Modelling soil heat flux

A mathematical model to calculate soil heat flux in three steps is presented. In the first, an hourly air temperature based on the average daily temperature, using Fourier series coefficients is estimated. The estimated hourly air temperature constitutes an input variable for the second step of the model. In the second step, heat transfer principles, using the thermal properties of the soil in order to obtain a soil temperature profile in a 1-m-depth soil stratum, is applied. Finally, the results of the second stage are used to numerically calculate hourly heat flux in the soil. Correlation coefficients between observed and calculated hourly temperature values over the three summer months were 0.98, 0.97 and 0.96. Correlation coefficient for the entire study period between observed and estimated soil heat-flux values was 0.92 with a mean square error of 19.8 W m–2.