Soil Hydraulic and Thermal Properties for Land Surface Modelling over the Tibetan Plateau

In each climate zone, 1) the soil was sampled (c.a. 200 g) with a plastic bag used to measure gravel content, soil texture and soil organic content; 2) the soil was sampled with standard sample rings (5cm in height, 100 cm3 in volume) for the determination of bulk density, porosity and thermal conductivity; 3) for deriving the Soil Water Retention Curve (SWRC), a dedicated small sample ring (1 cm in height, 20 cm3 in volume) was used; 4) the in situ Ks was measured using the Aardvark permeameter, a fully automated constant-head borehole permeameter.

Using these samples, the laboratory analyses were carried out with reference to standard methods. The quality of dataset was evaluated based on quality indicators from World Soil Information Institute and on cross check using values in the literature. This dataset was further used to evaluate the existing soil datasets over the Tibetan Plateau.