An updated Irwin sensor for measurement of surface shear velocity

Authors: ZIEGLER, NANCY - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St; Webb, Nicholas; EDWARDS, BRANDON - New Mexico State University; NIKOLICH, GEORGE - Desert Research Institute; GILLIES, JOHN - Desert Research Institute; PATEL, SAHIL - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St; Wheeler, Brandi; ZHANG, PEI - New Mexico State University; Van Zee, Justin; LEGRAND, SANDRA - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St; TRAUTZ, ANDREW - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St

Submitted to: Aeolian Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/3/2025
Publication Date: 12/11/2025
Citation: Ziegler, N., Webb, N.P., Edwards, B., Nikolich, G., Gillies, J., Patel, S., Wheeler, B.E., Zhang, P., Van Zee, J.W., Legrand, S., Trautz, A. 2025. An updated Irwin sensor for measurement of surface shear velocity. Aeolian Research. 75. Article 101024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2025.101024.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2025.101024

Interpretive Summary: Measuring the erosive strength of the wind under field conditions is important for understanding how objects, such as vegetation, interact with wind and influence the shearing force it imparts on objects and the soil surface. Having the ability to measure the shear force, or shear velocity, of wind on bare soil between plants is particularly important for studies of wind erosion and providing data needed to develop new predictive models to forecast air quality and inform land management. This paper describes the development of a new Irwin sensor - a device that measures a pressure differential that can be calibrated using a wind tunnel to quantify the wind shear velocity. We describe modifications we made to produce a wireless Irwin senor than can be used efficiently in field experiments and monitoring. We show how the sensors can be deployed to measure wind interactions with vegetation and analyze the sensor performance over a field deployment of a few months in a dryland environment of south-central New Mexico.

Technical Abstract: Accurate and efficient collection of field data related to aeolian processes is critical for improving wind erosion predictions and related management decisions. The Irwin sensor (Irwin, 1981) has been used in numerous wind tunnel and field studies to indicate surface shear velocity. However, the sensitivity of the sensor makes them difficult to maintain in a range of environmental conditions (e.g., moisture/high sand flux). This study presents a new generation of Irwin sensor incorporating updated electronics, battery operation, wireless data transmission, and streamlined field deployment and removal. A total of 20 sensors were manufactured and calibrated in a wind tunnel at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). A subset of the sensors was calibrated using a PI-SWERL, which confirmed the two calibration methods converge on similar values for flat smooth test surfaces. The updated sensors were installed around a mesquite shrub at the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, USA from February to July 2023. We found that initial data from the sensors accurately captured spatial patterns of surface shear velocity surrounding the shrub. The improvements to the sensor reduced workload for both deployment and maintenance, and reduced disturbance at the field site. We discuss potential opportunities to use the improved sensor network in a range of geomorphological research areas including quantifying aeolian sediment transport, building and parameterizing wind erosion models that incorporate spatial dependencies, and improving predictive tools for landform change.