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Abstract Soil heat flux plates (SHFPs) are widely used to measure soil heat flux (Gs). Gs is often underestimated by SHFPs (Gp). Although calibration methods are used, they are not always effective. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a field calibration method applied to various SHFPs installed in a full canopy maize field. A 5‐day measurement period with wet and dry soil conditions was used for calibration, while 80‐day and 60‐day measurement periods were used for evaluation. Uncorrected SHFP measured values (Gp) underestimated the actual reference Gs determined by the gradient method (Gs_grad) by 42%–64%. Gp values in the evaluation period were corrected (Gp_corr) by dividing them by the ratio of Gp/Gs_grad determined over the calibration period. After the correction, the Gp_corr agreed well with the Gs_grad, with Gp_corr/Gs_grad of four of six SHFPs being 0.90–1.01, improving to 74%–98%. The field calibration performed approximately the same with the wet and dry calibration periods, whether the calibration and evaluation periods were consecutive in time or had relatively long time intervals, indicating that this method accounted for almost all errors with SHFP. This is largely due to the slight variation in soil thermal conductivity and the linearity between soil temperature gradients from SHFP and the gradient method under relatively stable soil moisture conditions. This study deepens our understanding and improves the accuracy of soil heat flux measurements. Calibration of SHFPs under various land covers and weather conditions is warranted in future studies.
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Experiments and COMSOL simulations: A comparative study of the heat flux plate method and the gradient method for soil heat flux measurements in barren sand
- Award ID(s):
- 2037504
- PAR ID:
- 10426505
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
- Volume:
- 334
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 0168-1923
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 109436
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109436
