Investigation of relationship between air and soil temperature at different depths and estimation of the freezing depth (Case study: Khorasan Razavi)

In order to estimate the freezing depth and developing a simple and rational relationship between air temperatures at the screen and soil temperature at different depths a study was conducted during 1386. The maximum and minimum daily air temperatures (2 meter above ground) and the soil temperature at 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 centimeter depths were measured at 12 stations of Khorasan Razavi province. Functional relationships were developed between air and soil temperatures for each station. Also, soil freezing depths were estimated by four standard methods. The estimated depths were compared with actual freezing depths which were measured during the year of observation. The results showed that the Finnish and Norway methods were more reliable than U.S. and SNipll – 15 – 74 methods.