1.1 Purpose and Motivations

 “We are, each of us, people of the soil.” [1]

The purpose of this book is to serve as a multi-faceted learning resource for people who want or need to learn introductory concepts of soil physics. Soil physics is a scientific discipline focused on using the principles and techniques of physics to understand:

• the properties of the soil,
• the processes which occur in and on soils,
• and how those properties and processes were, are, or would be affected by changes in environment or management.

This book focuses particularly on the processes in the soil water balance and the surface energy balance and how those processes are influenced by soil physical properties.