Improved weather forecast: Soil “remembers” even after the atmosphere had forgotten
Soil can “remember” extreme climatic events long after the conditions responsible for the anomaly is forgotten by the atmosphere, is a key aspect of land-atmosphere interactions and has major implications for seasonal forecasting. The land-atmosphere interactions can be modeled and analyzed to predict climate or simulate water budget.
After precipitation, a certain amount of water is retained in the soil which dissipates due to evaporation or transpiration with the passage of time. The top 2 inches of the soil hold an infinitesimal fraction of the planet’s water1. Although the amount of water is small, because of its position at the interface between land and atmosphere it forms a crucial part of the global water cycle.
Soil moisture memory is the extent to which a soil of particular type can hold moisture of the precipitation last occurred. Probably due to its inherent memory, Soil moisture is one of the “slow” drivers of the climate system and hence possibly contain the chief skill for climate forecasting.
With the recent advancements in remote sensing, the near real-time monitoring of soil moisture memory under all-weather conditions is possible, as observed in the microwave frequency domain is insensitive to aerosols and clouds. Improved weather forecast helps to increase preparedness for extreme weather events and thus helps in decreasing the number of casualties.
