Preface: Illuminating soil's hidden dimensions, a decade of progress and future directions in agrogeophysics research

Abstract. One century ago, within the context of crop yield investigations conducted at Rothamsted Research in the UK, William Haines and Bernard Keen measured the spatial variability of soil mechanical resistance attaching a dynamometer to a plough, and argued: “a measurement of the degree of variation of soil characteristics over any area on which variety, or manurial, or implement trials are being made, would be of the greatest value”. This initial idea has since grown, acknowledging the links between agricultural management and soil variability, giving rise to the field of Agrogeophysics. This discipline has evolved to harness geophysical methods for non-invasive, multiscale mapping and monitoring of key soil properties as well as physical, chemical and biological processes occurring in the plant-soil-atmosphere continuum. These range from soil texture, soil structure, and water fluxes to soil organic carbon and nutrient dynamics, all which are highly relevant for climate regulation, as well as food and water security. In this preface, we present an overview of advances to the field of Agrogeophysics in the last decade and discuss how the contributions to the Special Issue “Agrogeophysics: Illuminating soil's hidden dimensions” may help addressing major agricultural and related environmental challenges. We expect agrogeophysical studies to continue growing to help lessen the pressure of our agricultural lands caused by food demands of a growing population and climate change induced decline.