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Long‐Term Soil Moisture Patterns in a Northern Minnesota Forest
Author(s) -
Dymond Salli F.,
Kolka Randall K.,
Bolstad Paul V.,
Sebestyen Stephen D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2013.08.0322nafsc
Subject(s) - evapotranspiration , environmental science , water content , precipitation , biogeochemical cycle , moisture , soil water , ecosystem , hydrology (agriculture) , soil science , ecology , geography , geology , meteorology , geotechnical engineering , biology
Forest hydrological and biogeochemical processes are highly dependent on soil water. At the Marcell Experimental Forest, seasonal patterns of soil moisture have been monitored at three forested locations since 1966. This unique, long‐term data set was used to analyze seasonal trends in soil moisture as well as the influence of time‐lagged precipitation and modified Thornthwaite modeled potential evapotranspiration (PET) on seasonal soil moisture at three depths (0–15, 76–107, and 198–229 cm). Despite no change in precipitation during the 45‐yr record, mean annual soil moisture from 0 to 228.6 cm has declined ( p < 0.05). Precipitation minus PET was found to account for >50% of the variability in seasonal soil moisture ( p < 0.001). Our findings suggest that further increases in mean annual temperature and evapotranspiration may lead to decreases in soil moisture. These decreases could negatively impact forested ecosystems in northern Minnesota.