It was crucial to capture the variation in global soil moisture for exploring the global eco-hydrological processes. Based on the global soil moisture data from the Climate Change Initiative (CCI) published by the European Space Agency (ESA), this study re-examined the spatial pattern and temporal trend of global soil moisture from 1978 to 2021. Our results showed that the global mean soil moisture was 0.208 cm3cm 3 , which showed a weak decreasing trend over the past four decades ( 1.2 10-4 cm3 cm 3 yr 1 , R2 = 0.23, p = 0.001). Spatially, about 12.99 % of the land showed a significant drying trend, while only 6.74 % of the land showed a wetting trend. However, in the last decade, global soil moisture exhibited a distinct upward trend (7 10-4 cm3 cm 3 yr 1 , R2 = 0.87, p = 0.000). Specifically, during this period, 5.72 % of the land showed a marked drying tendency, while 9.09 % of the land displayed a wetting trend. Soil moisture variation in the arid climate zones showed a negative contribution to the global trend, with the total contribution of 45.72 %. In contrast, soil moisture trends in temperate and cold climate zones mainly exerted positive contributions to the global trend. From a continental perspective, Asia's positive contribution was the most significant, accounting for 39.96 %, whereas North America showed a significant negative contribution of 37.43 %. Temporally, the negative maximum change in soil moisture occurs in June-August and the positive maximum change occurs in SeptemberNovember, serving as the predominant driver for the annual trend. Results of this study helped to clarify the variation of global soil moisture, which could support the sustainable water management in the changing climate. (c) 2024 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.