While it’s not surprising that more rain means wetter soil, new research challenges a long-standing assumption that increases in global temperatures will lead to drier soils.

Temperatures are rising, but soil is getting wetter. Why?

Science Notes: Research finds precipitation, rather than temperature, explains soil moisture trends

Soil moisture can determine how quickly a wildfire spreads, how fast a hill turns into a mudslide and, perhaps most importantly, how productive our food systems are. As temperatures rise due to human-caused climate change, some researchers are concerned that soils will dry. However, between 2011 and 2020, soil moisture increased across 57 per cent of the United […] Read more

Photo: File

Soil moisture more critical than rainfall to estimate climate impact

Science Notes: Evaporation, infiltration and runoff can result in dramatic differences

You don’t need a PhD in agriculture to know that water is critical to crop production. But for years, people like Jonathan Proctor, who has a PhD in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of California Berkeley, have been trying to explain why the importance of water isn’t showing up in statistical models of […] Read more