Summary
This multi-laboratory comparison study assessed the reproducibility of soil water retention curve measurements in the wet range (10–300 hPa) across 14 European laboratories. The analysis revealed that interlaboratory variability constituted the dominant source of measurement differences, substantially exceeding intralaboratory variability on average, largely attributable to unstandardised methods and procedures across laboratories. The authors conclude that harmonisation and standardisation of measurement procedures are essential to improve the quality of soil water retention databases and derived products such as pedotransfer functions and spatial maps.
UK applicability
UK laboratories conducting soil water retention measurements may be subject to similar reproducibility challenges. Standardisation of SWRC measurement procedures could improve the quality of UK soil property databases and enhance the reliability of hydrological modelling and soil characterisation studies in the United Kingdom.
Key measures
Interlaboratory variability, intralaboratory variability, sample-to-sample variability, soil water retention at 10–300 hPa matric potential, modelled using linear mixed models
Outcomes reported
The study quantified inter- and intralaboratory variability in measurements of the wet part of the soil water retention curve (10–300 hPa) across 14 European laboratories using standardised reference samples. Interlaboratory variability was identified as the primary source of measurement differences, with implications for soil property databases and pedotransfer functions.
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