SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-1

Chapter 8 - Soil Temperature

• Factors affecting soil temperature
• Heat transfer processes
• Thermal conductivity and diffusivity
• Measurement of temperature
• Diurnal and annual cycles
• Heat capacity
• Heat flow
• Determining KT in field
• Simultaneous transport of water and heat
------------------------------------------------

Temperature affects several processes

• assimilation

• respiration

• transpiration

• chemical reactions in soil and plants

• diffusion of gases and solutes

• water flow in soil

• translocation

• microbial activity

• availability of water to plants

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-2

Factors that influence temperature

-------------------
of surface soil
-------------------

- radiation from sun

- slope of land

- water content of soil

- vegetative cover

- albedo

-------------------
of subsurface soil
-------------------

- heat flux from surface

- water content

- bulk density

- heat capacity of soil

Radiation

See Fig. 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7 in the book (Jury et al., 1991)

• Radiation from sun is mostly short wave.

• Earth absorbs short wave - some reflected

• Earth radiates energy nearly like a black body (primarily long wave)
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-3

• H2O vapor, CO2, N2O, CH4, synthetic industrial gases, and dust absorb long wave
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-4

Heat Transfer Processes

1. Radiative

- Any surface radiates energy

- What is mostly felt as heat coming from fireplace

- Stefan's Law

Radiation from blackbody

∑ = ε σ T4

cal
∑- - Energy flux, integrated over all wavelengths
cm 2 min

ε = 1 for blackbody
ε < 1 for other bodies
σ = 8x10-11 cal cm min-1 ºK-4
T - ºK

2. Convection

- Hot air rises causing mixing and transport

3. Conduction

- Net molecular exchange of kinetic energy which takes place

from more energetic molecules (hot regions) to less
energetic molecules (cool regions)

Within soil, radiative and convection are very small in relation to conduction
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-5

Measurement of Temperature

- Glass thermometers

- high heat capacity

- may conduct heat along thermometer

- Thermocouples & Thermistors

- response good

- small size

- Radiation Thermometer

- measures surface temperature

- measures infrared

Diurnal and annual cycles

See 5.14 and 5.15 in the textbook (Jury et al., 1991).

• Soil heats up during day, cools at night

• Diurnal variations damped with depth

• Peak shifts
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-6

Heat Capacity

∆Q
Heat capacity = (cal / o K)
∆T

∆Q is quantity of heat

∆T is associated T change

Heat capacity is dependent upon size of the system. Heat capacity per unit mass is

∆ Q cal
c=
m∆t g ° K

c is called specific heat

- independent of system size

Soil
Minerals H2O Humus

c 0.2 1.0 0.5

cal cal cal

g °K g °K g °K
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-7

Volumetric heat capacity

Csoil = S Xi ρi ci

∆Q cal
Csoil =
V∆T cm3 °K

Xi - volume fraction of particular soil constituent

Csoil = Xm ρm cm + Xo ρo co + Xw ρw cw + Xa ρa ca

- Xm, Xo, Xw, & Xa are volume fractions of mineral matter, organic
matter, water, & air

- ρ are respective densities

- c are respective specific heats

ρw
ρa = therefore ρa ≈ 0
1000

Csoil = Xm ρm cm + Xo ρo co + Xw ρw cw

ρm = 2.6 g/cm3
ρo = 1.3 g/cm3
ρw = 1.0 g/cm3

Csoil = Xm (2.6) (0.2) + Xo (1.3) (0.5) + Xw (1) (1)

= 0.52 Xm + 0.65 Xo + Xw

Volumetric heat capacity has units of cal cm-3 soil °K-1

Since Xw is just volumetric water content, Xw = θv .
The equation using slightly different values for ? and c given by Jury et al. (1991) is

Csoil = 0.46 (1 - φ - X o) + 0.6 X o + θv

In California soils the Xo ≈ 1%, so this term has little influence.

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-8

In all problems, assume Xo=0 if not specified.

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-9

Heat Flow

Steady State

dT
J H = - λe
dz

cal
J H = heat flux density
cm2 sec

cal
λe - effective thermal conductivity
cm soil sec ° K

T - temperature °K

z - distance (cm)

Transient State

∂T - ∂ J H
C =
∂t ∂z

∂T ∂  ∂T 
C =
∂t ∂z  λe ∂z 
 

If λ e constant with z

∂T
= λe ∂ 2
2
T
C
∂t ∂z

∂T
= KT ∂ 2
2
T
∂t ∂z

λe
KT =
C

KT - Soil thermal diffusivity

 SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-10

λe C KT

θ θ θ

Also, see Fig. 5.10 and 5.11 in Jury et al., 1991 book.

Thermal conductivities for several materials

cal
dry soil 1.5 x 10-3
cm sec ° K

H2O 1.4 x 10-3 "

air 6 x 10-5 "

copper 0.918 "

steel 0.108 "

cardboard 5 x 10-4 "

glass 1.7 x 10-3 "

quartz 26.3 x 10-3 "

clay minerals 8.7 x 10-3 "

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-11

Determining KT in field

12 hrs 24 hrs
A0

T
T
time

T(o,t) = T + Ao sin ωt

T(o,t) - Temperature at z=o (soil surface)

T - Average daily temperature at soil surface
Ao - Amplitude of surface temperature fluctuation
ω - radial frequency

2π
ω= τ - period = 86,400 s (=24 hours)
τ

2 π radians
ω=
86,400 s

Also assume that T (∞,t) = T

T assumed to be same at all depths

∂T
= KT ∂ 2
2
T
∂t ∂z

Solution with above conditions is

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-12

z
T(z, t) = T + A o e-z/d [sin ( ω t - )]
d

d is "damping depth" at which the T amplitude decreases to 1/e of Ao

d is usually 20-30 cm for diurnal temperature fluctuations

d = 2K T ω

⊕ Calculate d for the annual wave using τ for one year.

Amplitude Equation

amplitude at z=o is Ao
amplitude at z=z1 is A1 = Ao exp (-z1/d)
amplitude at z=z2 is A2 = Ao exp (-z2/d)

A1 exp (-z1/d)
= = exp [(z 2 - z1 )/d]
A 2 exp (-z2 /d)

z2 - z1
ln( A1 / A 2) =
d

z2 - z1
d=
ln( A1 / A2)

z 2 - z1
2 KT ω =
ln( A1 / A2)

2
ω  z -z 
KT =  2 1 
2  ln( A1 / A2) 
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-13

Determine A1 at z1 and A2 at z2. Calculate KT .

Phase Equation

 z 
T(z, t) = T + A o e- z/d sin ( ω t - )
 d 

When T is maximum at each depth, the sin ( ) must be maximum.

π π
The sin ( ) is maximum when the ( ) = , sin = 1 .
2 2

z1 π
∴ ω t1 - =
d 2
and
z π
ω t2 - 2 =
d 2

Thus, can equate the 2 terms

z1 z
ω t1 - = ωt 2 - 2
d d

- z1 z 2
+ = ω t2 - ω t1
d d

1
(z 2 - z1 ) = ω(t 2 - t 1 )
d

1  z2 - z1 
ω  t 2 - t 1 
d=
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-14

1 z 2 - z1 
2 KT ω =
ω  t 2 - t 1 

2
2 K T 1  z 2 - z1 
= 2 
ω ω  t 2 - t1 

2
1  z 2 - z1 
2 ω  t 2 - t 1 
KT =

Thus, KT can be determined by measuring the time at which the maximum temperature is observed at two
depths. KT is the diffusivity of the soil between two depths.
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-15

Simultaneous Transport of Water and Heat

• Temperature gradients affect soil-water potential which induces both liquid and vapor movement.
• Soil-water potential gradients move water, which consequently carries heat.
• Combined transport generally ignored in very wet systems and in very dry systems. Temp. gradient
effect on water flow small in relation to soil-water potential grad. in wet range. Little water is moved
in very dry range.
• Two approaches

• Mechanistic
• Irreversible thermodynamics

Mechanistic

∂ θv ∂  ∂T  ∂  ∂ θ v  ∂K
For water =  DT  +  Dw -
∂t ∂z  ∂z  ∂z  ∂z  ∂z

For heat
∂T ∂  ∂T  ∂  ∂θ 
C =  λe  - L  D w,v 
∂t ∂z  ∂z  ∂z  ∂z 

DT - water diffusivity under temperature gradient

Dw - water diffusivity under water potential gradient
L - Latent heat of vaporization
Dw,v- Diffusivity for heat conveyed by water movement

Problems with mechanistic approach

- Difficult to measure or calculate diffusivities

- Two flow mechanisms are not strictly additive since they interact
SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-16

Irreversible thermodynamics

1 dP 1 dT
For water q w = - Lww - Lwh 2
T dz T dz

1 dP 1 dT
For heat q h = - Lhw - Lhh 2
T dz T dz

P - Soil-water potential

Li,j- Coefficients which are unknown functions of P and T

Makes no assumptions about mechanisms

SSC 107, Fall 2001 – Chapter 8 Page 8-17

Figures on simultaneous transport of water and heat follow: