LTER Zöbelboden, Austria, Metadata - Soil water content & soil temperature

Soil water potential (kPa) was collected at the so-called intensive monitoring plot IP2, a plot with condensed field measurement equipment at the LTER Zöbelboden site, Austria. IP2 is situated on a steep north facing slope (30–60°) extending from 850 m down to 550 m a.s.l. Triassic dolomite is the predominant bedrock material, partly interspersed with limestone plate layers. Soils at IP2 are mainly lithic or rendzic leptosols (rendsina) with patches of chromic cambisols. Soil water potential was measured at 5 cm soil depth using MPS-2 sensors (Decagon Devices, Inc., USA). In total, six sensors were installed at station 0687P02 (sensor 10.2), 0685P06 (sensor 10.3), 0683P04 (sensor 10.4), 0674P04 (sensor 10.5), 0675P10 (sensor 10.6) and 0677P08 (sensor 10.7). Soil water content (SWC in %) was calculated from measured soil water potentials (kPa) by using Van Genuchten Parameters for the corresponding soil types and depths (https://deims.org/dataset/cfb5581f-be40-484f-9b94-46d42a801d5b). In addition, soil temperature (°C) was measured at 5 cm soil depth with the same sensors used for soil water potential measurements. Half-hourly soil moisture and temperature data are available from May 2018 to December 2022.