Liu et al. (2026) Impact Pathways of Environmental Factors on the Spatiotemporal Variations in Surface Soil Moisture in Tianshan Mountains, China

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

Identification

• Journal: Agriculture
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-26
• Authors: D. H. Liu, Farong Huang, Wenyu Wei, Ziheng Yang, Lanhai Li, Yu Liu, Muhirwa Fabien
• DOI: 10.3390/agriculture16070736

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but the study focuses on the Tianshan Mountains in China, suggesting affiliations with Chinese research institutions specializing in environmental science, hydrology, or remote sensing.

Short Summary

This study investigates the complex impacts of climate, topography, soil, and vegetation factors on surface soil moisture (SM) spatiotemporal dynamics in the Tianshan Mountains from 2000 to 2022. It reveals that vegetation greenness, precipitation, and relative humidity are the primary drivers of SM variations, with strong interactive effects of climate factors shaping its spatial distribution.

Objective

• To investigate the impact pathways of climate and vegetation factors on annual surface soil moisture (SM) dynamics in the Tianshan Mountains from 2000 to 2022.
• To explore the individual and interactive effects of climate, topography, soil, and vegetation factors on the spatial pattern of annual surface SM.
• To understand the integrated impacts of these factors on the spatiotemporal dynamics of annual surface SM.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Tianshan Mountains of China (TS).
• Temporal Scale: 2000 to 2022 (23 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Structural Equation Model, Factor Detector, and Interaction Detectors of Geographical Detector.
• Data sources: Multi-source datasets (specific types like satellite, reanalysis, or ground observations are not detailed in the provided abstract, but likely include data for climate, vegetation, topography, and soil).

Main Results

• The multi-year average surface SM for the whole region was 0.21 m³·m⁻³, with higher values in areas of dense vegetation and high elevation.
• Annual surface SM exhibited significant increasing trends across different land cover classifications and elevation zones.
• Vegetation greenness enhancement directly influenced the observed increasing trends in annual surface SM.
• Precipitation (PRE) and relative humidity (RH) significantly influenced the temporal variations in surface SM indirectly through their effect on vegetation greenness, though these indirect effects were less pronounced than the direct effect of vegetation greenness.
• RH, PRE, and surface net solar radiation (SSR) showed strong individual and interactive effects on the spatial distribution of surface SM, particularly the interactive effects of RH and PRE with wind speed (WS).
• Surface SM was highly sensitive to RH and PRE in the central Tianshan Mountains.
• Overall, vegetation greenness, PRE, and RH were identified as the main drivers of surface SM variations across both temporal and spatial scales, while SSR, total evaporation, and WS primarily shaped its spatial distribution.

Contributions

• Enhances the understanding of land–atmosphere interactions in mountainous areas by elucidating the complex interplay of climate, topography, soil, and vegetation on surface soil moisture dynamics.
• Provides scientific references for sustainable agropastoral water resource management in mountainous regions under global warming.
• Utilizes advanced statistical models (Structural Equation Model, Geographical Detector) to disentangle direct and indirect impact pathways and interactive effects of multiple drivers on soil moisture.

Funding

Not mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Liu2026Impact,
  author = {Liu, D. H. and Huang, Farong and Wei, Wenyu and Yang, Ziheng and Li, Lanhai and Liu, Yu and Fabien, Muhirwa},
  title = {Impact Pathways of Environmental Factors on the Spatiotemporal Variations in Surface Soil Moisture in Tianshan Mountains, China},
  journal = {Agriculture},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.3390/agriculture16070736},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16070736}
}