scholarly journals Towards establishing an Irish National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Hochstrasser ◽  
Caren Jarmain ◽  
Klara Finkele ◽  
Paul Murphy ◽  
Owen Fenton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Hydrologic Cycle ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Soil Moisture Monitoring

<p>The hydrologic cycle is currently being altered due to climate change and the potential impacts are diverse. Long-term monitoring of the components of this cycle will aid our understanding of these changes. Soil moisture is one of the components often neglected, with few long-term datasets available. It is an important variable, regulating the exchange of water and heat energy between the land surface and the atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration. Our understanding of soil moisture dynamics is often limited, and an expansion of the current monitoring network holds many benefits. Recently, a process was initiated to establish an effective Irish National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network. This network aims to be research question driven, consistent in its measurement approach and designed to be useful for ongoing research. Here we report on the consultation process that started in early 2020 within the Irish Agmet group, a working group on Agrometeorology. Specifically, we (1) provide background to the consultation process that showed widespread support for a long-term soil moisture monitoring network which led to funding applications to establish this network, (2) review initiatives underway to monitor soil moisture and other components of the hydrologic cycle and highlight the benefits of long-term widespread measurements to various initiatives and sectors, (3) suggest new and novel monitoring technologies that will be investigated and (4) provide an implementation strategy for what is anticipated to be an efficient and successful network. The paper should serve as a starting point to obtaining widespread support for a national hydro-climate monitoring network.</p>

scholarly journals The Murrumbidgee soil moisture monitoring network data set

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Smith ◽  
J. P. Walker ◽  
A. W. Western ◽  
R. I. Young ◽  
K. M. Ellett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Network Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Soil Moisture Monitoring

scholarly journals Using Long-Term Earth Observation Data to Reveal the Factors Contributing to the Early 2020 Desert Locust Upsurge and the Resulting Vegetation Loss

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 680
Author(s):  
Lei Wang ◽  
Wen Zhuo ◽  
Zhifang Pei ◽  
Xingyuan Tong ◽  
Wei Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Vegetation Coverage ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Desert Locust ◽  
Meteorological Observations ◽  
Earth Observation Data ◽  
Vegetation Loss

Massive desert locust swarms have been threatening and devouring natural vegetation and agricultural crops in East Africa and West Asia since 2019, and the event developed into a rare and globally concerning locust upsurge in early 2020. The breeding, maturation, concentration and migration of locusts rely on appropriate environmental factors, mainly precipitation, temperature, vegetation coverage and land-surface soil moisture. Remotely sensed images and long-term meteorological observations across the desert locust invasion area were analyzed to explore the complex drivers, vegetation losses and growing trends during the locust upsurge in this study. The results revealed that (1) the intense precipitation events in the Arabian Peninsula during 2018 provided suitable soil moisture and lush vegetation, thus promoting locust breeding, multiplication and gregarization; (2) the regions affected by the heavy rainfall in 2019 shifted from the Arabian Peninsula to West Asia and Northeast Africa, thus driving the vast locust swarms migrating into those regions and causing enormous vegetation loss; (3) the soil moisture and NDVI anomalies corresponded well with the locust swarm movements; and (4) there was a low chance the eastwardly migrating locust swarms would fly into the Indochina Peninsula and Southwest China.

scholarly journals Bellwether sites for evaluating changes in landslide frequency and magnitude in cryospheric mountainous terrain: a call for systematic, long-term observations to decipher the impact of climate change

Landslides ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 2483-2501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Coe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Slope Stability ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Mountainous Terrain ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Landslide Occurrence ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Ice Field ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Permafrost and glaciers are being degraded by the warming effects of climate change. The impact that this degradation has on slope stability in mountainous terrain is the subject of ongoing research efforts. The relatively new availability of high-resolution (≤ 10 m) imagery with worldwide coverage and short (≤ 30 days) repeat acquisition times, as well as the emerging field of environmental seismology, presents opportunities for making remote, systematic observations of landslides in cryospheric mountainous terrain. I reviewed the literature and evaluated landslide activity in existing imagery to select five ~ 5000-km2 sites where long-term, systematic observations could take place. The five proposed sites are the northern and eastern flanks of the Northern Patagonia Ice Field, the Western European Alps, the eastern Karakoram Range in the Himalayan Mountains, the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and the Fairweather Range in Southeast Alaska. Systematic observations of landslide occurrence, triggers, size, and travel distance at these sites, especially if coupled with observations from in situ instrumental monitoring, could lead to a better understanding of changes in slope stability induced by climate change. The suggested sites are not meant to be absolute and unalterable. Rather, they are intended as a starting point and discussion starter for new work in this expanding landslide research frontier.

scholarly journals The Influence of Atlantic Tropical Cyclones on Drought over the Eastern United States (1980–2007)

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3067-3086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonghun Kam ◽  
Justin Sheffield ◽  
Xing Yuan ◽  
Eric F. Wood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Drought Duration ◽  
Study Region

Abstract To assess the influence of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) on the eastern U.S. drought regime, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface hydrologic model was run over the eastern United States forced by the North American Land Data Assimilation System phase 2 (NLDAS-2) analysis with and without TC-related precipitation for the period 1980–2007. A drought was defined in terms of soil moisture as a prolonged period below a percentile threshold. Different duration droughts were analyzed—short term (longer than 30 days) and long term (longer than 90 days)—as well as different drought severities corresponding to the 10th, 15th, and 20th percentiles of soil moisture depth. With TCs, droughts are shorter in duration and of a lesser spatial extent. Tropical cyclones variously impact soil moisture droughts via late drought initiation, weakened drought intensity, and early drought recovery. At regional scales, TCs decreased the average duration of moderately severe short-term and long-term droughts by less than 4 (10% of average drought duration per year) and more than 5 (15%) days yr−1, respectively. Also, they removed at least two short-term and one long-term drought events over 50% of the study region. Despite the damage inflicted directly by TCs, they play a crucial role in the alleviation and removal of drought for some years and seasons, with important implications for water resources and agriculture.

Useful Drainage Estimates Obtained from a Large-Scale Soil Moisture Monitoring Network by Applying the Unit-Gradient Assumption

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. vzj2017.01.0016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana M. Wyatt ◽  
Tyson E. Ochsner ◽  
Christopher A. Fiebrich ◽  
Christopher R. Neel ◽  
David S. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Soil Moisture Monitoring

Long-Term Climate and Derived Surface Hydrology and Energy Flux Data for Mexico: 1925–2004

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1936-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunmei Zhu ◽  
Dennis P. Lettenmaier
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
North American ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Infiltration Capacity ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Downward Longwave Radiation

Abstract Studying the role of land surface conditions in the Mexican portion of the North American monsoon system (NAMS) region has been a challenge due to the paucity of long-term observations. A long-term gridded observation-based climate dataset suitable for forcing land surface models, as well as model-derived land surface states and fluxes for a domain consisting of all of Mexico, is described. The datasets span the period of January 1925–October 2004 at 1/8° spatial resolution at a subdaily (3 h) time step. The simulated runoff matches the observations plausibly over most of the 14 small river basins spanning all of Mexico, which suggests that long-term mean evapotranspiration is realistically reproduced. On this basis, and given the physically based model parameterizations of soil moisture and energy fluxes, the other surface fluxes and state variables such as soil moisture should be represented reasonably. In addition, a comparison of the surface fluxes from this study is performed with North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data on a seasonal mean basis. The results indicate that downward shortwave radiation is generally smaller than in the NARR data, especially in summer. Net radiation, on the other hand, is somewhat larger in the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological model than in the NARR data for much of the year over much of the domain. The differences in radiative and turbulent fluxes are attributed to (i) the parameterization used in the VIC forcings for solar and downward longwave radiation, which links them to the daily temperature and temperature range, and (ii) differences in the land surface parameterizations used in VIC and the NCEP–Oregon State University–U.S. Air Force–NWS/Hydrologic Research Lab (Noah) land scheme used in NARR.

SMOSREX: A long term field campaign experiment for soil moisture and land surface processes remote sensing

2006 ◽  
Vol 102 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 377-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia de Rosnay ◽  
Jean-Christophe Calvet ◽  
Yann Kerr ◽  
Jean-Pierre Wigneron ◽  
François Lemaître ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Processes ◽  
Land Surface Processes ◽  
Field Campaign ◽  
Term Field
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