Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026
08:20
In Situ Soil Moisture Sensors in Undisturbed Soils
Published on: November 18, 2022
Upwind terrestrial influences on soil moisture variability across South America
Feini Huang1,2,3,4,5, Shijie Jiang6,7, Wei Shangguan8,9
1School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, China.
Nature Communications
|July 24, 2026
Summary
Upwind vegetation significantly impacts South American soil moisture, with this influence amplified in agricultural areas. Understanding these teleconnections is crucial for land-atmosphere modeling and predicting climate change effects.
Area of Science:
- Earth System Science
- Hydrology
- Remote Sensing
Background:
- Soil moisture patterns in South America are influenced by upwind terrestrial conditions.
- The downwind propagation of these influences, particularly vegetation's role, is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a framework quantifying vegetation's contribution to downwind soil moisture.
- To investigate vegetation-soil moisture teleconnections across South America.
Main Methods:
- An observation-driven framework integrating atmospheric transport trajectories and deep learning was developed.
- A transport-informed model was compared against a local-only baseline model.
Main Results:
- Upwind information contributed 67% to soil moisture prediction, with vegetation explaining 15% of this.
- Vegetation's influence is amplified in agricultural zones, forming hotspots linked to land-cover change and drought.
- Cross-regional influences follow transport corridors and vary non-linearly with climate.
Conclusions:
- Vegetation-soil moisture teleconnections are quantified, impacting land-atmosphere coupling.
- Results have implications for Earth system models and understanding hydrological consequences of land-use and climate change.
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