Arid Zone Research ›› 2024, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (2): 261-271.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2024.02.09

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Changes in soil moisture and dryness and their response to climate change in the Guanzhong region

YANG Yaqing(), ZHANG Chong(), ZHANG Jie, WANG Yudan   

  1. Key Laboratory of Disaster Monitoring and Mechanism Simulation in Shaanxi Province, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721013, Shaanxi, China
  • Received:2023-03-22 Revised:2023-10-20 Online:2024-02-15 Published:2024-03-11

Abstract:

The Guanzhong region serves as the main agricultural production base in Shaanxi Province. However, frequent droughts severely impede socioeconomic development in the area. Soil moisture, a vital drought indicator, can offer valuable insights into understanding drought laws and formulating policies to address them by studying the response of soil moisture to climate factors. Within the Guanzhong region, long-term MODIS-NDVI and MODIS-LST series data from 2001 to 2020 were used to establish the characteristic spatial distribution of surface soil moisture and dryness (TVDI). The linear trend method, correlation analysis, sensitivity analysis, and other mathematical statistical methods were used to scrutinize the spatial distribution patterns of soil moisture and dryness in response to climate conditions. Key results are as follows: (1) TVDI can accurately reflect soil moisture status in the Guanzhong region, revealing a trend of both soil drying and wetting over the past two decades, with spring being the driest, followed by winter. (2) There is significant spatial heterogeneity in soil moisture distribution and dryness, with an overall trend of increasing drought from the southwest to the northeast. (3) Soil moisture exhibits correlations with precipitation and temperature: it is positively correlated with precipitation (as precipitation increases, soil moisture increases) and negatively correlated with temperature (as temperature increases, soil moisture decreases). (4) Precipitation has a high sensitivity to soil moisture and dryness, while temperature significantly impacts the degree of changes in soil moisture and dryness. Precipitation determines the direction in which soil moisture values increase or decrease, whereas temperature determines the degree of increase or decrease. Soil dryness and wetness act as comprehensive indicators, influenced by both precipitation and temperature. Precipitation predominantly determines the trend of value increase or decrease, while temperature determines the magnitude of the increase or decrease. Hence, when studying the impacts of temperature and precipitation, precipitation emerges as the main factor controlling soil moisture and dryness trends, while temperature regulates the extent of these changes.

Key words: dry and wet soil conditions, surface temperature vegetation index, precipitation, temperature, Guanzhong region