Articles | Volume 26, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4837-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4837-2022
Research article
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05 Oct 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 05 Oct 2022

Predicting soil moisture conditions across a heterogeneous boreal catchment using terrain indices

Johannes Larson, William Lidberg, Anneli M. Ågren, and Hjalmar Laudon

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Cited articles

Abowarda, A. S., Bai, L., Zhang, C., Long, D., Li, X., Huang, Q., and Sun, Z.: Generating surface soil moisture at 30 m spatial resolution using both data fusion and machine learning toward better water resources management at the field scale, Remote Sens. Environ., 255, 112301, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112301, 2021. 
Ågren, A. M., Lidberg, W., Strömgren, M., Ogilvie, J., and Arp, P. A.: Evaluating digital terrain indices for soil wetness mapping – a Swedish case study, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3623–3634, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3623-2014, 2014. 
Ågren, A. M., Lidberg, W., and Ring, E.: Mapping Temporal Dynamics in a Forest Stream Network – Implications for Riparian Forest Management, Forests, 6, 2982–3001, https://doi.org/10.3390/f6092982, 2015. 
Ågren, A. M., Larson, J., Paul, S. S., Laudon, H., and Lidberg, W.: Use of multiple LIDAR-derived digital terrain indices and machine learning for high-resolution national-scale soil moisture mapping of the Swedish forest landscape, Geoderma, 404, 115280, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115280, 2021. 
Bachmair, S. and Weiler, M.: New Dimensions of Hillslope Hydrology, in: Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry: Synthesis of Past Research and Future Directions, edited by: Levia, D. F., Carlyle-Moses, D., and Tanaka, T., Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, 455–481, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1363-5_23, 2011. 
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Executive editor
I recommend this paper for highlight. In the words of the authors: "No previous study has been able to provide such detailed data [of soil moisture] at catchment scale, amount of terrain indices in combination with an extensive field survey which clearly demonstrates the importance of selection of terrain index, DEM resolution and index-specific threshold.
Short summary
Terrain indices constitute a good candidate for modelling the spatial variation of soil moisture conditions in many landscapes. In this study, we evaluate nine terrain indices on varying DEM resolution and user-defined thresholds with validation using an extensive field soil moisture class inventory. We demonstrate the importance of field validation for selecting the appropriate DEM resolution and user-defined thresholds and that failing to do so can result in ambiguous and incorrect results.