Identification of key soil and terrain properties that influence the spatial variability of soil moisture throughout the growing season

Combining soils and terrain information is the key to understanding hydrological processes at a landscape scale. Increasing the scale of soil maps has been shown to allow the spatial patterns of soil moisture to be more fully represented in the landscape, but soil data are often only available at reconnaissance scales (e.g. 1:250 000). It is widely acknowledged that soil hydrological properties vary within the landscape and there are widely available digital terrain models at a 10-m grid resolution in the UK. The aim of this study was to investigate soil moisture variations and how soil and terrain data can be used in combination to explain the spatial variation in soil moisture contents. Field monitoring of surface soil moisture content on eight occasions in three different fields in Bedfordshire (UK) was undertaken between April and July in 2004 and 2005. Between 100 and 120 points were sampled in each survey using a Delta-T ML2x™ Theta Probe. The results from regression models show that up to 80% of the variation in surface soil moisture can be explained using 1:10 000 soil series maps and terrain variables. Short-wave radiation on a sloping surface (SWRSS), calculated by SRAD, and a topographic wetness index combined explained a maximum of 44% of the variation. The results show that the terrain effect on soil moisture is modified by soils. The additional variation explained by adding 1:10 000 soil series information to terrain variables was up to 50% and adding 1:25 000 soil series information increased the variation explained by up to 29%. The interactions in the variation explained by soils and landscape indices at different scales tie in with the concept of hydropedology. It also has implications for data requirements for modelling soil hydrological response and associated soil functions.