Soil physics

As a soil physicist, your work underpins decisions in contaminant transport, crop production, land restoration, and more. You need soil measurements as precise and reliable as the conclusions you need to draw from them. But precision data isn’t always easy to get. What if you had efficient tools that perform accurately in the lab and field, so your research can be faster and more defensible?

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Complex workflows. Inconsistent tools. Incomplete data.

Getting the physical measurements you need, hydraulic conductivity, thermal properties, water retention curves, can be time consuming and prone to error. Without a seamless process, you risk:

Delayed results or stalled projects due to equipment friction

Inconsistent readings across labs or field teams

Lost time spent troubleshooting hardware and software instead of running models

Soil physics demands tools that deliver repeatable, high-quality results under real-world pressure. But field variability, cumbersome setups, and fragile instruments add complexity and frustration.
METER instruments are built on decades of soil physics research, engineered to reduce friction in your workflow without compromising accuracy. Here’s how:
HYPROP and WP4C deliver industry-standard water retention curves across the full range. PARIO gives you automated, accurate soil particle size analysis, saving you time in the lab.
SATURO and the LABROS system simplify saturated/unsaturated hydraulic conductivity measurement in the field or lab.
TEMPOS thermal properties sensor provides fast, durable thermal conductivity data from virtually any matrix.
TEROS 21 and TEROS 12 provide research-grade field water potential and water content data and connect to ZENTRA Cloud, streamlining visualization, logging, and data access.
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Install. Connect. Interpret. Advance.

With METER, getting consistent, quality data doesn’t require painstaking labor or an in-house expert. Our systems are designed to reduce effort where your work happens, whether you’re in a remote test site or a controlled lab environment. 

Choose your measurement—water retention curves, water potential, soil texture, hydraulic conductivity, or thermal transfer.

Set up in minutes with minimal calibration and intuitive software integration.

Begin automated lab measurements. Or access real-time and historical field data via ZENTRA Cloud from anywhere, and feed it directly into your models.

Better data, cleaner workflows

smarter science

Small errors in soil physics don’t stay small. If your tools aren’t consistent, accurate, and easy to use, the ripple effects can undermine months, or years, of research. Without high-quality physical data, your research may:
Miss key inflection points in soil behavior

Undermine model accuracy and reproducibility

Strain credibility with funders, journals, and collaborators
METER simplifies getting accurate data so your team can focus on insight, your lab and field workflows stay streamlined and synchronized, and you spend less time troubleshooting and more time interpreting.
When your instruments support your scientific process instead of slowing it down, research moves forward faster.

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Mike Hecht Env Client Quote Graphic
"For a soil instrument, it makes a lot more sense to go to people that have more expertise about soil science...than we ever would at JPL. The thermal and electrical conductivity probe (made by METER) was probably the only instrument on the Phoenix Lander that worked perfectly from beginning to end."
Dr. Michael Hecht, NASA JPL

Soil physics solutions

In soil physics, there's no room for second-guessing. Build your results on traceable, consistent, and publication-grade measurements. Explore METER solutions for soil physics.

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Thermal properties

A soil or other material's thermal resistivity and other thermal properties can impact the longevity of in-ground structures, and understanding thermal properties can shed additional light on a material's porosity, moisture content, and saturation. Measure these critical values with the ASTM D5334- and IEEE 442-compliant TEMPOS.

Conductivity

Resistivity

Diffusivity

Specific heat capacity

Resistivity as a function of water content (automated thermal dryout curves)

Use a single soil sample and measure moisture release curves and thermal dryout curves simultaneously with the VARIOS and HYPROP
Use the handheld TEMPOS Thermal Properties Analyzer and a wide range of probe options to measure material thermal conductivity, thermal resistivity, volumetric specific heat, capacity, and thermal diffusivity
Measure a materials thermal resistivity and conductivity with the convenience of the handheld TEMPOS Thermal Properties Analyzer and multiple probe options
Use high precision devices like the TEMPOS Thermal Properties Analyzer to calculate thermal dryout curves, or use the VARIOS for automated calculation.

Lab soil characterization

LABROS is an innovative collection of soil laboratory instruments, each designed to work individually or as part of a larger, automated system. Conduct automated soil particle size analysis and measure soil moisture release curves, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, and thermal conductivity from a single sample.

Soil particle size analysis

Hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soil samples

Soil moisture release curves for soil samples

Hydraulic conductivity of saturated soil samples

Streamline your soil characterization methods by using the LABROS suite of laboratory instruments and software to perform accurate, automated analyses from a single soil sample
Measure both saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity from a single soil sample using HYPROP and KSAT laboratory instruments
Get a complete soil moisture release curve using VARIOS and WP4C lab instruments and LABROS software

Field soil hydraulic properties

Measure the movement and distribution of water in the soil to inform water management, predict soil behavior under a variety of moisture conditions, measure groundwater recharge, or optimize agricultural practices for efficient water usage. Field instruments like the SATURO set the standard for simple, accurate, and time-efficient data collection.

Field saturated hydraulic conductivity

Field unsaturated hydraulic conductivity

Field moisture release curve

Water potential

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management 
Get accurate, in situ hydraulic conductivity measurements with less water and simpler processes using SATURO and the Mini Disk Infiltrometer
Generate in situ soil moisture retention curves using TEROS water content sensors, water potential sensors, and tensiometers installed at multiple depths

Soil moisture

Plant growth, microbial activity, nutrient availability and transport, soil erosion, soil compaction, soil respiration, water infiltration and drainage are all dependent on soil moisture. Measure the amount of water and its availability with our water content and water potential sensors.

Volumetric water content

Water potential

Z See how ZENTRA Cloud can simplify data management 
Measure both water content and availability at a single site by installing TEROS water content sensors and TEROS water potential sensors at multiple depths
Measure the soil moisture profile at multiple depths using a single TEROS profile probe or multiple TEROS water content sensors, all connected to a cloud enabled data logger

ZENTRA System

Customize your data collection and logging solution by combining multiple METER sensors with the ZL6 Data Logger and ZENTRA Cloud. ZENTRA stores your data in the cloud, allowing easy access to your data and near-real-time reports from all of your data loggers.

Avoid costly field visits by accessing your data from any web-connected device. Analyze it with ZENTRA Cloud’s built-in visualization tools, and easily share insights without tracking down log files on individual computers.

Learn more about ZENTRA

ZL6 Data Logger next to a tablet and several screenshots. the tablet and screenshots show data visualizations from ZENTRA Cloud software

LABROS-capable laboratory instruments from METER, including WP4C, KSAT, VARIOS, and PARIO

LABROS System

Streamline your laboratory analyses and reduce human error using the innovative LABROS soil science laboratory collection. Perform automated particle size analysis, generate soil moisture release curves, or measure thermal and hydraulic conductivity with METER laboratory instruments designed to produce accurate analyses in a fraction of the time of other methods.

Even better, LABROS instruments can be combined to perform all of these analyses from a single sample, saving time and reducing measurement errors due to variations in sample characteristics.

See LABROS products

METER is trusted by
Terracon
Brigham Young University
Temple University
Colorado school of mines
See how scientists, growers, and engineers have used METER solutions in the field.
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