Affiliation:
1. Montana Climate Office W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula MT USA
2. Department of Forest Management W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula MT USA
3. USDA Forest Service Missoula MT USA
4. Department of Society and Conservation W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula MT USA
5. School of Public and Community Health Sciences University of Montana Missoula MT USA
Abstract
AbstractAccurate drought assessments are critical for mitigating the deleterious impacts of water scarcity on communities across the world. In many regions, deficits in soil moisture represent a key driver of drought conditions. However, relationships between soil moisture and widely used drought indicators have not been thoroughly evaluated. In addition, there has not been an in‐depth assessment of the accuracy of operational soil moisture models used for drought monitoring. Here, we used 2,405 observed time series of soil moisture from 637 long‐term monitoring stations across the conterminous United States to test the ability of meteorological drought indices and soil moisture models to accurately characterize soil moisture drought. The optimal timescales for meteorological drought indices varied substantially by depth, but were ∼30 days for depth averaged conditions; progressively longer timescales (∼10–80 days) represent progressively deeper soil moisture (2–36 in.). However, soil moisture models (including Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition Center, Soil Moisture Active Passive L4, and Topofire) significantly outperformed the meteorological drought indices for predicting standardized soil moisture anomalies and drought conditions. Additionally, soil moisture models represent near instantaneous conditions, implicitly aggregating antecedent data thereby eliminating the need for timescales, providing a more effective and convenient method for soil moisture drought monitoring. We conclude that soil moisture models provide a straightforward and favorable alternative to meteorological drought indices that better characterize soil moisture drought.
Funder
National Integrated Drought Information System
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Cited by
1 articles.
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