Abstract:In soil-plant-atmosphere continuum,plant root-zone water storage is an important water source.The study on plant root-zone water storage is an important part in studying the continuum.The accurate estimation of the plant root-zone water stor- age will provide scientific basis for estimating irrigated water amount,ecological water-need amount and for the regional sustainable development in arid inland river basins of China.In the lower reaches of arid inland river basins of China,because of water recharge reducing,the water storage in plant root-zone reduced and plants withered,which have resulted in a series of ecological and environmental problems.So,it is imperative to study how to estimate plant root-zone water storage.Based on the solution of the weN-known Riehard's equation under certain boundary conditions,the natural plant root-zone water storage can be determined with the soil moisture of the surface layers 0-10cm and 0-20cm obtained by remote-sensing method in desert areas of China,and therefore,the feasibility study on determining natural plant root-zone soil water storage by using remote-sensing data in the West- ern China can be done.