Global climate change will affect the frequency and severity of extreme meteorological and hydrological events including prolonged dry spells, heat waves, but also intensive rainfall events. Soil water repellency (SWR) is strongly affected by the drying and heating of soil. SWR is already common in many soils and it may thus not only become more frequent and severe, but it may also expand into environments that have to date not been affected by SWR. Furthermore, the anticipated increase in intense rainfall events would be expected to result in more severe overland flow, erosion and flooding events the consequence of severe flooding, a trend that would be exacerbated by SWR.
This sessions aims to bring together the scientific community working on these issues with the goal to advance the understanding of the development and impact of soil water repellency under a changing and more extreme climate. Contributions are welcome, but not restricted to the development of SWR and its environmental consequences with in relation to forest, pasture, peat land, agricultural land and sports surfaces, and with a focus, for example, on its biogeochemical origin, plant growth responses, carbon sequestration, effects of increased atmospheric CO2, soil respiration, fire, soil water distribution and flow, erosion, runoff and flooding. Contributions focusing on the modelling of impacts of SWR on the environment are particularly welcome.