SURFACE SOIL-WATER CONTENT REGIMES - OPPORTUNITIES IN SOIL SCIENCE

With the qualities and properties of soil not being uniformly distribu ted across continents, soils are classified according to their morphol ogical features, genesis and soil-forming processes. Because propertie s of soils vary across the landscape, a relationship observed at one l ocation may not be applicable for other locations. Hence, measured dat a and deduced relationships are location specific and should be interp reted with information regarding the particular soil type according to the discipline of soil science. To better understand the role of wate r in land-atmosphere interactions and the role of land-atmosphere inte ractions in regional and global climate, spatial and temporal observat ions of water in the soil surface can be more comprehensively analyzed with a knowledge of soil science. On the other hand, an opportunity t o strengthen the discipline of soil science (with its various branches of soil physics, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, etc.) exists if s patial and temporal observations of water in the soil surface at diffe rent scales are considered. Anticipating that such observations of soi l water will eventually become more abundantly available through satel lite imagery, we discuss how they can be used to improve our understan ding and application of soil science.