Li et al. (2026) Assessment of Soil Moisture Anomalies in Irrigated and Nonirrigated Soils Combining SMAP Anomaly Data and NASS Crop Soil Moisture Conditions

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Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrometeorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-16
• Authors: Zhengwei Yang, Wade T. Crow, Pang‐Wei Liu, Rajat Bindlish, Chen Zhang, Z ZHANG, Yanhua Xie, Jingyi Huang
• DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0186.1

Research Groups

• U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
• NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) team

Short Summary

This study improves the mapping of crop soil moisture conditions by using soil moisture anomalies from SMAP data, providing a more accurate representation of soil moisture adequacy for irrigated croplands.

Objective

• Investigate the limitations of previous methods in mapping crop soil moisture conditions and develop an improved approach using soil moisture anomalies.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: National agricultural regions in the United States.
• Temporal Scale: Weekly statistics for states, with a focus on drought years.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SMAP level-4 (L4) weekly surface and root-zone soil moisture data.
• Data sources: NASS survey-reported category percentages, NASA's SMAP L4 data.

Main Results

• Anomaly-based mapping yields a different and more distinct representation of soil moisture conditions for irrigated versus nonirrigated croplands in Washington’s Columbia basin during a drought year.
• The anomaly-based approach aligns more closely with survey feedback and provides a more realistic depiction of soil moisture adequacy for irrigated croplands.

Contributions

• This study advances national-scale soil moisture monitoring by providing an improved framework for mapping crop soil moisture conditions, particularly in areas with coarse-textured soils and frequent irrigation.
• The anomaly-based approach addresses the limitations of previous methods and provides a more accurate representation of soil moisture adequacy.

Funding

• This research was funded by [no specific funding projects or programs mentioned].

Citation

@article{Li2026Assessment,
  author = {Li, Wanru and Yang, Zhengwei and Crow, Wade T. and Liu, Pang‐Wei and Bindlish, Rajat and Zhang, Chen and ZHANG, Z and Xie, Yanhua and Huang, Jingyi},
  title = {Assessment of Soil Moisture Anomalies in Irrigated and Nonirrigated Soils Combining SMAP Anomaly Data and NASS Crop Soil Moisture Conditions},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrometeorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1175/jhm-d-25-0186.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-25-0186.1}
}