Spatiotemporal trends and lagged precipitation–Soil moisture relationships across coastal and inland regions of Türkiye
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Soil moisture is a key hydrometeorological variable that links precipitation and temperature to land–atmosphere interactions and strongly influences evapotranspiration, runoff generation, and drought development. This study investigates the long-term variability of surface soil wetness across Türkiye using daily datasets from seven representative cities characterized by contrasting coastal and inland climatic conditions over the period from 1 January 2005 to 1 January 2025. The analysis focuses on (i) trend assessment of precipitation and surface soil wetness, (ii) evaluation of precipitation–surface wetness (P–GWETtop) and air temperature–surface wetness (T2m–GWETtop) relationships, (iii) comparison of climatic responses between coastal and inland regions, and (iv) lagged correlation analysis to identify the response time of surface wetness to precipitation within a 0–14 day period. Monthly aggregated data were used to perform descriptive statistical analyses, correlation assessments, and linear trend evaluations. The results show that precipitation–surface wetness relationships vary considerably among the selected cities, reflecting regional differences in climatic regime, precipitation characteristics, and evaporative demand. In several inland cities, the influence of air temperature on surface wetness variability appears more pronounced, indicating the importance of evaporation-driven moisture loss under drier climatic conditions. In contrast, coastal cities generally exhibit weaker and more variable response patterns due to their more humid atmospheric conditions. Overall, the findings provide a comparative framework for understanding climate-related surface soil moisture variability across different climatic regions of Türkiye and offer useful insight for future hydrometeorological and environmental assessments.
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