Upper Missouri River Basin Data Value Study Literature Review
In response to severe drought and flood events in the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) between 2011 and 2019, the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act provided funding to improve water monitoring in the region. The UMRB Data Value Study, led by NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), is the assessment element of this multi-component, multi-agency project.
As part of the NIDIS-led UMRB Data Value Study, researchers from Texas A&M conducted a literature review on the value of long-term in situ soil moisture and snowpack monitoring. This project described the state of published research on economic and scientific benefits of long-term monitoring of soil moisture and plains snowpack, with particular emphasis on the Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB), which includes parts of Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Potential Benefits of Expanded Long-Term Monitoring
This project summarized existing networks' collection of soil moisture or plains snowpack monitoring data in the UMRB, reviewed applications of these data types as described in the literature, and identified research gaps and recommended areas of future research.
The literature review considered 238 peer-reviewed papers and government reports published between 1985 and 2024, which discussed the usefulness of in situ soil moisture and plains snowpack data for agricultural management, drought monitoring, flood prediction, natural hazards, model and remote sensing validation, and more.
This project found plains snowpack and soil moisture are under-monitored, both in the UMRB and globally, compared to meteorological variables or mountain snowpack. However, in regions where soil moisture and (multi-elevation) snowpack data are available, people use them for a variety of purposes, including:
- Water resource management (both soil moisture and snowpack)
- Natural disaster prediction (both)
- Precipitation forecasting and estimation (soil moisture)
- Agricultural planning and management (soil moisture)
- Forestry planning and management (soil moisture)
- Ecological monitoring (both)
- Calibration and validation of satellite data and land surface models (both)
- Climate-driven changes in snowmelt regimes (snowpack).
While the literature considered economic ramifications of these applications, dollar-based value assessments of the data were uncommon.
Limited data availability and relatively short periods of record create challenges to applying long-term soil moisture and plains snowpack monitoring for societal benefit, such as drought early warning. However, where used, these datasets already provide value to a variety of sectors, indicating that as data availability expands, opportunities for such application will too. These datasets can improve our understanding of hydrologic systems to inform decision-making around water management, agricultural production, and hazard preparedness and response.
For more information, please contact Elise Osenga (elise.osenga@noaa.gov).
Research Snapshot
Briana Wyatt, Texas A&M University
Mingxiu Wang, Texas A&M University
Results of This Research
This research resulted in a literature review published in Vadose Zone Journal: The value of long-term in situ soil moisture and snowpack monitoring: Laying the foundation for future studies in the Upper Missouri River Basin.
Key findings:
- In situ soil moisture and plains snowpack monitoring were relatively sparse throughout the UMRB prior to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers UMRB network build-out and are less well monitored globally than mid- to high-elevation snowpack and meteorological variables (e.g., precipitation).
- There are very few studies on the applications of soil moisture or snowpack data within the UMRB region.
- Where soil moisture and plains snowpack data are available globally, people use them for a variety of purposes, including water resource management, natural disaster prediction, ecological monitoring, and calibration and validation of satellite data and land surface models.
- Expanding in situ soil moisture and plains snowpack monitoring can benefit multiple sectors.
- Long-term soil moisture and snowpack monitoring can reduce environmental, economic, and social impacts of natural hazards and disasters.
