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Inferred bimodality in the distribution of soil moisture at Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Author(s) -
Lee Temple R.,
Hornberger George M.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1029/2005gl025536
Subject(s) - bimodality , precipitation , ridge , environmental science , water content , national park , moisture , distribution (mathematics) , soil water , physical geography , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geography , soil science , meteorology , archaeology , mathematics , paleontology , mathematical analysis , physics , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , galaxy
Recent work has shown that distinct steady‐state modes of soil moisture frequency can occur resulting in soils being preferentially in either dry states or wet states. Bimodal distributions of summer soil moisture can be due to precipitation feedback, to variations in climate from early summer to late summer, or to interannual rainfall variability. We examined the frequency distribution in the Palmer Drought Severity Index at Big Meadows, which is a relatively flat, open area in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We found that a pronounced bimodality exists not only during the summer months, but also during the remainder of the year. Furthermore, our analyses show that the bimodality in the distribution exists for the month of August alone, suggesting that there are intrinsically dry states and wet states and that the bimodality is not merely a result of climate differences from early to late summer.