ABSTRACT
The water release characteristic is the relationship between water content (usually volumetric water content) and matric potential (or matric suction) in a drying soil. The water release characteristic is one of the most important measurements for characterizing soil physical properties, since it can (1) indicate the ability of the soil to store water that will be available to growing plants, (2) indicate the aeration status of a drained soil, and (3) be interpreted in nonswelling soils as a measure of pore size distribution.
