Abstract: Towards the vertical characteristics of soil moisture,a series of analyses were carried out,based on the moisture data of layer 0-100 cm soil collected at 57 meteorological stations from 1981-2000 in China.According to the distribution of moisture along the vertical direction,the changes in soil moisture can be categorized in to 3 types:(1)summer vertical uniformly distributed,rapid verticaly changing,and seasonally differencing type.The main characteristics of the first type are low moisture in summer seasons and relative uniformity in distribution,as well as certain differences in vertical direction in the spring and fall seasons.This type is mainly seen in Xinjiang and Ningxia Autonomous Regions,the east of Gansu and Henan provinces,where the soil is loam or sand soil;(2)The rapid vertically changing type locates in areas known as moisture jumping layer(defined as the layer where perennialy existing the largest vertical difference in soil moisture),which the moisture in the top is smaller than the bottom layer.Based on the density of vertical gradients and relative depth,there are three subgroups,which are large upper vertical gradient,large middle and lower vertical gradient,as well as uniformly distributed vertical gradient.This type is mainly distributed in Guangxi Autonomous Regions,Inter section area of Yellow River and Huai River,and some areas in the Northeast China where different upper and lower soil layer are found;(3)Seasonally differencing type,appears mainly in northern areas where the soil is frozen during the winter seasons.Although this type is characterized by larger soil moisture in middle and upper layers during the winter seasons,the depth of the high-humid layer differs from soil in different areas and with different compositions.