Abstract: Soil water is the main carrier of particle, colloid and substance transport in farmland soil ecosystem. Besides, it is also a key factor for material exchange and energy transfer in soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, and has an important influence on the physiological growth characteristics and ecosystem service functions of crops. Yanting Station, representing the farmland ecosystem in purple soil hilly area of Sichuan Basin in the middle subtropical zone, is the only national scientific observation and research station of the farmland ecosystem in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Yanting Station is located in the transitional zone of the second and third ladders of China’s terrain, and at the forefront of the ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, it has special ecological sensitivity. This dataset includes the mass moisture content and volume moisture content of soil at different depths on two long-term monitoring sample plots: water observation sites of the Comprehensive Observation Field (cultivated land); water sampling sites of the Comprehensive Meteorological Observation Field (grassland) at Yanting Station from 2009 to 2018. Long-term monitoring data can help study the eco-hydrological process, water balance and material cycle regulation of the farmland ecosystem in typical hilly areas. Furthermore, long-term monitoring dataset can help reveal the sensitivity of soil water cycle to global climate change.
Keywords: purple soil; soil water moisture; long-term monitoring; dataset