Soil Heat Flux in Arid Crop Fields

Table 1. Representative soil heat flux ranges at 5 cm depth in arid environments.

Environment

Season

Daily Max G (W/m²)

Daily Min G (W/m²)

Daily Mean G (W/m²)

Source (APA Citation)

Natural desert (bare soil)

Summer (peak)

~200–250

~–40 to –60

+20 to +30 (net gain)

Kustas et al. (2000)

Natural desert (bare soil)

Winter (cool)

~30–50

~–5 to –15

~0 (approx. balanced)

Soltani et al. (2020)

Arid cropland (bare soil)

Summer (early)

~150–200

~–30 to –50

+5 to +15

Wang et al. (2015)

Arid cropland (with crop)

Summer (mid)

~50–100

~–10 to –30

~0 (near neutral)

Sauer & Horton (2005)

Arid cropland (fallow)

Winter

~20–40

~–5 to –10

–0 to –5 (net loss)

Soltani et al. (2020)

References

  • Kustas, W. P., Prueger, J. H., Hatfield, J. L., Ramalingam, K., & Hipps, L. E., 2000, Variability in soil heat flux from a mesquite dune site: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, d103(3), 249-264, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1923(00)00130-3

  • Sauer, T. J., & Horton, R., 2005, Soil heat flux in J. L. Hatfield & J. M. Baker, eds., Micrometeorology in Agricultural Systems: American Society of Agronomy, pp. 131–154, https://doi.org/10.2134/agronmonogr47.c7

  • Soltani, M., Haghighi, E., & Zeyghami, M., 2020, Estimation of soil heat flux using remote sensing data in an arid region: Journal of Arid Environments, 174, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104047

  • Wang, Z., Li, S., Li, Z., & Wang, Q., 2015, Soil heat flux dynamics in potato fields mulched with plastic film in an arid area of Northwest China: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 202, 37-47, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2014.12.008