ON THE SPATIAL-ORGANIZATION OF SOIL-MOISTURE FIELDS

We examine the apparent disorder which seems to characterize the spati al structure of soil moisture by analyzing large-scale experimental da ta. Specifically, we address the statistical structure of soil moistur e fields under different scales of observation and find unexpected res ults. The variance of Soil moisture follows a power law decay as funct ion of the area at which the process is observed. The spatial correlat ion remains unchanged with the scale of observation and follows a powe r law decay typical of scaling processes. Soil moisture also shows cle ar scaling properties on:its spatial clustering patterns. A well-defin ed organization of statistical character is found to exist in sail moi sture patterns linking a large range of scales through which the proce ss manifests itself and impacts other processes. We suggest that such scaling properties are crucial to our current understanding and modeli ng of the dynamics of soil moisture in space and time.