Mutual interaction of soil moisture state and atmospheric processes Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The purpose of this paper is to outline the pathways through which soil moisture and meteorological phenomena mutually influence one another at local, regional and global scales. This constitutes two-way land-atmosphere interaction, as meteorological phenomena both act as the forcing and react to the forcing by the soil moisture state. Land surface modification of the atmospheric environment and the atmospheric forcing of these land surface conditions form feedback loops which are significant factors in modulating the variability of the climatic system. The predictability and analysis of fluctuations and changes in regional hydrology and the atmospheric environment require an understanding of these feedback mechanisms and two-way land-atmosphere interaction. The dynamics of soil moisture at the land surface is governed by components with diverse time scales. Variability in both weather and climate are therefore influenced by the soil moisture state. In this paper, we present an overview of several studies on the mutual interaction of the soil moisture slate and the atmospheric environment. We also outline possible directions for innovative investigations on the determination of soil moisture variation influences on the moist thermodynamics, energetics and dynamics of the overlying atmosphere.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY

author list (cited authors)

  • Entekhabi, D., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., & Castelli, F.

citation count

  • 285

complete list of authors

  • Entekhabi, D||Rodriguez-Iturbe, I||Castelli, F

publication date

  • October 1996