The route from order to chaos of soil moisture dynamics at large spatial scales

This study analyzes the relationship between soil moisture and lagged soil moisture according to the nonlinear soil moisture balance equation. The pha se plane diagram and chaotic analysis show that the phenomena of the nonlin ear dynamics equation, such as fixed point, limit cycle, and chaotic type o f behavior, will become quite complex. At given parameters and lagged time, the limit evolution of soil moisture whose time delay is equal to 21 days is a strange attractor and the fractal dimension is 1.56. The ultimate soil moisture evolution is through a period doubling route from order to chaos.