Modelling soil temperature in forest clearcuts using climate station data

A physically based numerical model was developed to estimate the time courses of soil temperature in forest clearcuts from measured solar irradiance, air temperature and wind speed. The model is based upon a finite difference solution of the one-dimensional soil heat flow equation with a surface boundary condition determined from aerodynamic heat transfer and energy balance theory.Modelled soil temperatures were compared with data from two other studies reported in the literature and with temperatures measured in a forest clearcut during 6 and 16 day periods in the summer. The model calculated surface and subsurface soil temperatures accurately over these long intervals. Modelled soil temperatures were relatively insensitive to air temperature, soil thermal properties and the lower boundary soil temperature but quite sensitive to solar irradiance, wind speed and surface roughness.