A range of observations show that a shift in land-atmosphere coupling exacerbated the hot drought experienced in Europe in 2018.
Soil moisture
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Soil Remains Warmer and Drier After Long-term Warming Stops
Pausing a long-term soil warming experiment revealed that previously warmed plots remained both warmer and drier compared to plots which had not experienced previous soil warming.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Repeating Famous Hillslope Experiment Provides New Insights
Repeating a famous hillslope experiment after 55 years shows that soil properties can change within several decades and highlights the importance of a leaky boundary for hillslope drainage.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Are Soil Moisture and Latent Heat Overcoupled in Land Models?
A novel statistical approach demonstrates how to reduce bias in remote sensing estimates of soil moisture and latent heat flux coupling strength and clarifies the relationship between the variables.
Posted inOpinions
Luna B. Leopold: Geoscience Pioneer
He conducted river morphology research based on systematic and reproducible measurements, pushing fluvial hydrology to become a more quantitative science.
Posted inScience Updates
Mapping and Monitoring Soil Moisture in Forested Landscapes
Monitoring Forest Soil Moisture for a Changing World; Ann Arbor, Michigan, 15–17 May 2018
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Studying Soil from a New Perspective
Cosmic ray neutrons probe soil moisture in the Great Plains.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Wet Soils Elevate Nighttime Temperatures
Soil moisture can elevate overnight temperatures, offsetting daytime cooling, especially over areas of strong land-atmosphere interactions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Humans to Blame for Higher Drought Risk in Some Regions
New observations and analysis dispel remaining doubts that anthropogenic climate change is expanding dry areas in northern midlatitudes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Future of Earth Looks Drier…but Just How Dry?
New analysis of soil moisture projections from climate models could help resolve a discrepancy between expected increases in aridity and precipitation over land.