Predicting soil temperatures under a ridge-furrow system in the U.S. Corn Belt
A model is presented for predicting hourly soil temperatures under bare and residue plus plantcovered east-west oriented ridges in the Northern U.S. Corn Belt. The model is based on the implicit finite difference solution of a one-dimensional heat-flow equation. Two-dimensional soil temperature dist...
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Published in | Soil & tillage research Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 145 - 165 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Elsevier B.V
1990
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Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A model is presented for predicting hourly soil temperatures under bare and residue plus plantcovered east-west oriented ridges in the Northern U.S. Corn Belt. The model is based on the implicit finite difference solution of a one-dimensional heat-flow equation. Two-dimensional soil temperature distribution under a ridge-furrow system is simulated by solving the one-dimensional heat-flow equation in vertical and horizontal directions, alternatively. Inputs needed for simulation are thermal diffusivity, and initial and boundary conditions. A procedure is suggested for estimating hourly upper boundary temperatures from daily maximum and minimum air temperatures. A constant temperature at the bottom boundary was justified by simulating soil temperatures in a deep profile.
In general, the predicted soil temperatures under the bare ridge-furrow surface were within 2°C of the measured values; however, at some depths differences were as great as 4°C. Considering that soil temperatures are generally inputs to models (crop emergence and plant growth, nitrogen transformations and chemical degradation) that use at the minimum a daily time step, errors of 2–4°C in daily soil temperatures, in many cases, will lead to relatively minor errors in the final prediction of higher order processes. |
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ISSN: | 0167-1987 1879-3444 |
DOI: | 10.1016/0167-1987(90)90056-J |