Calculated Soil Moisture and Temperature Regimes of South America

摘要

Soil moisture regimes (SMR's)--tables providing quantitative data on soil moisture and temperature--can aid in land use planning by defining soil limitations on plant growth, creating kingdoms within the soil classification system, and facilitating the preparation of generalized soil maps. This report uses a mathematical model developed by F. Newhall (a rough method designed to identify moisture regimes in areas where climatic and other input data are limited) to calculate SMR's for 1,100 stations throughout South America. The model is limited as data is often averaged over a period of years; SMR's do not include topsoil in calculations, resulting in a lack of knowledge on the availability of water for plants; and losses/gains in rainfall from poor drainage conditions are not measured.