## 5 Conclusions  
In this study, the response of vegetation to in situ root zone soil moisture during wet rainfall pulses in Mulga woodland of semi-arid Central Australia was analyzed through remotely sensed Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST) values as indicators of vegetation status. Data from geostationary (AHI Himawari-8) and low-Earth-orbiting (MODIS) satellites were considered. The results show that water content in the soil profile explains most vegetation growth seasonally and interannually. Thus, exploring the satellite-based variables strongly related to water availability in the soil to roots can contribute to assessing the impact of wet conditions on vegetation. Daily data of the LSWI displayed a good correlation with soil moisture in deep horizons with quadratic adjustments, explained through the lag in vegetation response. GPP was correlated to the LSWI on a daily scale. This index showed results very similar to those obtained with the EVI, although with a greater range of variation. The temporal response showed that the LSWI increased several days after wet rainfall pulses. The results suggest that it seems to be an integrative indicator of the cumulative effect of soil moisture on vegetation status and productivity, but it is not an early indicator of that condition.  
LST showed sensitivity to shorter-term changes in soil profile water content available for evapotranspiration process. In general, the good correlations between soil moisture and LST suggest that LST can be useful for the early monitoring of the vegetation status in the semi-arid ecosystems of the study area during extreme wet events. A general model of LST, according to subsurface water availability, was proposed for the Mulga woodland area. Given the strong association between GPP and soil water in Central semi-arid Australia reported in previous studies, this conceptual framework can be valuable in studies analyzing droughts, vegetation resilience, and productivity. This may become even more relevant in the context of projected increases in the occurrence of extreme events under climate change.  
Future studies can analyze the incidence of soil moisture during wet pulses on the growth of different vegetation layers (grassland and shrubland) and the different time responses. In this sense, increases in surface soil moisture seem to be associated with short-term changes in LST, and strong wet pulses can produce a greater impact on productivity and the spectral response.  
Conceptualization, M.H., R.R. and A.H.; Methodology, M.H.; Investigation, M.H.; Data curation, A.S. and R.R.; Writing--original draft, M.H.; Writing--review & editing, A.H.; Visualization, A.S.; Supervision, A.H.; Funding acquisition, M.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) through an External Postdoctoral Fellowship. Data are related to \"Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), \"Developing best-practice Himawari data products for enhanced sub-daily monitoring of Australia's ecosystems\", [PERSON] (Lead CI)\".  
The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.  
We are thankful to Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's (TERN) OzFlux (especially [PERSON] from James Cook University) for providing field data.  
The authors declare no conflict of interest.  
Appendix AFigure 17: Relationship between daily in situ SM at different depths: the LSWI (**left**) and EVI (**right**) from the AHI in the Ti Tree station (n = 236).  
Figure A4: Relationship between average in situ LST and SM at different depths (the best correlation up to 4 days is included) in the Ti Tree station (n = 377).