Retrieving root-zone soil moisture from land surface modelling and GRACE/-FO and validating its dynamics with in-situ data over West Africa

Yap, Loudi; Kusche, Jürgen; Oloruntoba, Bamidele; Gerdener, Helena; Hendricks Franssen, Harrie-Jan

doi:10.5194/hess-30-5023-2026

Articles | Volume 30, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-5023-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-5023-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 30, issue 15

Research article

|

11 Aug 2026

Research article |

| 11 Aug 2026

Retrieving root-zone soil moisture from land surface modelling and GRACE/-FO and validating its dynamics with in-situ data over West Africa

Loudi Yap, Jürgen Kusche, Bamidele Oloruntoba, Helena Gerdener, and Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen

Data sets

GLWS 2.0: A global product that provides total water storage anomalies, groundwater, soil moisture and surface water with a spatial resolution of 0.5° from 2003 to 2019 H. Gerdener et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.954742

The global water resources and use model WaterGAP v2.2e: location and attributes of reservoirs and regulated lakes H. Mueller Schmied and T. Trautmann https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8147625

CRU TS3.21: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 3.21 of high resolution gridded data of month-by-month variation in climate (January 1901-December 2012) I. Harris https://doi.org/10.5285/D0E1585D-3417-485F-87AE-4FCECF10A992

Short summary

Rainfall shifts in West Africa affects agricultural productivity, highlighting how much water is stored in the soil. Soil moisture from 2003 to 2019 was assessed using satellite, model, and in-situ data. The European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Soil Moisture dataset best tracked local conditions, while the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-/FO)-based Global Land Water Storage version 2.0 captured regional variability, improving understanding of root-zone water.