Spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture and its influencing factors in a forested catchment with complex terrain

IF 5.4 1区农林科学 Q1 GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Catena Pub Date : 2025-04-25 DOI:10.1016/j.catena.2025.109079

Haochen Liu , Shangqiang Hui , Yuting Zhao , Yanjia Jiang , Yongliang Qi , Elizabeth W. Boyer , Carlos R. Mello , Li Guo , Hongxia Li

{"title":"Spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture and its influencing factors in a forested catchment with complex terrain","authors":"Haochen Liu , Shangqiang Hui , Yuting Zhao , Yanjia Jiang , Yongliang Qi , Elizabeth W. Boyer , Carlos R. Mello , Li Guo , Hongxia Li","doi":"10.1016/j.catena.2025.109079","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture is essential for advancing hydrological, ecological, and agricultural management practices. This study investigates soil moisture dynamics across three distinct hydroclimatic periods (wet, dry, and wet-dry transitions) in a headwater catchment in central Pennsylvania, USA, characterized by heterogeneous soils and variable topography. We aim to elucidate key influencing factors and optimize catchment-scale monitoring strategies. Using the Index of Temporal Stability (ITS), we assessed the temporal stability of soil moisture and identified representative locations. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was applied to explore the impacts of influencing factors on soil moisture variability. Results revealed that dominant controls varied substantially across periods and soil horizons. The temporal stability of soil moisture was the highest during wet periods, primarily governed by topographic attributes, but decreased during dry and transitional periods. During dry periods, soil moisture dynamics were influenced by a combination of soil composition and slope characteristics, while transitional periods exhibited strong sensitivity to Preferential Flow Frequency (PFF) and slope attributes. Among time-variant factors, air temperature and evapotranspiration emerged as critical regulators of soil moisture dynamics. A single representative location, characterized by Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) values close to the catchment’s mean and relatively low PFF, provided robust estimates of areal mean soil moisture across the study period (<em>R<sup>2</sup></em> > 0.86). However, additional monitoring locations were needed to maintain accuracy during dry and transitional periods. These findings improve the understanding of soil moisture variability in forested catchments and offer insights for designing cost-effective monitoring networks to support hydrological modeling and management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9801,"journal":{"name":"Catena","volume":"256 ","pages":"Article 109079"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Catena","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816225003819","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Understanding the spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture is essential for advancing hydrological, ecological, and agricultural management practices. This study investigates soil moisture dynamics across three distinct hydroclimatic periods (wet, dry, and wet-dry transitions) in a headwater catchment in central Pennsylvania, USA, characterized by heterogeneous soils and variable topography. We aim to elucidate key influencing factors and optimize catchment-scale monitoring strategies. Using the Index of Temporal Stability (ITS), we assessed the temporal stability of soil moisture and identified representative locations. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was applied to explore the impacts of influencing factors on soil moisture variability. Results revealed that dominant controls varied substantially across periods and soil horizons. The temporal stability of soil moisture was the highest during wet periods, primarily governed by topographic attributes, but decreased during dry and transitional periods. During dry periods, soil moisture dynamics were influenced by a combination of soil composition and slope characteristics, while transitional periods exhibited strong sensitivity to Preferential Flow Frequency (PFF) and slope attributes. Among time-variant factors, air temperature and evapotranspiration emerged as critical regulators of soil moisture dynamics. A single representative location, characterized by Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) values close to the catchment’s mean and relatively low PFF, provided robust estimates of areal mean soil moisture across the study period (R² > 0.86). However, additional monitoring locations were needed to maintain accuracy during dry and transitional periods. These findings improve the understanding of soil moisture variability in forested catchments and offer insights for designing cost-effective monitoring networks to support hydrological modeling and management.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

复杂地形森林流域土壤水分时空变异特征及其影响因素

了解土壤湿度的时空变化对于推进水文、生态和农业管理实践至关重要。本研究调查了美国宾夕法尼亚州中部一个以异质土壤和可变地形为特征的水源集水区三个不同水文气候时期（湿、干和干湿过渡）的土壤水分动态。我们的目标是阐明关键影响因素，优化流域尺度监测策略。利用时间稳定性指数（ITS）评价了土壤水分的时间稳定性，并确定了具有代表性的地点。采用冗余分析（RDA）方法探讨影响因子对土壤水分变异的影响。结果表明，优势控制在不同时期和土壤层位上有很大差异。土壤水分的时间稳定性在丰水期最高，主要受地形属性的影响，而在干旱期和过渡时期则有所下降。在干旱期，土壤水分动态受土壤成分和坡度特征的共同影响，而过渡时期则对优先流频率（PFF）和坡度属性表现出强烈的敏感性。在时变因子中，气温和蒸散发是土壤水分动态的重要调节因子。地形湿度指数（TWI）值接近流域平均值，PFF相对较低，具有代表性的单一地点提供了整个研究期间面积平均土壤湿度的可靠估计(R2 >；0.86)。但是，在干旱和过渡时期需要额外的监测地点以保持准确性。这些发现提高了对森林流域土壤湿度变化的理解，并为设计具有成本效益的监测网络提供了见解，以支持水文建模和管理。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Catena 环境科学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

10.50

自引率

9.70%

发文量

816

审稿时长

54 days

期刊介绍： Catena publishes papers describing original field and laboratory investigations and reviews on geoecology and landscape evolution with emphasis on interdisciplinary aspects of soil science, hydrology and geomorphology. It aims to disseminate new knowledge and foster better understanding of the physical environment, of evolutionary sequences that have resulted in past and current landscapes, and of the natural processes that are likely to determine the fate of our terrestrial environment. Papers within any one of the above topics are welcome provided they are of sufficiently wide interest and relevance.