Drought has become one of the main challenges affecting forests across Central Europe. For forest managers, it is important not only to know where wetter and drier soils are located, but also how soil moisture changes throughout the year. An international study involving Dr. Marian Schönauer from the Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, (LDF MENDELU), shows that regular soil moisture monitoring can provide valuable information for planning forestry operations, protecting forest soils and managing forests under a changing climate.
Water available in the soil is essential for the functioning of the entire forest ecosystem. Soil moisture influences plant growth, nutrient cycling and carbon storage. Information about current soil moisture conditions is also important for forest management, e.g. for planning harvesting measures with heavy forest machinery. To better understand spatial and temporal changes in soil moisture, researchers monitored the soil water content in a mature beech forest typical of Central Europe’s low mountain ranges. They took manual measurements at 236 locations, while automatic sensors continuously recorded soil moisture at 53 sites. Over almost two years, the researchers collected more than 1.4 million individual measurements. They then compared these field data with terrain information and freely available ERA5-Land data – i.e. modelled data of environmental parameters, with a global availability for every hour since 1950. One of the study’s main findings was that changes in soil moisture over time were about 3.6 times greater than differences between locations across the landscape. Current weather conditions and seasonal changes therefore had a much stronger influence on soil moisture than slope position or terrain shape.
“For forestry practice, it is important to know not only where wetter or drier soils are located, but especially when conditions occur that can affect forest management. Our results show that soil moisture changes much more over time than between individual locations across the landscape. Regular information about these changes can therefore help forest managers better plan forestry operations,” said Marian Schönauer.
In forestry practice, soil moisture is often estimated using maps based on terrain characteristics, usig so-called topographic indices. However, these commonly used indices were not effective in capturing spatial differences in soil moisture. ERA5-Land data proved much more useful for tracking changes over time. After simple calibration with local field measurements, these data can more accurately represent local conditions.
“ERA5-Land data can reliably capture changes in soil moisture and temperature over time. One of their main advantages is that they are freely available and regularly updated. Combined with systematic field measurements, they can provide a practical tool for monitoring water availability, planning forestry operations and adaptation of forest management to climate change,” said Schönauer.
Citation: Schönauer, M., Asabere, S. B., Sauer, D., & Drollinger, S. (2025). Topographic indices and ERA5-Land data to describe soil moisture variability in a Central European beech forest. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 59, 102456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102456
Contacts for more information: Dr Marian Schoenauer, Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, MENDELU, marian.schonauer@mendelu.cz
This publication received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe project ERA Chair: Striving for Excellence in the Forest Ecosystem Research (EXCELLENTIA) (Grant Agreement No. 101087262).
Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
