Soil moisture is a critical variable for understanding the impacts of drought on ecological, hydrological, and agricultural systems. Yet, key research gaps currently prevent existing soil moisture measurements from being used to assess drought conditions and mitigate drought impacts such as wildfire outbreaks, lost agricultural production, and degraded wildlife habitat. In fact, most scales used to characterize the severity of drought, known as “drought indices”, don’t include soil moisture measurements, relying instead on atmospheric data. Current barriers to the incorporation of soil moisture data include a lack of consensus regarding how to best construct soil moisture-based drought indices, the challenges associated with integrating existing soil moisture data collected from diverse networks, and a lack of guidelines on how to apply these indices to different crop types.
The objective of this project was to build the necessary scientific foundation for soil moisture-based drought monitoring in the South Central region and beyond. This project was expected to produce effective soil moisture-based drought indices that decision-makers can use retrospectively or in real-time with data from existing monitoring networks to assess drought severity in the South Central region or across the US. Researchers also sought to create the first regional soil moisture database for the South Central US, which aimed to further support drought monitoring and other climate-related research efforts in this drought-prone region. This improved monitoring capability may facilitate early detection and the implementation of adaptive management strategies, which research has shown are key to reducing the economic and ecological impacts of drought.
