Articles | Volume 18, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6921-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Fitting the junction model and other parameterizations for the unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity curve: KRIAfitter version 1.0
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- Final revised paper (published on 08 Oct 2025)
- Preprint (discussion started on 17 Jan 2025)
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
| : Report abuse
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3487', Katsutoshi Seki, 23 May 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Gerrit H. de Rooij, 24 Jun 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3487', Anonymous Referee #2, 16 Jun 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Gerrit H. de Rooij, 24 Jun 2025
Peer review completion
AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
AR by Gerrit H. de Rooij on behalf of the Authors (24 Jun 2025)
Author's response
EF by Katja Gänger (01 Jul 2025)
Manuscript
EF by Katja Gänger (01 Jul 2025)
Author's tracked changes
ED: Publish as is (29 Jul 2025) by Richard Mills

AR by Gerrit H. de Rooij on behalf of the Authors (29 Jul 2025)
Manuscript
General Comment
This paper presents a range of models for unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity curves (UHCCs), differing in how they combine approaches across three conceptual domains. Building on the author’s previous work (de Rooij, 2024a), the paper introduces a new model, JUV, alongside earlier models (ADV, AMV, GMV, HMV, KGV), as summarized in lines 399–404. The use of the RIAfitter and KRIAfitter programs for model comparison is commendable, and it is particularly valuable that all data, code, and results are openly provided. The full description of the fitting procedures enhances the reproducibility of the research.
For each model, five parameter fitting strategies were tested, as outlined in lines 370–374. Among these, methods 2 and 5 rely on SWRC parameters that have already been fitted from retention curve data, whereas methods 1, 3, and 4 re-fit all parameters, including those of the SWRC. This is somewhat confusing, given that line 188 states: “Before KRIAfitter 1.0 can be run to determine the values of the parameters of the chosen UHCC model for a particular soil, the parameters of the SWRC of Eqs. (1a–d) need to be fitted using RIAfitter 2.0.” If SWRC parameters are already known, it is unclear why they are re-fitted during UHCC fitting. If these parameters change during the UHCC fitting, then the SWRC curve would no longer match the originally fitted SWRC. This raises the question of whether the SWRC parameters in the SWRC equations are treated as independent from those in the UHCC equations (e.g., is the "n" in SWRC distinct from the "n" in UHCC?). From a modeling standpoint, it would seem more logical to fix the SWRC parameters and only fit the additional UHCC parameters, as is done in methods 2 and 5.
Specific Comments
Technical Comment
References