Estimation of the soil heat flux from the temperature of the soil in São Paulo, SP

Abstract

The soil heat flux is one of the components of the energy balance and, together with the latent and sensible heat fluxes and biological processes, is the result of the partition of the available net energy balance. This parameter is usually measured with soil flux meters or soil temperature probes, or is estimated by environmental satellites using specific methods. In this study, soil temperature measurements on the surface and at 20 cm depth were used to estimate the soil heat flux with the DECICO (1967) method. The measurements were carried out in an area of Yellow-Red Latosol located in the State Park of Fontes do Ipiranga, which is an important remnant of the Atlantic Forest in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area and where an important historical series of climatic data was collected. The results indicate that the average heat flux is 3.69 W m^-2 or 2.83% of the net available energy, which is similar to the average heat flux in areas of the Atlantic and Amazon forest.