The visible (Vis) and infrared (IR) part of the electromagnetic spectrum reflected from a soil sample contains a wealth of information on the chemical and mineralogic composition and its physical structure. In recent years, Vis-IR-spectroscopy has been used to measure a number of different soil properties. For example, it has been used to predict macro- and micro-nutrients, hydrocarbon and heavy metal concentrations in contaminated soils, biological properties of composts and organic matter of forest soil, to identify clay minerals, to quantify organic carbon and to estimate aggregate stability of a soil. Additionally, several groups have established spectral libraries of soil materials in order to model key soil properties at different scales. Another important development in Vis-IR-spectroscopy is the implementation of advanced data analyses techniques to improve the accuracy of the predictions. The improvement of the existing spectrometers to measure the reflectance of undisturbed soil samples in the lab or even in situ with mobile and non-mobile instrumentations has also been addressed.
In the last decade, there was also a rising interest in fluorescent properties of soil organic matter, due to the expanded use of excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods, e.g., parallel factor analysis. One of the outcomes of this interest is the improved capability for non-invasive quantitative characterization of OM composition in terms of certain meaningful fluorescent components.
We invite contributions from all applications of reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy in soil science - in the wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the mid infrared and using bidirectional, diffuse and fourier-transformed spectroscopy, photoacustic spectroscopy, fluorescence and imaging spectrometers. Contributions focused on fundamental soil spectroscopy, development of spectral libraries, chemometrics, data mining, applications in agriculture, soil mapping and monitoring, and others are encouraged. We also invite field- and lab-based applications, applied and theoretical studies covering soil physical, biological and chemical properties.