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Updated: Sep 4, 2025

In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils
Published on: November 18, 2022
Can Surface Soil Moisture Information Identify Evapotranspiration Regime Transitions?
Jianzhi Dong1,2, Ruzbeh Akbar1, Daniel J Short Gianotti1
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
Surface soil moisture (θs) and integrated soil moisture (θ) robustly identify evapotranspiration regime transitions. Both measurements capture similar data on evapotranspiration prevalence, supporting remote sensing for land-atmosphere exchange studies.
Area of Science:
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Hydrology
- Atmospheric Science
Background:
- Evapotranspiration (ET) transitions between energy- and water-limited regimes, indicating nonlinear changes in land-atmosphere coupling.
- Soil moisture is a key driver of ET regimes, but remotely sensed soil moisture's shallow depth may limit its utility.
- Plant root systems access water deeper in the soil profile, influencing ET dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if surface soil moisture (θs) can reliably detect evapotranspiration (ET) regime transitions.
- To compare the effectiveness of shallow surface soil moisture (θs) versus vertically integrated in situ soil moisture (θ) in identifying ET regime shifts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized flux tower data for ET measurements.
- Collected surface soil moisture (θs) observations at 5 cm depth.
- Acquired vertically integrated in situ soil moisture (θ) data from 0-50 cm depth.
Main Results:
- Surface soil moisture (θs) and integrated soil moisture (θ) are hydraulically connected.
- Both θs and θ exhibited synchronized transitions between ET regimes.
- Comparable statistics for ET regime prevalence were observed between θs and θ.
Conclusions:
- Surface soil moisture (θs) is a robust indicator of evapotranspiration regime transitions.
- The findings support the use of remote-sensing derived surface soil moisture for large-scale land-atmosphere exchange analysis.
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