator: Private landowner
Station Sensors and Equipment
Each station in the Puerto Rico Landslide Forecast Network includes monitoring stations that are equipped with below-ground sensors that measure volumetric water content, soil suction pressure, soil temperature, and soil groundwater pressure. Sensors are installed in a hand-excavated pit that is dug to the base of the soil, where weathered bedrock material is encountered. The sensor array is installed at intervals of 0.25d, 0.5d, 0.75d, and 1d, where "d" is the total depth of the soil profile. The sensor distribution is shown in the diagram here.
Above ground sensors measure air temperature, barometric pressure, and rainfall. The stations are each controlled by a datalogger that collects data every 5 minutes and transmits data hourly via cellular modem to our local server between 7:00-20:00 AST. Because the stations are powered by solar energy and battery, data is usually not transmitted overnight to save power.
Schematic diagram of station design.
Please communicate any questions about this page or data to slidespr@uprm.edu. If the data here are not updated, please check the USGS page.