Abstract: To use the weighted moisture index (WMI) as an indicator of waterlogging, which is based on two sub-indices: the effective precipitation and potential evaportranspiration, combined with the duration and cumulated intensity of WMI during a wet period can identify a waterlogging process and determine the corresponding grade levels. Its application can be tested by comparing the frequency, spatial pattern, typical years and typical processes that identified by soil moisture and crop yield. The findings suggest that WMI is highly relevant to soil relative moisture, that the frequency and spatial pattern of waterlogging processes identified by WMI are consistent with those identified by soil relative moisture, that the years with heavy waterlogging in the spring identified by WMI is collaborated by the largely reduced yields in winter wheat and oilseed rape. In addition, the correlation stands firm between the monitoring on typical water logging processes identified by WMI and precipitation and soil moisture in temporal distribution. Relying on low input requirements, requiring few optimization parameters, employing easy dynamic calculation and participating in a wide range of applications, WMI is suited for operational waterlogging disaster monitoring and early warning.
Key words：waterlogging; weighted moisture index; soil moisture; application test