Hirschi et al. (2025) Data accompanying "Quantifying the Rapid Propagation of Rainfall and Evapotranspiration Signals into Soils"

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich)
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-27
• Authors: Hirschi, Martin, Rösch, Michael, Michel, Dominik, Seneviratne, Sonia I.
• DOI: 10.3929/ethz-c-000787830

Research Groups

• Land-Climate Dynamics Group, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich.
• SwissSMEX (Swiss Soil Moisture Experiment) network.
• Rietholzbach Research Station.

Short Summary

The study quantifies the velocity and dynamics of rainfall and evapotranspiration signal transmission through soil profiles. It utilizes high-resolution in-situ data to characterize how quickly surface hydro-meteorological changes propagate to deeper soil layers.

Objective

• To empirically quantify the propagation speed and attenuation of rainfall and evapotranspiration signals as they move through the soil column.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Site-level observations at the Chamau (CHM) station and the Rietholzbach research catchment (prealpine humid grassland), Switzerland.
• Temporal Scale: Multi-year high-resolution time series (including historical data spanning over 30 years for context).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Signal propagation analysis and time-series correlation (implied for quantifying "rapid propagation").
• Data sources:
  • Volumetric soil moisture (VSM) from SwissSMEX and Rietholzbach profiles.
  • Weighing lysimeter data (Rietholzbach).
  • Eddy covariance measurements (latent heat flux).
  • Meteorological observations (precipitation, air temperature).

Main Results

• Quantification of the lag times between surface flux events (rainfall/evapotranspiration) and subsurface soil moisture responses.
• Identification of "rapid propagation" pathways where surface signals influence soil moisture at depth faster than standard matric flow models might suggest.
• Comparative analysis of signal attenuation across different soil depths and environmental conditions.

Contributions

• Provides a high-resolution empirical baseline for land-atmosphere coupling studies.
• Bridges the gap between surface meteorology and subsurface hydrology by using a unique combination of lysimeter and eddy covariance data.
• Offers a dataset and methodology for validating soil hydraulic parameters in land surface models.

Funding

• ETH Zurich.
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
• (Specific project codes not provided in the source text).

Citation

@article{Hirschi2025Data,
  author = {Hirschi, Martin and Rösch, Michael and Michel, Dominik and Seneviratne, Sonia I.},
  title = {Data accompanying "Quantifying the Rapid Propagation of Rainfall and Evapotranspiration Signals into Soils"},
  journal = {Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich)},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3929/ethz-c-000787830},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-c-000787830}
}

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