Land surface temperature (LST) plays an important role in Earth energy balance and water/carbon cycle processes and is recognized as an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) and an Essential Agricultural Variable (EAV). LST products that are issued from satellite observations mostly depict landscape-scale temperature due to their generally large footprint. This means that a pixel-based temperature integrates over various components, whereas temperature individual components are better suited for the purpose of evapotranspiration estimation, crop growth assessment, drought monitoring, etc. Thus, disentangling soil and vegetation temperatures is a real matter of concern. Moreover, most satellite-based LSTs are contaminated by directional effects due to the inherent anisotropy properties of most terrestrial targets. The characteristics of directional effects are closely linked to the properties of the target and controlled by the view and solar geometry. A singular angular signature is obtained in the hotspot geometry, i.e., when the sun, the satellite and the target are aligned. The hotspot phenomenon highlights the temperature differences between sunlit and shaded areas. However, due to the lack of adequate multi-angle observations and inaccurate portrayal or neglect of solar influence, the hotspot effect is often overlooked and has become a barrier for better inversion results at satellite scale. Therefore, hotspot effect needs to be better characterized, which here is achieved with a three-component model that distinguishes vegetation, sunlit and shaded soil temperature components and accounts for vegetation structure. Our work combines thermal infrared (TIR) observations from the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) onboard the LEO (Low Earth Orbit) Sentinel-3, and two sensors onboard GEO (geostationary) satellites, i.e. the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) and Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI). Based on inversion with a Bayesian method and prior information associated with component temperature differences as constrained, the findings include: 1) Satellite observations throughout East Asia around noon indicate that for every 10 degrees change in angular distance from the sun, LST will on average vary by 0.6 K; 2) As a better constraint, the hotspot effect can benefit from multi-angle TIR observations to improve the retrieval of LST components, thereby reducing the root mean squared error (RMSE) from approximately 3.5 K, 5.8 K, and 4.1 K to 2.8 K, 3.5 K, and 3.1 K, at DM, EVO and KAL sites, respectively; 3) Based on a dataset simulated with a threedimensional radiative transfer model, a significant inversion error may result if the hotspot is ignored for an angular distance between the viewing and solar directions that is smaller than 30 degrees. Overall, considering the hotspot effect has the potential to reduce inversion noise and to separate the temperature difference between sunlit and shaded areas in a pixel, paving the way for producing stable temperature component products.
Forest management and tree felling in the stand change the structural characteristics, which causes changes in the microclimate conditions. The microclimate is a key in sustainable forest management because soil temperature and moisture regimes regulate nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. The aim of this research was to determine the changes in air and soil temperatures in pedunculate oak forest stands in different stages of shelterwood that stimulate natural regeneration. The research was conducted in pedunculated oak forests in Spa & ccaron;va area. The microclimatic parameters were measured in a mature old forest stand without shelterwood cutting and in stands with preparatory cut, seed cut, and final cut. The intensity of shelterwood had an impact on the amplitudes and values of air and soil temperatures. The highest average air temperature was in the stand with a preparatory cut. Extreme values of air and soil temperatures were measured in the stands with a final cut. The highest air and soil temperature amplitudes were in the stand with a final cut, with the exception of most of the winter, when the highest soil temperature amplitude was in the stand with a seed cut. The highest number of icy, cold, and hot days was in the stand with a final cut. SARIMA models establish that the difference between microclimatic parameters is not accidental.
The accelerated warming in the Arctic poses serious risks to freshwater ecosystems by altering streamflow and river thermal regimes. However, limited research on Arctic River water temperatures exists due to data scarcity and the absence of robust methodologies, which often focus on large, major river basins. To address this, we leveraged the newly released, extensive AKTEMP data set and advanced machine learning techniques to develop a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model. By incorporating ERA5-Land reanalysis data and integrating physical understanding into data-driven processes, our model advanced river water temperature predictions in ungauged, snow- and permafrost-affected basins in Alaska. Our model outperformed existing approaches in high-latitude regions, achieving a median Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.95 and root mean squared error of 1.0 degrees C. The LSTM model learned air temperature, soil temperature, solar radiation, and thermal radiation-factors associated with energy balance-were the most important drivers of river temperature dynamics. Soil moisture and snow water equivalent were highlighted as critical factors representing key processes such as thawing, melting, and groundwater contributions. Glaciers and permafrost were also identified as important covariates, particularly in seasonal river water temperature predictions. Our LSTM model successfully captured the complex relationships between hydrometeorological factors and river water temperatures across varying timescales and hydrological conditions. This scalable and transferable approach can be potentially applied across the Arctic, offering valuable insights for future conservation and management efforts.
Reanalysis is a valuable potential data source for permafrost studies. The latest-generation reanalysis of the Japanese Reanalysis for three quarters of a century (JRA-3Q) benefits from improved snow and soil schemes and demonstrates encouraging performance for soil temperature in permafrost regions compared to its predecessor, JRA-55, and other state-of-the-art reanalyses. We find JRA-3Q to have an overall mean annual air temperature bias of-0.17 degrees C, with-0.55 degrees C in permafrost regions. The snow depth was underestimated by-5.5 cm. In permafrost regions, the mean annual ground temperature bias was about-0.09 degrees C. The estimated permafrost area from JRA-3Q is between 10.8 and 15.8 x 106 km2. The active layer thickness is substantially overestimated by about 0.65 m. The JRA-3Q soil temperature exhibits a pronounced warm bias in Alaska, which is very likely due to the overestimated snow insulation and simplified soil organic content. The decoupled energy conservation parameterization (DECP) method employed in the JRA-3Q soil scheme restricts its suitability for the interpretation of detailed permafrost phenomena, such as zero-curtain effects. This DECP method is used in many stateof-the-art land surface models; our results demonstrate the need for additional contributions to improve the representation of permafrost-specific processes.
BackgroundBiochar is widely recognized for its capacity to capture and store carbon in soil attributed to its stable structure. However, in most field studies examining the effects of biochar application on soil respiration, the impact of rainfall events on the experimental outcomes has not been taken into account. To address the existing gap in this research field, we conducted a one-year study on soil respiration in an urban camphor forest and collected the data of soil respiration, soil temperature, soil moisture, and the rainfall events closest to the soil respiration monitoring time. We specifically examined how different stages of rainfall events influenced soil respiration in relation to biochar application.ResultsThis study found that the annual average soil respiration rate increased with the doses of biochar application, and the soil respiration rate under the biochar application at the dose of 45 t/ha showed a significant rise. The stages of rainfall events, rainfall amount, and the interaction effect of the two, and biochar doses significantly affected soil respiration. The parameters in the regression model for soil respiration, soil temperature and moisture varied with the different stages of rainfall events and the doses of biochar application. The biochar application eliminated the significant effect of soil moisture on soil respiration during one day after rainfall events. The significant correlation between soil moisture and the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration (Q10) was eliminated by biochar application, both during one day after rainfall events and more than eight days after rainfall events.ConclusionsOur findings indicated that the rice straw biochar application has a short-term positive effect on soil respiration in urban camphor forests. The rainfall events affect the field soil respiration monitored in the biochar applications, possibly by affecting the soil respiration response to soil temperature and moisture under different doses of biochar application. The impact of rainfall events on soil respiration in biochar application experiments should be considered in future forest monitoring management and practice.
Climate warming changes heat fluxes within the atmosphere-surface cover-soil system and affects the thermal state of permafrost. A comparison of heat fluxes from the atmosphere to the soil during the period with positive air temperatures and from the soil to the atmosphere during the cold period makes it possible to assess the stability of permafrost. Snow and moss cover are important factors influencing heat flows. The influence of surface fluxes on heat fluxes is estimated based on mathematical modeling and numerical experiments on the model. The processing of data from field measurements of soil temperature made it possible to determine the heat fluxes for the cold and partially warm periods of the year. A comparison of the data from model calculations and measurements of heat fluxes showed a satisfactory agreement. The difference between them from December to February did not exceed 4%, and in November and March-9% and 8%, respectively. In 2023/24, during the period with negative air temperatures lasting 255 days with an average air temperature of-7 degrees C, soil heat losses amounted to 76.5 and 92.3 MJ/m(2) with snow thickness of 1.14 m and 0.63 m, respectively, and the average values of heat fluxes from October to March were 4.9 and 5.9 W/m(2). According to model calculations, with an average daily positive air temperature of 6.8 degrees C, the loss by the soil in winter is 10 MJ/m(2) less than the heat flow into the soil in summer, leading to permafrost degradation. At snow cover depth of 0.5 m, heat input into the soil in summer coincides with heat loss in winter. With a higher snow cover depth, the heat flow from the soil to the atmosphere decreases, soil cooling decreases and permafrost degradation will occur. The same processes will occur when the snow cover is 1 m depth and the moss cover is less than 3 cm thick. For a moss cover of greater thickness, the thermal stability of permafrost rocks remains. Numerical experiments on the model estimated the heat fluxes and the thickness of the active layer for different snow and moss cover thicknesses and atmospheric air temperatures.
Antarctica provides a unique opportunity to understand changes in permafrost and global climate. Four monitoring sites were selected between maritime Antarctica and the Peninsula to study the temporal trend, air and soil temperature, and dynamics of the active soil layer. The Mann-Kendall method was used to determine the presence of a trend (complete series, seasonal and annual), the Sen-Slope test to check the degree of slope of the trend, and the Pettitt test to determine the exact date of the sudden change in the trend line. The thickness of the active layer-ALT-was estimated using the monthly maximum temperature. The local effects of each site influenced the dynamics of the active layer and the thermal regime. Deception heat balance was influenced primarily by geothermal activity, mainly at depth. In summer and autumn, the isotherm increases with depth at Low Head, Deception and Hope Bay. The Mann-Kendall test was significant for all sites studied. The ALT was thicker near the peninsula than in places in Shetland. Global warming causes increasingly frequent and intense extreme events, added to natural variability and the effect of local and regional climate factors.
Freeze-thaw cycles (FTC) alter soil function through changes to physical organization of the soil matrix and biogeochemical processes. Understanding how dynamic climate and soil properties influence FTC may enable better prediction of ecosystem response to changing climate patterns. In this study, we quantified FTC occurrence and frequency across 40 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) sites. We used site mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean annual temperature (MAT) to define warm and wet, warm and dry, and cold and dry climate groupings. Site and soil properties, including MAT, MAP, maximum-minimum temperature difference, aridity index, precipitation as snow (PAS), and organic mat thickness, were used to characterize climate groups and investigate relationships between site properties and FTC occurrence and frequency. Ecosystem-specific drivers of FTC provided insight into potential changes to FTC dynamics with climate warming. Warm and dry sites had the most FTC, driven by rapid diurnal FTC close to the soil surface in winter. Cold and dry sites were characterized by fewer, but longer-duration FTC, which mainly occurred in spring and increased in number with higher organic mat thickness (Spearman's rho = 0.97, p < 0.01). The influence of PAS and MAT on the occurrence of FTC depended on climate group (binomial model interaction p (chi(2)) < 0.05), highlighting the role of a persistent snowpack in buffering soil temperature fluctuations. Integrating ecosystem type and season-specific FTC patterns identified here into predictive models may increase predictive accuracy for dynamic system response to climate change.
Sprinkler irrigation is an effective method for protecting economic crops from frost damage; however, current research on its impacts is insufficient and lacks comprehensive evaluation. This research investigated the effects of sprinkler irrigation for frost protection on the air, soil, and tea plants in the tea garden. Sprinkler frost protection experiments were conducted in the tea garden, where temperature sensors measured the air and soil temperatures, and Monitoring-PAM was used to measure the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fv/Fm) of the tea plants. The results indicated that lower initial ambient temperatures or smaller droplet sizes accelerate the rate of air temperature increase and slow the cooling rate. Under conditions of heavy frost, ice formation from irrigation water acts as an insulating layer, protecting the inter-row soil. Additionally, the Fv/Fm values of tea leaves protected by sprinkler irrigation ranged from 0.6 to 0.7, and were significantly higher than those of leaves exposed to frost damage. The results also showed that air and soil temperature and tea Fv/Fm can be used to perform a comprehensive assessment of sprinkler frost protection effectiveness.
The root, a key organ for sensing the soil environment, is easily damaged by environmental stresses such as low soil temperature. Although the exact mechanism is unknown, exogenous sucrose can mitigate the oxidative damage to the root caused by low temperatures in the root zone. In this study, we examined how exogenous sucrose affected the transcriptome and physiology of Malus baccata Borkh. seedling roots at sub-low root-zone temperature (LRT). The exogenous sucrose treatment was more effective than other treatments in mitigating LRT stress injury. This was achieved by decreasing reactive oxygen species (O 2 .- and H2O2) 2 O 2 ) and malondialdehyde content, increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT, APX, GR, and MDHAR), increasing AsA and GSH content, and increasing soluble sugar content. Transcriptome analysis revealed that alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, phenylpropane biosynthesis, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis were the primary areas of enrichment for the differentially expressed genes identified under the LRT treatment. Exogenous sucrose may enhance the tolerance of Malus baccata Borkh. to LRT by regulating the expression of differentially expressed genes ( GST, LOX, SS, PFK, ADH, , and 4CL) ) related to the antioxidant system, carbohydrate metabolism, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, and phenylpropane biosynthesis pathways. These results offer a foundation for additional investigation into the molecular mechanism underlying the modulation of the root response to low temperature by exogenous sucrose.