Soil water characteristics of european SoilTrEC critical zone observatoriesSoil water characteristics of european SoilTrEC critical zone observatories Κεφάλαιο σε Βιβλίο Book Chapter 2018-07-032017enMost of soil functions depend directly or indirectly on soil water retention and transmission, which explains their importance for many environmental processes within Earth's Critical Zones. Soil hydraulic properties are essential in irrigation and drainage studies for closing water balance equation, for predicting leaching of nutrients, for water supply to plants, and for other agronomical and environmental applications. Soil hydraulic properties reflect the structure of the soil porous system comprising pores of different geometry and sizes. This investigation comprises a detailed analytical study of soil hydraulic properties and climate conditions at 18 methodologically selected sites in Damma Glacier, Slavkov Forest, Marchfeld, and Koiliaris Critical Zone Observatories of SoilTrEC project. The local moisture regimes were assessed on a long-term basis by the Newhall model. The experimental data for soil water content at different potentials were used for assessing water storage capacity, pore size distribution, parameters of fitted retention curve equation, curve slope at the inflection point, and water permeability characteristics of each soil horizon. The differences of soil water retention and transmission characteristics—as fundamental properties describing soil structure—were explained by the different stages of soil profile development, parent materials, organic matter content, and land use histories. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Advances in AgronomyQuantifying and Managing Soil Functions in Earth's Critical Zone: Combining Experimentation and Mathematical Modelling Rousseva Svetla S. Kercheva, Milena Shishkov Toma Lair Georg J. Nikolaidis Nikolaos Νικολαιδης Νικολαος Moraitis Daniil Μωραϊτης Δανιηλ Krám Pavel Bernasconi, Stéphane Blum Winfried E.H. Menon Manoj Banwart, Steven A Elsevier CZO Soil moisture regime Soil pore size distribution Soil water retention curve SoilTrEC