China Soil Moisture Data in the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank

Soil moisture observations were taken using a gravimetric technique for each 10 cm layer of soil down to a depth of 1 m, with the first layer divided into two 5-cm layers. Vegetation in this network was mostly agriculture or grassland.

Data were originally recorded as percent wetness and then converted to volumetric soil moisture using soil density information available for each layer at each site. The wilting level of each layer was also measured and converted to a volumetric measure. The Plant-Available Soil Moisture (PASM) was determined for each layer by subtracting the wilting level volumetric measure from the soil moisture observations.