Abstract
The soil moisture in Shaanxi Province, a region with complex topography, is simulated using the distributed hydrological model Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Comparison and contrast of modeled and observed soil moisture show that the SWAT model can reasonably simulate the long-term trend in soil moisture and the spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture in the region. Comparisons to NCEP/NCAR and ERA40 reanalysis of soil moisture show that the trend of variability in soil moisture simulated by SWAT is more consistent with the observed. SWAT model results suggested that high soil moisture in surface soil layers appears in the southern Shaanxi with high vegetation cover, and the Qinling mountainous region with frequent orographic precipitation. In deeper soil layers, high soil moisture appears in the river basins and plains. The regional soil moisture showed a generally decreasing trend on all soil layers from 1951 to 2004, with a stronger and significant decreasing trend in deeper soil layers, especially in the northern parts of the province.
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