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Soil moisture as an indicator of weather extremes
Author(s) -
Lakshmi Venkat,
Piechota Thomas,
Narayan Ujjwal,
Tang Chunling
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl019930
Subject(s) - environmental science , water content , water balance , climatology , precipitation , drainage basin , infiltration (hvac) , moisture , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , meteorology , geography , geotechnical engineering , cartography
In this paper, we investigate floods and droughts in the Upper Mississippi basin over a 50‐year period (1950–1999) using a hydrological model (Variable Infiltration Capacity Model – 3 Layer). Simulations have been carried out between January 1950 and December 1999 at daily time‐step and 1/8° spatial resolution for the water budget and at hourly time‐step and 1° spatial resolution for the energy balance. This paper will provide valuable insights to the slow response components of the hydrological cycle and its diagnostic/predictive value in the case of floods and droughts. The paper compares the use of the Palmer Drought Severity Index against the anomalies of the third layer soil moisture for characterizing droughts and floods. Wavelet and coherency analysis is performed on the soil moisture, river discharge, precipitation and PDSI time series confirm our hypothesis of a strong relationship between droughts and the third layer soil moisture.