Description
The vadose zone (unsaturated zone) in a soil is of particular interest because it is broadly applicable to desert soils, which are seldom saturated and usually dry. In the absence of strong geothermal heating, the near-surface soil temperature profile is expected to exhibit maximum variation (for a given diurnal period) at the surface, with the diurnal variations becoming successively damped with depth. The temperature at a given depth is the result of diffusive heat transport vertically within the soil column. Water vapor also is expected to be transported via diffusion through the soil column [1].
We have selected a small cinder field in Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona (SUCR) and deployed temperature and relative humidity sensors at 5 different depths (1, 6, 12, 24, and 48 cm) to capture diurnal temperature and humidity variations.
[1] Hillel, D., (1980) Fundamentals of Soil Physics Data presented here span from March 09, 2021 to August 10, 2022.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Metadata | XML | The metadata original format | Open resource |
| Digital Data | XML | Landing page for access to the data | Open resource |