Qualitative soil moisture assessment in semi-arid Africa – the role of experience and training on inter-rater reliability

Rinderer, M.; Komakech, H. C.; Müller, D.; Wiesenberg, G. L. B.; Seibert, J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3505-2015

Articles | Volume 19, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3505-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3505-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 8

Research article

|

10 Aug 2015

Research article |

| 10 Aug 2015

Qualitative soil moisture assessment in semi-arid Africa – the role of experience and training on inter-rater reliability

M. Rinderer, H. C. Komakech, D. Müller, G. L. B. Wiesenberg, and J. Seibert

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Final revised paper (published on 10 Aug 2015)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 17 Mar 2015)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC C1015: 'Comments on 'Qualitative soil moisture assessment in semi-arid Africa', Anonymous Referee #1, 14 Apr 2015
RC C1189: 'Review of HESS-2015-8', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Apr 2015
AC C2248: 'Response to reviewer 1', Michael Rinderer, 26 Jun 2015
AC C2252: 'Response to reviewer 2', Michael Rinderer, 26 Jun 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (Editor review) (02 Jul 2015) by Wolfgang Wagner

AR by Michael Rinderer on behalf of the Authors (05 Jul 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (20 Jul 2015) by Wolfgang Wagner

AR by Michael Rinderer on behalf of the Authors (20 Jul 2015)

Short summary

A field method for assessing soil moisture in semi-arid conditions is proposed and tested in terms of inter-rater reliability with 40 Tanzanian farmers, students and experts. The seven wetness classes are based on qualitative indicators that one can see, feel or hear. It could be shown that the qualitative wetness classes reflect differences in volumetric water content and neither experience nor a certain level of education was a prerequisite to gain high agreement among raters.