Soil moisture variations from boreal forests to tundra ...

• Main Authors: Kemppinen, Julia, Niittynen, Pekka, Rissanen, Tuuli, Tyystjärvi, Vilna, Aalto, Juha, Luoto, Miska
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2023
• Subjects: Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6406562; https://zenodo.org/record/6406562

Soil moisture has a profound influence on life on Earth, and this vital water resource varies across space and time. Here, we explored soil moisture variations in boreal forest and tundra environments, where comprehensive soil moisture datasets are scarce. We installed soil moisture sensors up to 14 cm depth at 503 measurement sites within seven study areas across northern Europe. We recorded 6 138 528 measurements to capture soil moisture variations of the snowless season from April to September 2020. We described the spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture, and test how these patterns are linked to topography and how these links vary in space and time. We found large spatial variation and often less pronounced temporal variation in soil moisture across the measurement sites within all study areas. We found that throughout the measurement periods both univariate and multivariate models with topographic predictors showed great temporal variation in their performance and in the relative influence of the ...