J DAVID COOPER graduated in Physics from Imperial College, London. He spent 23 years as a soil physicist with the UK Institute of Hydrology, later the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), followed by 12 years as Head of the Hydrological Instruments Group at CEH. His work has focussed mainly on field measurement of soil water and solute fluxes and of soil hydraulic properties in a wide variety of lithologies and areas of the world, including at several sites in southern England, northern France, Kenya, Niger, Mauritius, India and China. He has contributed to advances in measurement of soil water content by neutron, capacitance and time domain reflectometry techniques, hydraulic properties measurement methods in situ in the field and soil water potential measurement using mercury manometer and pressure transducer tensiometers over extended periods at both shallow and deep depths, down to at least 60 m. He has six children and, at the time of writing, nine grandchildren.

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• Preface viPart I: Introduction 11 Soil Water in Context 32 How Does Water in Soil Interact with the Soil Matrix, Air, Roots, Gravity and Other Substances Present? 63 What Do We Need to Measure? 144 Spatial Variability 16Part II: Water Content 215 Definitions 236 Gravimetric Method 267 Neutron Scattering 438 Dielectric METHODS 1019 Dual-Probe Heat-Pulse Sensors 15010 Electrical Resistivity Imaging 152Part III: Water Potential 15911 Water Potential Measurement 16112 Tensiometers 16413 Indirect Methods of Water Potential Measurement 20314 Beyond −10 Metres Water Head 214Part IV: Water Content – Potential Relations 22315 Soil Water Characteristic Measurement 225Part V: Hydraulic Conductivity 23716 Hydraulic Conductivity Measurement and Prediction 23917 Hydraulic Conductivity Measurement of Confined Soil Samples 24118 Unconfined Measurements in the Field 257Part VI: Solute Measurement 27719 Principles and Pitfalls 27920 Solution Sampling 28321 Solute Concentra tion Estimation by Electrical Conductivity 292Part VII: Water and Solute Movement 30122 Water and Solute Transport Applications 30323 Water and Solute Flux Measurement 30624 Soil Water and Solute Balance Measurement and Estimation 312Part VIII: Conclusion 33325 Concluding Remarks 335References 336Index 353