Spatio-temporal variation of surface soil moisture over the Yellow River basin during 1961–2012

Soil moisture plays a significant role in agricultural and ecosystem development. However, in the real world soil moisture data are very limited due to many factors. VIC-3L model, as a semi-distribution hydrological model, can potentially provide valuable information regarding soil moisture. In this study, daily soil moisture contents in the surface soil layer (0–10 cm) of 1500 grids at 0.25 × 0.25 degree were simulated by the VIC-3L model. The Mann-Kendall trend test and Morlet wavelet analysis methods were used for the analysis of annual and monthly average surface soil moisture series. Results showed that the trend of surface soil moisture was not obvious on the basin scale, but it varied with spatial and temporal conditions. Different fluctuation amplitudes and periods of surface soil moisture were also discovered on the Yellow River basin during 1961 to 2012.