At the watershed scale, soil moisture is the major control for rainfall–runoff response, especially where saturation excess runoff processes dominate. From the ecological point of view, the pools of soil moisture are fundamental ecosystem resources providing the transpirable water for plants. In drylands particularly, soil moisture is one of the major controls on the structure, function, and diversity in ecosystems. In terms of the global hydrological cycle, the overall quantity of soil moisture is small, ∼0.05%; however, its importance to the global energy balance and the distribution of precipitation far outweighs its physical amount. In soils it governs microbial activity that affects important biogeochemical processes such as nitrification and CO2 production via respiration. During the past 20 years, technology has advanced considerably, with the development of different electrical sensors for determining soil moisture at a point. However, modeling of watersheds requires areal averages. As a result, point measurements and modeling grid cell data requirements are generally incommensurate. We review advances in sensor technology, particularly emerging geophysical methods and distributed sensors, aimed at bridging this gap. We consider some of the data analysis methods for upscaling from a point to give an areal average. Finally, we conclude by offering a vision for future research, listing many of the current scientific and technical challenges.

/pdf/soil-moisture-measurement-for-ecological-and-hydrological-1jak2uhu52.pdf

Soil Moisture Measurement for Ecological and Hydrological Watershed-Scale Observatories: A Review

[1] We explore and review the value of soil moisture measurements in vadose zone hydrology with a focus on the field and catchment scales This review is motivated by the increasing ability to measure soil moisture with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution across scales We highlight and review the state of the art in using soil moisture measurements for (1) estimation of soil hydraulic properties, (2) quantification of water and energy fluxes, and (3) retrieval of spatial and temporal dynamics of soil moisture profiles We argue for the urgent need to have access to field monitoring sites and databases that include detailed information about variability of hydrological fluxes and parameters, including their upscaled values In addition, improved data assimilation methods are needed that fully exploit the information contained in soil moisture data The development of novel upscaling methods for predicting effective moisture fluxes and disaggregation schemes toward integrating large-scale soil moisture measurements in hydrological models will increase the value of soil moisture measurements Finally, we recognize a need to develop strategies that combine hydrogeophysical measurement techniques with remote sensing methods

/pdf/on-the-value-of-soil-moisture-measurements-in-vadose-zone-21mx8q831k.pdf

On the value of soil moisture measurements in vadose zone hydrology: a review

http://mmc2.geofisica.unam.mx/cursos///gest/Articulos/Geostatistics/Modelling%20soil%20variation%20past,%20present,%20and%20future.pdf

Modelling soil variation: past, present, and future

Soil moisture is fundamental to ecosystem sustainability in semi-arid regions, and characterizing the response of temporal soil moisture variation to different vegetation types is important for assessing the sustainability of vegetation restoration. In this study, the soil moisture among eight typical types of vegetation is investigated and compared during three rainy seasons. The temporal variations of soil moisture in the near-surface (0–0.4 m), sub-surface (0.4–1.0 m), and deep layers (1.0–2.0 m) are explored to evaluate the ecohydrological effect of vegetation restoration in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. The results show that soil moisture content decreases drastically after vegetation restoration, with no significant difference in near-surface soil moisture among the vegetation types but significant differences in the sub-surface and deep soil layers. Introduced vegetation is the main factor affecting the soil moisture deficit below near-surface layers. Secondly, soil moisture is temporally stable in the sub-surface and deep layers, especially in introduced vegetation. This indicates that introduced vegetation consumes excessive amount of soil moisture and induces temporally stable soil desiccation. Soil desiccation with temporal stability cannot provide enough available soil moisture for plants and will inevitably threaten the sustainability of vegetation restoration and the associated ecosystem services. Lastly, high planting density is the main cause of severe soil moisture deficit on a long-term temporal scale. Our study results suggest that the current planting density of introduced vegetation is too high in specific cases and should be optimized with local soil moisture conditions in semi-arid regions.

Response of temporal variation of soil moisture to vegetation restoration in semi-arid Loess Plateau, China

http://sourcedb.igsnrr.cas.cn/zw/stxtsys/syslw/201009/P020100925376130167686.pdf

Watershed scale temporal stability of soil water content

Spatio-temporal patterns and covariance structures of soil water status in two Northeast-German field sites

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Spatio-temporal patterns and covariance structures of soil water status in two Northeast-German field sites