Determination of average field scale soil surface temperature from meteorological measurements

A simple procedure is presented for the determination of field scale soil surface temperature using meteorological and surface energy measurements. An advectionaridity evaporation model, in conjunction with the surface energy budget, is used to solve for the sensible heat flux. The calculated sensible heat flux and Monin-Obukhov surface layer similarity theory for temperature are employed to obtain the field scale temperature. A theoretical model to define the scalar roughness length is applied. The model correlated well (r2 = 0.91) with infrared surface temperature measurements. Error analysis indicated that the procedure conserved the higher statistical moments and the maximum daily observed surface temperature. © 1993 The Williams and Wilkins.

Duke Scholars

Author Gabriel G. Katul Civil and Environmental Engineering