Soil and vegetation water content identify the main terrestrial ecosystem changes

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Remote Sensing
• Ecology

Background:

• Understanding vegetation response to environmental change is crucial.
• Satellite data offers potential for monitoring Earth system changes, but direct attribution is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an observation-based methodology for detecting and attributing global terrestrial ecosystem changes.
• To quantify vegetation responses to natural and anthropogenic drivers using satellite observations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the longest time record of global microwave L-band soil moisture and vegetation optical depth satellite data (2010-20).
• Developed spatially explicit maps of changes in soil and vegetation water content and biomass.
• Combined trend analysis with land cover change, vegetation greenness, and precipitation variability data.

Main Results:

• Identified prominent trends (up to 9% per year) in soil and vegetation water content, particularly in humid and semi-arid climates.
• Attributed ecosystem changes to drivers like deforestation (Amazon, Central Africa), wildfires (Australia), reforestation (China), agricultural abandonment (Russia), and precipitation variability (Africa, North America, Argentina).

Conclusions:

• Microwave satellite observations provide a sensitive, direct measure of environmental changes.
• The methodology enables quantification and attribution of global vegetation responses to climate and human activities.