干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Soil temperature is an important attribute of classifying and assessing soil resources. It is a key environmental factor to determine soil formation and natural distribution of plants. The spatial distribution of soil temperature regimes is essential for accurate identification of soils and inventory of natural resources. Through efforts initiated more than two decades ago, a long-term continuous soil temperature database covering the full range of elevation, aspects, longitude, and latitude of the Mojave Desert region has been assembled and analyzed. Results show that elevation was the dominant factor governing the spatial variation of soil temperature in the Mojave Desert region. A soil temperature regime map was constructed with support of geographic information system software based on the linear regression relationship between the mean annual soil temperature and elevation. Most soils of this region are in the hyperthermic or thermic temperature regimes. The frigid soil temperature regime was only observed in high mountain areas, at elevations higher than 2,918 m. The seasonal mean soil temperatures also decrease linearly with increased elevation. At the same elevation, the differences between summer and winter soil temperatures are around 20 degrees C. The effect of elevation on soil temperature is more pronounced in summer than in winter season.