scholarly journals The development and persistence of soil moisture stress during drought across southwestern Germany

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 2009-2025
Author(s):  
Erik Tijdeman ◽  
Lucas Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Development Time ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Grid Cells ◽  
Soil Moisture Stress ◽  
Strong Control

Abstract. The drought of 2018 in central and northern Europe showed once more the large impact that this natural hazard can have on the environment and society. Such droughts are often seen as slowly developing phenomena. However, root zone soil moisture deficits can rapidly develop during periods lacking precipitation and meteorological conditions that favor high evapotranspiration rates. These periods of soil moisture stress can persist for as long as the meteorological drought conditions last, thereby negatively affecting vegetation and crop health. In this study, we aim to characterize past soil moisture stress events over the croplands of southwestern Germany and, furthermore, to relate the characteristics of these past events to different soil and climate properties. We first simulated daily soil moisture over the period 1989–2018 on a 1 km resolution grid, using the physically based hydrological model TRAIN. We then derived various soil moisture stress characteristics, including probability, development time, and persistence, from the simulated time series of all agricultural grid cells (n≈15 000). Logistic regression and correlation were then applied to relate the derived characteristics to the plant-available storage capacity of the root zone and to the climatological setting. Finally, sensitivity analyses were carried out to investigate how results changed when using a different parameterization of the root zone, i.e., soil based or fixed, or when assessing soil moisture drought (anomaly) instead of stress. Results reveal that the majority of agricultural grid cells across the study region reached soil moisture stress during prominent drought years. The development time of these soil moisture stress events varied substantially, from as little as 10 d to over 4 months. The persistence of soil moisture stress varied as well and was especially high for the drought of 2018. A strong control on the probability and development time of soil moisture stress was found to be the storage capacity of the root zone, whereas the persistence was not strongly linearly related to any of the considered controls. On the other hand, the sensitivity analyses revealed the increased control of climate on soil moisture stress characteristics when using a fixed instead of a soil-based root zone storage. Thus, the strength of different controls depends on the assumptions made during modeling. Nonetheless, the storage capacity of the root zone, whether it is a characteristic of the soil or a difference between a shallow or deep rooting crop, remains an important control on soil moisture stress characteristics. This is different for SM drought characteristics, which have little or contrasting relation with the storage capacity of the root zone. Overall, the results give insight to the large spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture stress characteristics and suggest the importance of considering differences in root zone soil storage for agricultural drought assessments.

scholarly journals Controls on the development and persistence of soil moisture drought across Southwestern Germany

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Tijdeman ◽  
Lucas Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Development Time ◽  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Grid Cells ◽  
Study Region

Abstract. The drought of 2018 in Central and Northern Europe showed once more the large impact this natural hazard can have on the environment and society. Such droughts are often seen as slowly developing phenomena. However, root zone soil moisture deficits can rapidly develop during periods of lacking precipitation and meteorological conditions that favour high evapotranspiration rates. These periods of soil moisture drought stress can persist for as long as the meteorological drought conditions last, thereby negatively affecting vegetation and crop health. In this study, we aim to characterize past soil moisture drought stress events over the cropland of South-Western Germany as well as to relate the characteristics of these past events to different soil and climate properties. We first simulated daily soil moisture over the period 1989–2018 on a 1-km resolution grid using the physical based hydrological model TRAIN. We then derived various soil moisture drought stress characteristics; likelihood, development time and persistence, from the simulated time series of all agricultural grid cells (n ≈ 15 000). Logistic regression and correlation were then applied to relate the derived characteristics to the storage capacity of the root zone as well as to the climatological setting. Results reveal that the majority of the agricultural grid cells across the study region reached soil moisture drought stress during prominent drought years. The development time of these soil moisture drought stress events varied substantially, from as little as 10 days to up to 4 months. The persistence of soil moisture drought stress varied as well and was especially high for the drought of 2018. The dominant control on the likelihood and development time of soil moisture drought stress was found to be the storage capacity of the root zone, whereas the persistence was not strongly linearly related to any of the considered controls. Overall, results give insights in the large spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture drought stress characteristics and highlight the importance of considering differences in root zone soil storage for agricultural drought assessments.

scholarly journals Effect of soil moisture stress on growth light azimuth and yield of dryland sorghum

MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-264
Author(s):  
H. P. DAS ◽  
A. N. KALE ◽  
A. S. PONKSHE
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Growth Cycle ◽  
Yield Reduction ◽  
Soil Moisture Stress ◽  
Growing Period ◽  
Moisture Balance ◽  
Soil Moisture Balance

Based on weekly data for 4 years (1986-1989) at Bellary, soil moisture balance for rabi sorghum has been worked out for both irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. These soil moisture values have been used to identify periods of water stress which the crop experienced. during the growth cycle. The extent of yield reduction due to the stress was then evaluated from the actual soil water content and total available water extent and discussed. The ratio of evapotranspiration to potential evapotranspiration and water requirement of the crop has also been worked out to assess the stress situation of the crop during its growing period. This ratio has been found to be related to moisture availability at the root zone.

scholarly journals On the utility of land surface models for agricultural drought monitoring

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 3451-3460 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. T. Crow ◽  
S. V. Kumar ◽  
J. D. Bolten
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Drought Monitoring ◽  
Global Evaluation ◽  
Land Surface Models ◽  
Surface Models

Abstract. The lagged rank cross-correlation between model-derived root-zone soil moisture estimates and remotely sensed vegetation indices (VI) is examined between January 2000 and December 2010 to quantify the skill of various soil moisture models for agricultural drought monitoring. Examined modeling strategies range from a simple antecedent precipitation index to the application of modern land surface models (LSMs) based on complex water and energy balance formulations. A quasi-global evaluation of lagged VI/soil moisture cross-correlation suggests, when globally averaged across the entire annual cycle, soil moisture estimates obtained from complex LSMs provide little added skill (< 5% in relative terms) in anticipating variations in vegetation condition relative to a simplified water accounting procedure based solely on observed precipitation. However, larger amounts of added skill (5–15% in relative terms) can be identified when focusing exclusively on the extra-tropical growing season and/or utilizing soil moisture values acquired by averaging across a multi-model ensemble.

scholarly journals Improved understanding of drought controls on seasonal variation in Mediterranean forest canopy CO<sub>2</sub> and water fluxes through combined in situ measurements and ecosystem modelling

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 1423-1444 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Keenan ◽  
R. García ◽  
A. D. Friend ◽  
S. Zaehle ◽  
C. Gracia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystems ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Water Fluxes ◽  
Soil Moisture Stress ◽  
Dynamic Global Vegetation Model ◽  
Forest Growth Model

Abstract. Water stress is a defining characteristic of Mediterranean ecosystems, and is likely to become more severe in the coming decades. Simulation models are key tools for making predictions, but our current understanding of how soil moisture controls ecosystem functioning is not sufficient to adequately constrain parameterisations. Canopy-scale flux data from four forest ecosystems with Mediterranean-type climates were used in order to analyse the physiological controls on carbon and water flues through the year. Significant non-stomatal limitations on photosynthesis were detected, along with lesser changes in the conductance-assimilation relationship. New model parameterisations were derived and implemented in two contrasting modelling approaches. The effectiveness of two models, one a dynamic global vegetation model ("ORCHIDEE"), and the other a forest growth model particularly developed for Mediterranean simulations ("GOTILWA+"), was assessed and modelled canopy responses to seasonal changes in soil moisture were analysed in comparison with in situ flux measurements. In contrast to commonly held assumptions, we find that changing the ratio of conductance to assimilation under natural, seasonally-developing, soil moisture stress is not sufficient to reproduce forest canopy CO2 and water fluxes. However, accurate predictions of both CO2 and water fluxes under all soil moisture levels encountered in the field are obtained if photosynthetic capacity is assumed to vary with soil moisture. This new parameterisation has important consequences for simulated responses of carbon and water fluxes to seasonal soil moisture stress, and should greatly improve our ability to anticipate future impacts of climate changes on the functioning of ecosystems in Mediterranean-type climates.

scholarly journals Erratum: Effect of soil moisture stress from flowering to grain maturity on functional properties of Sri Lankan rice flour

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 392-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil Gunaratne ◽  
Upul Kumari Ratnayaka ◽  
Nihal Sirisena ◽  
Jennet Ratnayaka ◽  
Xiangli Kong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Functional Properties ◽  
Rice Flour ◽  
Moisture Stress ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Soil Moisture Stress

Characterising recent drought events using current reanalysis and remote-sensing soil moisture products within a common framework

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Hirschi ◽  
Bas Crezee ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Microwave Remote Sensing ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Data Store ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Long Term Trends

&lt;p&gt;Drought events cause multiple impacts on the environment, the society and the economy. Here, we analyse recent major drought events with different metrics using a common framework. The analysis is based on current reanalysis (ERA5, ERA5-Land, MERRA-2) and merged remote-sensing products (ESA-CCI soil moisture, gridded satellite soil moisture from the Copernicus Climate Data Store), focusing on soil moisture (or agricultural) drought. The events are characterised by their severity, magnitude, duration and spatial extent, which are calculated from standardised daily anomalies of surface and root-zone soil moisture. We investigate the ability of the different products to represent the droughts and set the different events in context to each other. The considered products also offer opportunities for drought monitoring since they are available in near-real time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All investigated products are able to represent the investigated drought events. Overall, ERA5 and ERA5-Land often show the strongest, and the remote-sensing products often weaker responses based on surface soil moisture. The weaker severities of the events in the remote-sensing products are both related to shorter event durations as well as less pronounced average negative standardised soil moisture anomalies, while the magnitudes (i.e., the minimum of the standardised anomalies over time) are comparable to the reanalysis products. Differing global distributions of long-term trends may explain some differences in the drought responses of the products. Also, the lower penetration depth of microwave remote sensing compared to the top layer of the involved land surface models could explain the partly weaker negative standardized soil moisture anomalies in the remote-sensing products during the investigated events. In the root zone (based on the reanalysis products), the drought events often show prolonged durations, but weaker magnitudes and smaller spatial extents.&lt;/p&gt;

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