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The factors determining soil temperature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

B. A. Keen  and
E. J. Russell
B. A. Keen
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
E. J. Russell
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
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Extract

The general principles regulating soil temperature are well known.

Measurements in deep mines and wells indicate the existence of a temperature gradient in the earth's crust from the interior outwards, which causes a flow of heat to the surface at a sensibly constant rate. Extensive measurements were carried out by Forbes1 and by William Thomson (afterwards Lord Kelvin) who worked up the former's experimental values, and later by a Committee of the British Association, which concluded that an average of “41·4 gramme-degrees of heat escape annually through a sq. cm. of a horizontal section of the earth's substance.” For our present purpose this source of heat is negligible.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 1921 , pp. 211 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1921

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References

page 211 note 1 Trans. Roy. Soc. (Bdin.), 16 (1846), pt. 2, p. 189.Google Scholar

page 211 note 2 Ibid. 23 (1862), p. 157.

page 211 note 3 Brit. Assoc. Rept. (1882), p. 72Google Scholar

page 213 note 1 All times throughout this paper are Greenwich mean time.

page 215 note 1 Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, 1895 (2nd Series), 1, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 216 note 1 Michigan Expt. Station, Technical Bull. No. 22 (1915).Google Scholar

page 220 note 1 Russell, E. J. and Appleyard, A., This Journal, 1915, 7, p. 1Google Scholar

page 224 note 1 U. S. Bureau of Soils, Bull. 59 (1909).Google Scholar

page 224 note 2 Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, 1896 (2nd Series), p. 109.Google Scholar

page 225 note 1 Amplitude of rise: maximum temperature of one day, minus minimum temperature of same day. Amplitude of fall: maximum temperature of one day, minus minimum temperature of next day.

page 234 note 1 The precise length cannot now be determined without digging up the instrument which, for obvious reasons, we do not wish to do.

page 236 note 1 It was found very convenient to record the 9 a.m. reading of the soil thermometer by moving the pointer sideways very slightly with the finger, so as to leave a small mark on the paper. The chart could then be examined at leisure, and the mark, being made at a known time, also afforded a check on the accuracy of the clockwork mechanism.