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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #311000
Title: On the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture at the field scale

Author
item VEREECKEN, HARRY - Julich Research Center
item HUISMAN, ALEXANDER - Julich Research Center
item Pachepsky, Yakov
item MONTZKA, CARSTEN - Julich Research Center
item VAN DER, KRUK - Julich Research Center
item BOGENA, HEYE - Julich Research Center
item WEIHEMULLER, LOUIS - Julich Research Center
item HERBST, MICHAEL - Julich Research Center
item MARTINEZ, GONZALO - Universidad Nacional De Cordoba
item VANDERBORGHT, JAN - Julich Research Center

Submitted to: Journal of Hydrology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2014
Publication Date: 12/25/2014
Citation: Vereecken, H., Huisman, A., Pachepsky, Y.A., Montzka, C., Van Der, K., Bogena, H., Weihemuller, L., Herbst, M., Martinez, G., Vanderborght, J. 2014. On the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture at the field scale. Journal of Hydrology. 516:76-96.

Interpretive Summary: The importance of knowledge about soil water availability and movement cannot be overestimated. A summary of the state-of-the-art with regard to measurements and predictions of soil water contents and fluxes at the field scale is long overdue. This paper fills the existing gap in the literature by presenting a comprehensive, and yet relative concise, overview of this rapidly developing area of soil hydrology. This work is expected to attract substantial interest among agronomy and environmental professionals, as the importance of soil moisture grows enormously in light of responses to climate change (drought).

Technical Abstract: In this paper, we review the state of the art of characterizing and analyzing spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture content at the field scale. We discuss measurement techniques that have become available in recent years and that provide unique opportunities to characterize field scale soil moisture variability with high spatial and/or temporal resolution. These include soil moisture sensor networks, hydrogeophysical measurement techniques, novel remote sensing platforms, and cosmic ray probes. Techniques and methods to analyze soil moisture fields are briefly discussed and include temporal stability analysis, wavelet analysis and empirical orthogonal functions. We revisit local and non-local controls on field scale soil moisture dynamics and discuss approaches to model these dynamics at the field scale. Finally, we address the topic of optimal measurement design and provide an outlook and future research perspectives.