The SwissSMEX project: Measuring soil moisture in Switzerland for climate research

News & Media

ETH Klimablog (10.05.2012): IPCC Sonderbericht zu Änderungen in Klimaextremen [German]

ETH Life (29.03.2012): Wir haben nicht bei Null begonnen (IPCC-Sonderbericht zu Klimaextremen) [German]

ETH Life (29.03.2012): We did not start from scratch (IPCC Special Report on Extreme Events and Disasters) [English]

ETH Klimablog (29.03.2012): Rigorose Qualitätskontrollen beim neusten IPCC-Sonderbericht [German]

SciNevNet (28.03.2012): IPCC predicts rise in extreme climate events

Aqua & Gas (03/2012): On ne peut pas définir la sécheresse indépendamment du milieu impacté [French]

Environmental Health Perspectives (01.02.2012): Managing the Risks of Extreme Weather: IPCC Special Report [English]

ETH Globe (12/2011): Ab drei Grad wird's kritisch - Trockenheit und Landwirtschaft [German]

Le Temps (26.11.2011): Vivre au sec, mode d'emploi [French]

IPCC SREX Summary for Policymakers (18.11.2011): Release of IPCC SREX Summary for Policymakers; Core writing team; Video [English]

ETH Connect (09/2011): Ein Frühwarnsystem für magere Jahre [German]

NFP61 DROUGHT-CH (08.06.2011): Video on DROUGHT-CH project [French; English sub-titles; German sub-titles]

Le Temps (16.05.2011): Mieux prédire les grandes canicules [French]

SF Einstein (05.05.2011): Ein Frühling wie Sommer [German]

SNF Journal Horizonte/Horizons (03/2011)
Wenn die Atmosphäre zum Backofen wird [German]
Mieux prédire les canicules [French]

NZZ (15.12.2010): Dürren bereiten den Boden für Hitzewellen [German]

ETH Life (13.12.2010): Soil responsible for heat waves

ETH Life (13.12.2010): Der Boden ist schuld [German]

Nature Geoscience, News and Views (12.12.2010): Extreme heat rooted in dry soils

ETH Globe (11/2010): Vom Klimamodell zum Klimaservice [German]

ETH Life (06.09.2010): Das Wald-Paradoxon bei Hitzewellen [German]

ETH Life (06.09.2010): The forest paradox during heatwaves

ETH Life (22.07.2010): Einfluss der Temperatur auf den «CO₂-Atem» [German]

Le Temps (22.07.2010): La Suisse doit adopter un système d'alertes sécheresse [French]

3Sat (nano) (15.09.2009): Der Boden schützt uns bald nicht mehr vor Hitze. Die Schweiz durchzieht ihr Land mit Messstationen [German]

ETH Life (22.08.2008): Der Bodenfeuchte auf den Grund gehen [German]

SNF Journal Horizonte/Horizons (12/2008)
Ein Klimaschlüssel liegt im Boden [German]
Une clé du climat se cache dans le sol [French]

Soil moisture is a key variable of the climate system, which is not only relevant for agriculture but also for meteorological and seasonal forecasting. In particular, knowledge on soil moisture evolution and its interaction with the atmosphere can help understand processes leading to extreme events such as droughts, heatwaves, and heavy precipitation. This is particularly relevant in the context of climate change, with changes in soil moisture being projected to enhance (and in some case reduce) impacts from enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations. Despite its importance, soil moisture is not routinely measured in most parts of the world, particularly in Europe, where measurement datasets are scarce.

Since June 2008, the joint project SwissSMEX (Swiss Soil Moisture EXperiment) has been initiated by ETH Zurich, Agroscope ART, and MeteoSwiss to address this issue. In 2010 the additional project SwissSMEX-Veg was established, in order to investigate soil moisture evolution at sites with different land cover types (forest vs grassland). Both projects were funded by the Swiss National Foundation. This allowed the establishment of a three-year (2008-2011) soil moisture measurement experiment to provide a comprehensive assessment of soil moisture and its interaction with climate in Switzerland. At present, measurements are still on-going, and the network consists of 19 sites at 17 locations (14 grassland, 1 arable, and 4 forest stations), including the Rietholzbach research catchment site (www.iac.ethz.ch/research/rietholzbach), several SwissFluxnet sites (www.swissfluxnet.ch), and selected SwissMetNet (www.meteoswiss.admin.ch) stations.

Picture: Peter Rüegg/ ETH life	Picture: Peter Rüegg/ ETH life

Contacts

ETH Zurich: Prof. Sonia I. Seneviratne (PI), Heidi Mittelbach, Dr. Irene Lehner

Agroscope ART: Prof. Jürg Fuhrer (co-PI), Dr. Christof Ammann

MeteoSwiss: Dr. Christoph Spirig (co-PI), Dr. Yves-Alain Roulet

WSL: Dr. Elisabeth Graf Pannatier (co-PI), Dr. Norbert Kräuchi (co-PI), Dr. Peter Waldner

Publications

Mittelbach, H., F. Casini, I. Lehner, A.J. Teuling, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2011: Soil moisture monitoring for climate research: Evaluation of a low cost sensor in the framework of the SwissSMEX campaign. J. Geophys. Res., 116, D05111, doi:10.1029/2010JD014907.

Mittelbach, H., I. Lehner, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2012: Soil moisture monitoring for climate research: Comparison of four soil moisture sensor types under field conditions in Switzerland . J. Hydrology, 430, 39-49, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.01.041.

Mittelbach, H., and S.I. Seneviratne, 2012: A new perspective on the spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture: Temporal dynamics versus time invariant contributions. Submitted to Hydr. Earth Syst. Sci.

Objectives

The aim of this research project is to set up a soil moisture measurement network in Switzerland, and to investigate soil moisture-climate interactions using the collected data. The main objectives include:

• The assessment of the spatial variability of soil moisture at the sites and the determination of characteristic spatial scales for intra- and inter-sites variability
• The assessment of the temporal variability of soil moisture at the sites and its link with the main climate drivers (radiation, precipitation)
• The investigation of soil moisture-vegetation-climate dynamics for different land cover
• The determination of the impact of soil moisture for local and regional climate (feedbacks) and of its potential for weather and seasonal forecasting in Switzerland
• The investigation of regionalization approaches
• The evaluation of indirect soil moisture observation techniques and approaches (BSWB dataset; satellite measurements)
• The validation of land surface and climate models with regard to soil moisture representation in Central Europe

Links

Sites
Set up of a SwissSMEX site
Site instrumentation
Available data

For any further information please contact Heidi Mittelbach.

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