Research Projects

Soil moisture information is crucial for agriculture, crop management, smart irrigation methods, and drought monitoring. Conventional in-situ methods are precise but time-consuming, making them not suitable for watershed scales. The temporal and spatial variability of soil moisture is highly nonlinear and region-specific, varying with physical controls, seasonal weather, and soil texture. The Himalayan regions, which heavily rely on rain-fed agricultural practices, have a lack of studies understanding soil moisture spatio-temporal variability at the watershed scale. This study proposes intensive monitoring of soil moisture in Suketi watershed to identify spatio-temporal variations and the interactive effect of physical controls. An extensive field campaign will be conducted to collect high-quality soil moisture and ancillary datasets at a 4 km2 grid. The data will be analyzed to determine the minimum number of required locations (NRL) needed to estimate mean soil moisture with acceptable uncertainty. The soil moisture database will cover different soil texture classes, LULC, and elevation levels. This dense network will be used to validate satellite-based soil moisture products and understand the soil moisture deficit causing flash drought. Detecting flash drought events is crucial for regional drought mitigation. The project will use validated satellite-based soil moisture products for near-real-time flash drought assessment at a 9km footprint in the watershed. The dataset will be of immense use for various applications beyond the aforementioned areas.