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Errors Associated with the Combination Method for Estimating Soil Heat Flux

U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Station, 240 W. Prospect, Fort Collins, CO 80526

*Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Errors are common to all methods of measuring soil heat flux. This study examines some of the errors that result when estimating the heat storage term (employed by the combination method) from measurements of the time rate of change of soil temperatures. Based on analytical models of the vertical profiles of soil temperature, my results indicate that errors of ±3 to 10% in the estimate of soil beat flux can result from following recommended procedures. For homogenous soils, these errors can be reduced by about 67% using two soil thermometers with unequal weighting to estimate the heat storage term. However, minimizing these errors for inhomogeneous soils may not be possible without detailed information on the vertical structure of the soil thermal properties.

Received for publication November 23, 1992.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. E. Ochsner, T. J. Sauer, and R. Horton Soil Heat Storage Measurements in Energy Balance Studies Agron. J., January 1, 2007; 99(1): 311 - 319. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]