Arid Zone Research ›› 2018, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (6): 1317-1326.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2018.06.08

• Water and Soil Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Inversion of Soil Moisture Content in the Shule River Basin

GUO Xiao-juan1, ZHOU Yan-yan1, GUO Jian-jun2, CHEN Guan-guang1, YUE Dong-xia1   

  1. 1. College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu,China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou 730000,Gansu,China
  • Received:2018-01-31 Revised:2018-04-05 Online:2018-11-15 Published:2025-11-18

Abstract: Soil moisture is an important factor affecting vegetation growth in arid regions. Obtaining soil moisture data at a regional scale can provide a scientific basis for ecological regeneration and conservation of fragile ecosystem in arid and semiarid regions. In this paper, the Apparent Thermal Inertia method and statistical downscaling method were used to obtain the data of soil moisture content at 0-10 cm depth in the Shule River Basin in April, July, October and December 2016 with a 1km resolution based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface temperature and reflectance data and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) soil moisture data. The purposes of the study were to lucubrate the spatiotemporal change of soil moisture content and the correlation between local soil moisture content and vegetation by geographically weighted regression analysis. The results showed that the average annual soil moisture in the Shule River Basin varied in a range of 10-18 mm with an average of 14.11 mm in 2016. Soil moisture content in the Shule River Basin changed significantly in 2016, and the average and discrete degree of soil moisture content was in an order of July>October>April>December. The soil moisture content in the east of the Shule River Basin was higher than that in the west. Soil moisture content was the highest in the upper reaches of the Shule River, three main irrigation areas and near the Mazong Mountain in the north of the basin, but it was the lowest in the Kumtag Desert and Gobi near Aksai-Dunhuang and the upper reaches of the Danghe River. The seasonal variation of spatial distribution pattern of soil moisture content in the basin was significant, and the spatial distribution of variation coefficient was similar to that of average annual soil moisture content. There was a positive correlation between the soil moisture content and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), but the correlation was different from different regions. It was the highest in the irrigation areas.

Key words: soil moisture content, inversion model, GLDAS, ATI, NDVI, Shule River Basin