Soil Moisture Memory: State-Of-The-Art and the Way Forward

Abstract

Soil moisture is an essential climate variable of the Earth system. Understanding its spatiotemporal dynamics is essential for predicting weather patterns and climate variability, monitoring and mitigating the effects and occurrence of droughts and floods, improving irrigation in agricultural areas, and sustainably managing water resources. Here we review in depth how soils can remember information on soil moisture anomalies over time, as embedded in the concept of soil moisture memory (SMM). We explain the mechanisms underlying SMM and explore its external and internal drivers; we also discuss the impacts of SMM on different land surface processes, focusing on soil-plant-atmosphere coupling. We explore the spatiotemporal variability, seasonality, locality, and depth-dependence of SMM and provide insights into both improving its characterization in land surface models and using satellite observations to quantify it. Finally, we offer guidance for further research on SMM.