Spatial pattern of soil moisture and its temporal stability within profiles on a loessial slope in northwestern China.

Highlights: [•] Vertical and horizontal distributions of soil moisture depended on vegetation types. [•] In order of importance, vegetation type, soil depth and the wetness index had effect on temporal stability of soil moisture. [•] Relationships between the standard deviation of relative differences and the wetness index varied nonlinearly with soil depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]