GLOSOLAN-Spectroscopy webinar | Effect of analytical measurement errors on predictive models | 11th June 1:00pm - 2:30 pm CET
Laboratory soil data are prone to imperfections. There are many sources that can cause such measurement errors, and they can occur in different stages of the laboratory analysis process. Systematic and random errors can be caused by, for instance, a sloppy analist or indoor environmental conditions that affect the outcome of the experiment. When soil data with analytical measurement errors are used to calibrate predictive soil models, these errors will propagate and affect model performance. This webinar will give an explanation on what analytical measurement errors are, how they can be quantified and will provide insight in how different degrees of analytical measurement error affect the accuracy of predictive models. Furthermore, recommendations will be provided on how to deal with analytical measurement errors while deriving spectral and other predictive soil models.
Speaker: Dr. Cynthia van Leeuwen
Biography: Dr. Cynthia van Leeuwen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Soil Geography and Landscape group of Wageningen University. She works for the ReGeNL project, a project aiming to transform the Dutch agricultural sector into a regenerative, sustainable, and future-proof industry. She uses remote sensing techniques to support monitoring and modelling efforts in the project. Previously, she completed her PhD thesis, titled ‘Statistical modelling of analytical and spectral soil measurement errors’, in 2024 at ISRIC and Wageningen University. In this thesis, analytical and spectral measurement errors in soil data were quantified, emphasizing the importance of informing data users about these errors before calibrating and validating models. Measurement errors propagate through soil models and can drastically reduce model performance and prediction uncertainty. In this thesis, the sensitivity of widely employed models within the soil science community to analytical and spectral measurement errors was studied.