Drought is a common natural disaster and a major ecological, hydrological, agricultural, and economic concern for humanity (Han et al., 2020). The extent of drought has increased in recent decades and is expected to intensify in the future (West et al., 2019). Drought can have numerous detrimental effects on both the environment and the economy (Rulinda et al., 2013). Therefore, monitoring changes in drought conditions for land use restoration (Mahmoudi et al., 2019) has become crucial for various applications (Heydari et al., 2018). Drought, along with land-use and land-cover changes, which are among the most pressing global environmental issues, often results from both natural factors and human activities (Hosseini et al., 2020). Land degradation is a major global environmental issue. The deterioration of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of land threatens food security, ecosystem services, livelihoods, and quality of life (Kumar et al., 2022). Land degradation is emerging as one of the most catastrophic global challenges in the context of contemporary climate change and uncontrolled human activities. Understanding the extent of degradation and its potential causes is crucial for developing effective mitigation measures, as well as sustainable strategies for the responsible use of land resources (Bouma et al., 2019). Climatic and biogeographical indices, such as Soil Water Volume (SWV) and Soil Temperature (ST), are effective tools for assessing the status of land degradation on a large scale in arid lands affected by negative human activities. Land Surface Temperature (LST) is also one of the key physical variables in Earth surface processes, responding sensitively to climatic changes and terrestrial surface characteristics at both global and regional scales (Song et al., 2018). This parameter plays a critical role in controlling physical, chemical, and biological processes as well as mediating interactions between the land and the atmosphere, significantly affecting vegetation, water, and soil conditions (Urqueta et al., 2018). Therefore, changes in vegetation cover can result from fluctuations in LST, which is closely related to vegetation density.

Soil moisture is a vital variable in the hydrological cycle that refers to the amount of water present in the soil and is recognized as a key factor in agriculture and natural resource management (Rasheed et al., 2022). By influencing evaporation and transpiration, drought forecasting, irrigation management, and plant health monitoring, this variable contributes to the optimal growth and development of vegetation (Greiser et al., 2024). Variations in soil moisture can lead to changes in the density and health of vegetation cover, which in turn impacts local ecosystems. Thus, understanding its spatiotemporal distribution is essential and effective for vegetation cover management. Today, various indices and methods are employed to monitor land degradation, with these efforts primarily relying on satellite data, as well as the application of remote sensing and geographic information systems (Cheng et al., 2020). Indices derived from remote sensing data have proven particularly valuable for tracking changes in vegetation cover over time. Recent studies have highlighted the effectiveness of indices related to temperature, precipitation, humidity, evaporation, transpiration, vegetation, and land degradation. These studies have documented the spatial and temporal variations of these indices across different scales, which are instrumental in assessing and predicting future land degradation risks (Badapalli et al., 2021; Burrell et al., 2018; Hamzeh et al., 2017). Soil water volumetric, particularly surface soil water volumetric, plays a crucial role in the management of water and soil resources. Similarly, surface soil temperature, which refers to the temperature measured at the ground surface, has become one of the key parameters for examining spatial changes, as it is a critical indicator of land surface changes. Many researchers in environmental fields such as global climate change, hydrological cycles, agriculture, and urban land cover use ST indices as important and effective remote sensing parameters in their studies (Hereher and El-Kenawy, 2022; Shao et al., 2020). This variable is essential for hydrological modeling, land degradation analysis, ecological studies, and climate change research.

On the other hand, in recent decades, unsustainable practices in the exploitation of natural resources have caused significant damage to natural resource areas (Karimi and Sharif Zade, 2017). As a result of the unplanned and self-interested interaction between human societies and the environment, we are confronted with numerous environmental challenges, including land and forest degradation. These challenges have reached a point where many human settlements in our country are heading toward unsustainability. The nature, magnitude, and intensity of these challenges vary depending on the geographical and human conditions prevailing in different regions (Dehghani et al., 2019). Given that human society currently and in the future will rely on natural resources as the essential foundation for sustainable environmental development and ecological processes (Savari et al., 2019), land degradation not only threatens the ecological health of grasslands and shrublands but also reduces the quality and quantity of forage available for livestock (Souri et al., 2018). Furthermore, it exacerbates environmental anomalies such as floods, air pollution, drought, erosion, and declining groundwater levels (Kavianpour et al., 2015). In this context, vegetation plays a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem balance, water storage and production, as well as providing medicinal, industrial, and food products. It also contributes to economic value at both the micro and macro levels while creating jobs at minimal cost (Karimi and Sharif Zade, 2017). It is recognized as a fundamental factor in traditional livestock production (Dehdari et al., 2014) and as one of the factors for the development of countries (Savari et al., 2019). Additionally, vegetation plays a vital economic and social role in the survival of rural and nomadic livelihoods (Habibyian and Barani, 2019), providing fodder, storing precipitation, moderating climate, producing oxygen (Karimi et al., 2016), feeding livestock, and preventing soil erosion (Sharifiyan Bahraman et al., 2018).

The southern provinces of Iran (Bushehr, Fars, Kerman, Hormozgan, and Sistan and Baluchestan) host a wide range of soil types due to their diverse topographic and climatic conditions. Based on Iran’s national soil maps and the FAO global soil database, the dominant soils in these regions include Aridisols, Entisols, and Inceptisols. These soils, which are primarily formed under arid and semi-arid climates, are characterized by low organic matter content, localized salinity, limited water-holding capacity, and textures ranging from sandy loam in desert and coastal areas to silty and clayey textures in alluvial plains (Mohammadhosseini Sagayesh et al., 2025; Roozitalab et al., 2018). Differences in soil type and structure play a key role in explaining the spatial and temporal variations in soil temperature and volumetric water content across different land use types. For example, shallow sandy soils in barren lands, due to their low water retention capacity, often experience greater temperature fluctuations and respond more rapidly to climatic changes. In contrast, deeper, clay-rich soils commonly found in forest and agricultural lands exhibit distinct thermal and moisture patterns due to their different physical properties (Horel et al., 2022; Onwuka et al., 2021). The thermal and hydrological behavior of soils in response to climate change and land use types is strongly influenced by structural and physical differences in the soil. For instance, shallow sandy soils in barren areas tend to warm up more quickly and retain less moisture, whereas deeper, clay-rich soils in forested and agricultural areas display different responses to temperature and moisture variations (Zhu et al., 2025).

Research indicates the high potential of southern Iran regarding land degradation, as well as the significant application of remote sensing, geographic information systems, and climate models in monitoring land use. Previous studies have paid little attention to assessing the sensitivity of different land uses to drought from the perspective of climatic soil variables in the context of land use restoration. In recent studies, climatic soil indices have been introduced as a simple and effective criterion for monitoring land conditions under various circumstances. Given the importance of this issue, the aim of the present study is to analyze the trends of the variables under investigation (ST and SWV) across different land uses from 2000 to 2022. It is noteworthy that, in terms of location, no such study has been conducted in southern Iran to date.

The data used in this study includes SWV in cubic meters per cubic meter and ST in degrees Celsius, sourced from the ERA5 climate model at a monthly temporal resolution and a spatial resolution of 10 km for the period 2000–2022. Both SWV and ST data correspond to the topsoil layer (0–7 cm) as provided by the ERA5-Land dataset. These data were processed to estimate the spatiotemporal trends of soil temperature and soil moisture across different land use types in southern Iran. The steps of the research process are presented in Figure 1.

This study highlights the critical influence of land use dynamics on soil-climatic variables across southern Iran’s diverse ecological regions. Rather than affecting all areas uniformly, the results revealed that land cover types respond differently to climatic stressors particularly agricultural and shrubland areas, which showed signs of increased soil temperature likely due to vegetation removal and poor soil practices.

In contrast, forested and grassland regions benefited from denser vegetation cover, which likely contributed to maintaining cooler soil conditions and promoting water retention. These insights underscore the importance of preserving natural vegetation and implementing sustainable agricultural practices to combat land degradation.

The analysis of trends based on the Mann-Kendall Z test and Sen’s slope estimator revealed that the trend of ST changes over most of the area in Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Hormozgan, and southeastern Fars has been negative, indicating a decrease in ST. The trend analysis of soil climatic variables across different land uses indicated that SWV has shown an increasing trend in barren land, grassland, and forest areas. This increase may be attributed to intensified rainfall events, improved soil water retention due to vegetation density, and more efficient water and soil management practices in these ecosystems.

Additionally, the results indicated a negative trend in ST for barren land, forest, and grassland uses. The trend of ST in shrubland and agricultural land uses was observed to be increasing.

In many areas particularly forests, grasslands, and some parts of barren lands an increasing trend in SWV has been associated with a decreasing trend in ST. This relationship aligns with the findings of recent studies (Behroozeh et al., 2025; Bongasie et al., 2024), which emphasize the role of soil moisture in regulating surface energy fluxes and soil temperature. An increase in SWV enhances the soil’s heat capacity and promotes evapotranspiration, which ultimately leads to a reduction in ST. Conversely, a decline in soil moisture often caused by unsustainable land use practices reduces latent heat flux and results in higher soil temperatures. Understanding this inverse dynamic offers new insights into the combined impacts of land use change and climate variability on soil-climate interactions. It also highlights the crucial role of vegetation cover in moderating temperature fluctuations and mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on soil health, especially in arid and semi-arid regions.

These findings make a unique contribution to the field of natural resource management and climate studies, as this is the first study to examine the spatiotemporal distribution of ST and soil moisture variables across five southern provinces of Iran regions characterized by diverse climatic conditions and land uses. The research highlights how climate change and human activities differently affect various land use types (such as barren lands, agricultural areas, forests, and rangelands).

By identifying distinct patterns of temperature and moisture changes for each land use, the results offer a valuable tool for planning and implementing sustainable land and water management strategies in arid and semi-arid regions, an approach that has rarely been addressed in previous studies from a land use-specific and regional perspective.

Ultimately, this research contributes to bridging a critical gap in the region by demonstrating how land use change, in the context of climate stress, manifests in measurable soil-climate interactions—an area previously underexplored in southern Iran.

Although this study has valuable achievements, it also has some limitations. One of the most important limitations is the absence of certain soil variables such as bulk density and deep soil moisture, which require field measurements or detailed regional data that were not available in this study. Additionally, socio-economic factors affecting land use changes, such as policy shifts, population growth, and local management practices, were not examined in this research and could provide useful supplementary information.

For future research, it is recommended to include these additional soil variables in the analysis to gain a better understanding of soil-climate interactions. Moreover, investigating seasonal and monthly patterns of climatic variables and their relationship with vegetation cover can better reveal the role of natural ecosystems in regulating soil conditions.