The Role of Soil Moisture-Atmosphere Interactions in Drought
Abstract
Land-atmosphere interactions play an important role in drought formation and development. However, due to the complexity of drought mechanism and lack of observed data, the impacts of land-atmosphere interactions are still not fully understood. The goal of this study is to use observed soil moisture and atmospheric data to investigate the contributions of land-atmosphere interactions to drought onset, duration and intensity. In this study, we examine the evolution of soil moisture-atmosphere interactions before and during drought events from 2005 to 2015 over the contiguous U.S. Observed soil moisture is derived from the National Soil Moisture Network (NSMN) and atmospheric conditions are assessed using sounding data from the University of Wyoming. The coupling strength between soil moisture and atmospheric variables are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed and associated with different types of drought. The results will identify the soil moisture-related physical mechanisms that contribute to drought development and they will enhance understanding of land-atmosphere interactions during drought events. This can be helpful for improving drought predictability by using antecedent land surface conditions.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.H53J1724Y
- Keywords:
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- 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1865 Soils;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1866 Soil moisture;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1895 Instruments and techniques: monitoring;
- HYDROLOGY