Back to Search
Start Over
Investigating the Relationship between the Evaporative Stress Index and Land Surface Conditions in the Contiguous United States.
- Source :
-
Journal of Hydrometeorology . Jul2020, Vol. 21 Issue 7, p1469-1484. 16p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Despite the key importance of soil moisture-evapotranspiration (ET) coupling in the climate system, limited availability of soil moisture and ET observations poses a major impediment for investigation of this coupling regarding spatiotemporal characteristics and potential modifications under climate change. To better understand and quantify soil moisture-ET coupling and relevant processes, this study takes advantage of in situ soil moisture observations from the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) for the time period of 2010-17 and a satellite-derived version of the evapotranspiration stress index (ESI), which represents anomalies in a normalized ratio of actual to reference ET. The analyses reveal strong seasonality and regional characteristics of the ESI-land surface interactions across the United States, with the strongest control of soil moisture on the ESI found in the southern Great Plains during spring, and in the north-central United States, the northern Great Plains, and the Pacific Northwest during summer. In drier climate regions such as the northern Great Plains and north-central United States, soil moisture control on the ESI is confined to surface soil layers, with subsurface soil moisture passively responding to changes in the ESI. The soil moisture-ESI interaction is more uniform between surface and subsurface soils in wetter regions with higher vegetation cover. These results provide a benchmark for simulation of soil moisture-ET coupling and are useful for projection of associated climate processes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1525755X
- Volume :
- 21
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Hydrometeorology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 145396789
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-19-0205.1