Decision-Support Tool Puts Purdue Mesonet Soil Moisture Measurements into Climatological and Soil Texture Context

The Purdue Mesonet is a network of 15 stations located across Indiana. At these stations, soil conditions are monitored at depths of 5, 10, 20, and 40 cm. One of the key monitored conditions is soil moisture, measured as volumetric water content (VWC), which represents the volume of water per unit of dry soil. Two critical VWC thresholds that dictate water availability for plants are field capacity and wilting point, both of which vary by soil texture (i.e., sand, sandy loam, loam, silt loam, clay loam, and clay). Additionally, soil texture varies by depth for most Purdue Mesonet sites. Users of Purdue Mesonet data have expressed a need to contextualize VWC around soil texture type and climatology to enhance decision support. To address this, an interactive online decision-support tool (DST) is being developed. The DST visualizes 5- and 30-minute VWC measurements, both historical (circa 2021 for most stations) and real-time, along with information about soil texture at various depths. It will also incorporate field capacity and wilting point thresholds for the station soil texture types, determined from several reference studies. Planned visualizations in the DST include a station map of VWC values, station-level time series of VWC with field capacity and wilting point shown as reference lines, and station-level visualizations of inter-annual variability of VWC.