3.2 Soil moisture
Although seasonal soil moisture was significantly higher in the riparian
buffer than the other zones in 2015 and 2016 (Table 2), a more detailed
analysis of daily soil moisture revealed that moisture varied across
zones throughout the year (Figure 2a and b). For example, shallow soil
moisture shifted from a wet state to a dry state halfway through the
2015 growing season in the riparian buffer. Shallow soil moisture also
remained in a dry state until late September (i.e., mid-hillslope
moisture was higher than riparian buffer moisture from July 2015 to
September 2015).
Deep soil moisture (30 cm) in the riparian buffer remained higher than
deep soil moisture in the mid-hillslope and upland-hillslope (60 cm)
during the 2015 and 2016 growing seasons (Figure 2b). Soil moisture at
this deeper depth in the riparian buffer also remained wet and reached a
saturation point of 40% during the non-growing season. There were a few
periods in the non-growing season where the deep soil moisture in the
mid-hillslope and upland-hillslope was higher than the soil moisture in
the riparian buffer.