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A simple method for the estimation of thermal inertia
Author(s) -
Wang J.,
Bras R. L.,
Sivandran G.,
Knox R. G.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2009gl041851
Subject(s) - inertia , amplitude , simple (philosophy) , heat equation , heat flux , thermal inertia , mechanics , flux (metallurgy) , thermal , function (biology) , soil thermal properties , thermal diffusivity , physics , heat transfer , materials science , environmental science , thermodynamics , soil water , mathematics , soil science , mathematical analysis , classical mechanics , optics , philosophy , epistemology , biology , evolutionary biology , metallurgy , field capacity
A simple method for estimating thermal inertia using daily amplitude of surface soil heat flux and temperature is proposed. Based on an analytical solution of the diffusion equation where the soil temperature is idealized as a sinusoidal function, the thermal inertia is expressed as a proportional coefficient in a linear equation relating the amplitudes of surface soil (ground) heat flux and temperature. Tests of the proposed method demonstrate that this simple method is potentially useful in the Earth and extra‐terrestrial remote sensing.