Abstract

We introduce here SOIL-WATERGRIDS, a new dataset of dynamic changes in soil moisture and depth of water table over 45 years from 1970 to 2014 globally resolved at 0.25×0.25 degree resolution (about 30×30km at the equator) along a 56m deep soil profle. SOIL-WATERGRIDS estimates were obtained using the BRTSim model instructed with globally gridded soil physical and hydraulic properties, land cover and use characteristics, and hydrometeorological variables to account for precipitation, ecosystem-specifc evapotranspiration, snowmelt, surface runof, and irrigation. We validate our estimates against independent observations and re-analyses of the soil moisture, water table depth, wetland occurrence, and runof. SOIL-WATERGRIDS brings into a single product the monthly mean water saturation at three depths in the root zone and the depth of the highest and lowest water tables throughout the reference period, their long-term monthly averages, and data quality. SOIL-WATERGRIDS can therefore be used to analyse trends in water availability for agricultural abstraction, assess the water balance under historical weather patterns, and identify water stress in sensitive managed and unmanaged ecosystems.

Published in

Scientific Data
2021, Volume: 8, number: 1, article number: 263
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}

UKÄ Subject classification

Soil Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-01032-4

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114619