Premium
Energy balance at the Earth's surface: Heat flux history in eastern Canada
Author(s) -
Beltrami Hugo,
Wang Jingfeng,
Bras Rafael L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2000gl008483
Subject(s) - heat flux , flux (metallurgy) , geothermal gradient , energy balance , environmental science , geothermal energy , geology , geothermal heating , geophysics , range (aeronautics) , atmospheric sciences , climatology , heat transfer , physics , materials science , mechanics , thermodynamics , metallurgy , composite material
The heat exchange at the air/ground interface is determined by many complex processes making the energy balance at the earth's surface extremely difficult to quantify and model. A new methodology allows heat flux at the Earth's surface to be estimated using ground surface temperature history reconstructed from geothermal data. We found that over a large region in eastern and central Canada, the average heat flux into the ground during the last 1000 years was on the order of 2.8 mWm −2 . Our results suggest that significant change in the ground heat flux occurred in the last two centuries. The 200 years averaged heat flux since 1765 is 17.0 mWm −2 , while the average heat flux over the latest 100 years is 74.0 mWm −2 . The sensitivity of the subsurface to very small energy imbalances makes these type of data and analysis useful complements to the paleoclimatic record; they also provide constrains for general circulation model land‐surface parameterization over a wide range of spatial‐temporal scales.