THE PREDICTION OF MEAN MONTHLY SOIL TEMPERATURE FROM MEAN MONTHLY AIR TEMPERATURE

Though soil temperature is important to a variety of earth science subdisciplines, data are collected at few locations. This report presents simple, linear models for estimating mean annual, seasonal, and monthly soil temperatures with reasonable accuracy, using only air temperature data. A general equation based on all months and all sample stations taken together, seasonal equations, and equations for individual stations are provided. These models can be used to estimate soil temperature from air temperature data collected by the National Weather Service at stations throughout the United States.