The quantification of water, energy, gas and solute fluxes in the vadose zone hinges on the characterization of the transport properties of soils and the monitoring of soil water content, soil water potential, and gas and solute concentrations. Characterization and monitoring are also highly needed to parameterize, calibrate, and validate transport models including those which couple water, heat, solute and vapor fluxes. This session invites contributions dealing with new or improved measurement techniques, innovative experimental designs, new sensors, and data evaluation algorithms which help to determine soil physical properties more accurately. Properties of interest comprise but are not limited to the soil water retention curve including the water vapor sorption isotherm, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, gas diffusivity, gas permeability, soil thermal conductivity, and the particle size distribution. The presentation of new sensors for measuring soil water content and soil water potential is highly encouraged and so are studies dealing with distributed sensing techniques and the inter-comparison of the performance of different sensors under atmospheric forcing in the field. Noninvasive methods from geophysics and remote sensing are also welcome.