This study was initiated to evaluate, during the following corn (*Zea mays* L.) phase, the effects of interseeded cover crops on soil temperature, soil water balances, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and yield and water use efficiency of corn. The study was conducted at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD from 2017 through 2020. The cropping systems under study were primarily sequences of corn-soybean (*Glycine max* L.)-wheat (*Triticum aestivum* L.)-double crop soybean all planted with no-tillage management.

This dataset consists of five years of weighing lysimeter data for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] grown at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) in 1995, 2003, 2004, 2010 and 2019. In 1995, 2003, 2004, and 2010, soybean was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. In 2019, soybean was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.4-ha square field. The datasets for individual season years consist of soil water content, weather, crop growth and yield, agronomic calendar, water balance (evapotranspiration, precipitation, dew/frost, irrigation), and lysimeter energy and water balance data. This particular dataset contains lysimeter soil water storage and drainage data, and data from in-soil and above-soil sensors. Properties sensed included wind speed, air temperature and relative humidity, components of the radiation balance (e.g., net radiation, incoming and reflected shortwave, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), incoming and reflected longwave, thermal infrared emitted by the plant/soil surface), soil heat flux, soil temperature, and soil volumetric water content at certain depths. Not all properties were always sensed in any one year.

This dataset consists of growth and yield data for soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] grown for seed at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Laboratory (CPRL), Soil and Water Management Research Unit (SWMRU), Bushland, Texas (Lat. 35.186714°, Long. -102.094189°, elevation 1170 m above MSL) in 1995, 2003, 2004, 2010 and 2019. In the 1995, 2003, 2004, and 2010 seasons, soybean was grown on two large, precision weighing lysimeters, each in the center of a 4.44 ha square field. In 2019, soybean was grown on four large, precision weighing lysimeters and their surrounding and contiguous 4.4 ha square fields. The entire datasets for individual season years consist of soil water content, weather, crop growth and yield, agronomic calendar, water balance (evapotranspiration, precipitation, dew/frost, irrigation), and lysimeter energy and water balance data. This dataset focuses on the soybean growth and yield data.

This dataset contains all data and code necessary to reproduce the analysis presented in the manuscript: Winzeler, H.E., Owens, P.R., Read Q.D.., Libohova, Z., Ashworth, A., Sauer, T. 2022. 2022. Topographic wetness index as a proxy for soil moisture in a hillslope catena: flow algorithms and map generalization. *Land* 11:2018. DOI: 10.3390/land11112018.