Revegetation impacts rainfall-driven spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture in China’s Loess Plateau

This study determines the spatiotemporal dynamics in soil moisture (SM) and the impact of rainfall at various depths across three typical revegetation types through in-situ monitoring. Mean SM across 0-300 cm soil profile were 10.08%, 8.48%, and 7.75% in grassland, caragana, and black locust, respectively, during the growing seasons. SM vertical variation across the entire soil profile displayed three distinct phases: a rapid decline layer (0-60 cm), a relative stability layer (60-180 cm), and an increased slowly layer (180-280 cm). Black locust exhibited superior temporal stability compared to caragana and grassland. SM temporal variation is fluctuation increased during growing seasons, which more obviously variation in the surface layer. SM spatiotemporal dynamics mainly affected by the synergistic effect of rainfall amount and duration. The impact of individual rainfall characteristics on SM variability is relatively minor. These findings offering critical insights to optimize vegetation restoration strategies within this semiarid context.