![]() Under serious concerns about climate change, multi-dimensional projections of the tendency and frequency of extremes in temperature and precipitations ( IPCC, 2014 Deshmukh and Singh, 2016) all demonstrate higher risks of storm-induced soil erosions or landslides ( Brocca et al., 2007 Strobbia and Cassiani, 2007 Zhou et al., 2021) and drought-related issues. Moreover, the prompt response of shallow soil moisture in the unsaturated zone to climatic variations and land surface conditions ( Jabbar and Grote, 2020) is a key factor to detect slope instability useful for developing early warning signals for landslide-prone regions ( Lu and Godt, 2008). As 50% of the plant roots are distributed within the 200 mm beneath the ground ( Fan et al., 2016), shallow soil moisture is also critical for plant growth and agricultural production ( Rossato et al., 2017). The dynamics of the shallow soil moisture reflect the changes in the rainfall intensity, infiltration and evapotranspiration potential, and antecedent soil moisture status ( Nyamgerel et al., 2022). ![]() Lying in the pathway of the surface- and subsurface-hydrological processes, the soil water plays a decisive role in the transformation of water and energy falling on the Earth’s surface to regulate the level of surface runoff and groundwater recharge ( Ma et al., 2021). The soil water accounts for merely 0.1% of the total water on the Earth ( Strobbia and Cassiani, 2007 Ma et al., 2021). It demonstrates a strong need for a decent forecast of the complex shallow soil moisture dynamics and the associated hydrologic processes in mountain regions to cope with climate change for landslide preparation and agricultural adaptation in the future. Complex interactions of hydrological processes are found with variations in precipitation and air temperature, depending on the interlinked boundary conditions of the soil and water. In recognition of the seasonal weather characteristics, we perform a series of sensitivity analyses to examine the response of shallow soil moisture and relate the hydrological processes to air temperature, precipitation intensity, duration, and combinations thereof. With limited field measurements, the model can provide reasonably accurate soil moisture predictions. In the model, the meteorological conditions and the physical soil properties are taken into consideration. To overcome the severe measurement deficiencies and provide predictions of soil moisture dynamics, we construct a physically-based shallow soil moisture model based on the assumptions of ideal flow, homogeneous and isotropic soil textures, and 1-dimensional water movement dominant by gravity forces. However, shallow soil moisture data are often scarce in the landslide active regions. To predict the occurrence of landslides, shallow soil moisture lying in the interface of the hydrological processes has been found as one of the critical factors. Under the worsening climate change, the mountainous landslide active regions are more likely to suffer severe disasters threatening residents. School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
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