Soil Temperature
Soil Temperature
• Soil temperature refers to the measurement of the
ground’s inherent warmth. It controls the chemistry and
biology of the ground and the atmospheric-ground gas
exchange.
• It can also be termed as “soil surface temperature,” which
is the measurement of warmth/coldness in the top 4 inches
(10 cm) of the ground. Seasonal and daily changes in the
land’s warmth degrees may cause variations in radiant
energy and energy shifts at the ground surface.
• The importance of soil temperature in agriculture is due to
its impact on the effectiveness of many farming
procedures. The success of fertilizing and weed
management also heavily depends on the ground’s thermal
conditions.
Sources of soil heat
• Solar radiation (How much soiolar radiation reaches the soil
depends on angle of sun, slope of the land, cloud cover, soil
color etc.
• Biochemical reaction (Different biochemical reactions
occuring in soil often release heat in soil, which enhance
soil temperature).
• Conduction of heat (earths internal surface is very hot.
Conduction of heat from internal surface to external
surface is very slow but during night time, when upper
surface cool down, then heat from internal surface
transmits to the outer surface. )
• Precipitation(High specific heat of water tend to increase
soil temperature).
50% reflected back to
atmosphere and get
Sun rays absorbed by
100% atmospheric gases
50% comes to earth
But in cloudless sky, surface
75% heat comes to
earth surface
In cloudy sky, , only
35 to 40% heat
comes to earth
5% of soil heat is used up in photosynthesis, rest of the
heat is get used in evaporation and transpiration.
Factors affecting soil temperature
Temperature of soils in the field is affected by
three factors.
1. Absorption of net amount of heat energy
2. Amount of heat energy required to bring
about a change in soil temperature
3. Amount of heat energy required for
processes like evaporation
Loss of soil heat
• Radiation: It is the movement of heat through space from a warmer
object to a cooler object. The sun heating the surface of the earth
and the warmth of a campfire on your face are examples. It emits
energy equally in all directions.
• Conduction : Conduction is the transfer of heat through or within
an object, like the metal spoon in the cooking pot that’s too hot to
pick up even though the handle is sticking out of the pot.
• Evaporation :Water stored in the soil is released into the
atmosphere by evaporation and soil moisture is reduced.
Evaporation can take place directly from the surface of water and
soil or by plant transpiration.
• Precipitation: Water by the property of high heat capacity absorbs
soil heat.
Thermal regime of soil
• This the thermal condition of soil root zone.
• There are 5 typrs of thermal regimes.
• Pergelic regime: Annual temperature 0 degree
• Cryic regime: 0-8 degree
• Frigid regime: annual temperature less than 8
• Mesic regime: 8 to less than 15
• Thermic regime: more than 15 an less than 22
FACTOR OF SOIL TEMPERATURE
Slope of the land
• The angle at which the sunrays meet the
surface affects the amount of solar radiation
received by the earth.
• Sunrays falling on the earth at an angle are
scattered over a wider area than those falling
perpendicularly.
Season
• Soil temperature varies with different season
of the year.
• In cool season, sun rays heat the earth surface
at a shallow angle, so lesser temperature
reaches the earth.
• In dry season, sun rays heat the surface at
steep angle, air temperature is high so the soil
temperature is also high.
Nature of Soil
• Sandy soils warm up quickly than clay or fine textured soil. Because,
fine textured soils carry a large amount of water due to which they
warm up slowly.
• Soil structure affects soil temperature. The granular and crumb
structure warms up more rapidly because there is no water logging.
• Dark coloured soil usually warm up more rapidly than light coloured soil
as this soil absorbs more heat.
• Moist soil has lower temperature than dry soil, because evaporation of
water rather helps to lower the temperature of moist soil.
• The temperature of surface soil shows fluctuation but soil temperature
below certain depth remains more or less constant and is not affected
by diurnal or seasonal temperature changes.
Vegetation
• Bare soil warms up quickly and cools down
rapidly.
• Soils that are covered with vegetation absorb
less heat than those that are bare.
• Vegetation acts as an insulating agents. It does
not allow the soil to become either too hot
during the summer or too cold during the winter.
Thermal Properties of soil
• Specific Heat: The amount of heat energy required to raise 1 ̊C
temperature of a substance
• Heat capacity (volume specific heat): The amount of heat energy
required to raise the temperature of 1cm3 substance by 1 ̊C. Most
soils have a heat capacity in the range of 0.3 to 0.6 cal/cm3
• Heat of Vaporization: The amount of energy required to change a
substance from liquid to gaseous state.
• Thermal Conductivity: Thermal conductivity is the ability of the
substance to transfer heat from molecule to molecule.
• Thermal diffusivity:
Ratio of the thermal conductivity to volume specific heat.
Thermal diffusivity = Thermal conductivity/ Volume specific heat
Ways to modify soil thermal
regime
• Dry soil warms up quickly on the other hand, wet soil warms up slowly.
Soil temperature can be managed effectively by controlling drainage
• In a cold climate, the soil may be kept warmer by keeping it covered with
some organic matter called mulches and draining the soil. Mulches also
keep the surface of the land cool during the hot summer season.
• Organic matter mulches increase the infiltration of water in the soil; so the
soil remains moist and therefore takes longer time to warm up in summer
and to cool down in winter. Light coloured organic matter mulch also
reflects some solar radiation incident on the land surface.
• The surface of the soil may be kept covered by dark coloured plastic
mulches which would absorb more incoming solar radiation, prevent the
soil from radiating heat and reduce the evaporation of water from the soil.
The soil may thus be kept warm by keeping it covered with da: k coloured
plastic mulches during the winter.
• Well cultivated soil warms up quickly than non cultivated soil. Soil
temperature differ in ridge and furrows .Repeated cultivation create a
loose upper layer of soil that act as mulch.
Albedo
• Reflection of sunlight from solid Surface Albedo
particles in the atmosphere and cloud-thin 25-60%
from the Earth's surface forms cloud-thick 50-90%
one of the most important snow 50-90%
controls on Earth's average water 8%
temperature and on temperature grass 10-25%
differences between places. The forest 15-20%
percentage of sunlight reflected desert 35%
from a surface is called soil 10-25%
its albedo. In general, the greater asphalt 5-10%
the albedo, the cooler the concrete 15-25%
surface because less sunlight is
absorbed.
Effect of Clouds on Planetary
Temperature
• The relationship between cloud cover and Earth's climate is
quite complex and a major unknown in studies of climate
change. On one hand, more cloud cover causes higher
albedo and less sunlight absorbed by the Earth, causing
cooling. On the other hand, more cloud cover means less
radiation from the surface escapes to space, causing
warming. These competing effects are illustrated below. In
general, most scientists believe that an increase
in thin cloud cover would cause warming because thin
clouds are very good at trapping surface radiation, but have
a relatively low albedo. An increase in thick cloud cover,
however, would greatly increase Earth's albedo and cause
overall cooling. The process of "trapping radiation," called
the Greenhouse effect, is discussed in detail in the next
chapter.