Global maps of soil temperature
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Date
2022-05
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km² resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e., offset) between in-situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km² pixels (summarized from 8500 unique temperature sensors) across all the world’s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in-situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.
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Publication status
published
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Book title
Journal / series
Volume
28 (9)
Pages / Article No.
3110 - 3144
Publisher
Wiley
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Bioclimatic variables; global maps; microclimate; near-surface temperatures; soil temperature; soil-dwelling organisms; temperature offset; weather stations
Organisational unit
03648 - Buchmann, Nina / Buchmann, Nina
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward (ehemalig) / Crowther, Thomas Ward (former)
09666 - Alexander, Jake (ehemalig) / Alexander, Jake (former)
03982 - Six, Johan / Six, Johan
09553 - Pellissier, Loïc / Pellissier, Loïc
09625 - Crowther, Thomas Ward (ehemalig) / Crowther, Thomas Ward (former)
Notes
Funding
154245 - Robust models for assessing the effectiveness of technologies and managements to reduce N2O emissions from grazed pastures (Models4Pastures) (SNF)
148992 - ICOS-CH: Integrated Carbon Observation System in Switzerland (SNF)
173691 - ICOS-CH Phase 2 (SNF)
172433 - Reconciling innovative farming practices and networks to enable sustainable development of smart Swiss farming systems (SNF)
774124 - Developing SUstainable PERmanent Grassland systems and policies (EC)
148992 - ICOS-CH: Integrated Carbon Observation System in Switzerland (SNF)
173691 - ICOS-CH Phase 2 (SNF)
172433 - Reconciling innovative farming practices and networks to enable sustainable development of smart Swiss farming systems (SNF)
774124 - Developing SUstainable PERmanent Grassland systems and policies (EC)