Simulation of regional soil moisture deficits on a European scale

Abstract

A simple deterministic simulation model for landscape-scale soil water deficits has been developed. Standard weather station data are used to estimate ‘daily’ precipitation and actual (regional) evapotranspiration (AET). The balance is added to soil moisture, which is accounted by a simple bucket model. AET is the daily integral of the lesser of supply and demand: supply is governed by current soil moisture, demand by estimated net radiation and temperature. The model estimates geographical patterns of soil water deficit at a scale suitable for comparison with the distributions of plant species and vegetation types. The model provides a way of quantifying soil moisture stress in biogeographical research.