An Introduction to UNSODA Soil Bank and Its Application in Soil and Water Research

There are numerous mathematical models that predict and analyze the movement of water and pollutants in saturated and unsaturated zones beneath the soil. The usefulness and accuracy of these models severely depend on the reliable characterization of the soil hydraulic properties, i.e. water retention and hydraulic conductivity of the unsaturated zone. The accurate measurements of these properties are highly cumbersome and are not feasible for many applications including issues concerning soil contamination. UNSODA is a soil database containing unsaturated soil hydraulic properties (water retention, hydraulic conductivity, and soil water diffusivity), basic soil properties (particle-size distribution, bulk density, organic matter content, etc.), which are used for indirect prediction of the unsaturated soil hydraulic functions. This paper introduces this database, explains its applications, and shows how it can be used in soil and water research.