Soil temperature is a fundamental physical state variable describing the thermal regime within the soil profile as a function of depth and time, governed by heat conduction, heat capacity, phase changes of soil water, and energy exchange at the soil–atmosphere and soil–groundwater interfaces. It controls key biogeochemical and ecological processes, including root growth, microbial activity, organic matter decomposition, nutrient mineralization, and gas fluxes. Soil temperature dynamics are influenced by radiation, moisture content, texture, bulk density, vegetation cover, and snow or mulch layers, and are commonly measured using thermistors or thermocouples. In modeling and research, soil temperature is critical for parameterizing land-surface, crop, and ecosystem process models.
The successive heat waves that sweep across southern Spain in summer have harmful effects on the entire community that lives there, from humans to the microbes that inhabit the soil. Both share an impressive resilience that ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 14, 2026
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As the Arctic warms at an unprecedented rate, frozen soils that have remained locked in ice for most of the year are now thawing for longer periods. Yet new research led by an international team including scientists from ...
Earth Sciences
May 7, 2026
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After nearly four decades, the world's longest-running soil warming experiment is revealing a surprising result: even "stable" carbon in forest soils can break down as temperatures rise, releasing more CO₂ into the atmosphere. ...
Environment
Apr 28, 2026
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40
Results recently published in the journal Plant and Soil by the researchers of the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) show that strip tillage combined with rye mulch can maintain stable yields of white ...
Agriculture
Apr 23, 2026
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8
Experiments by University of Leeds researchers, published in Earth's Future, have shown that thawing of permafrost makes it between 25 and 100 times more permeable, allowing more climate change forcing gases to escape.
Earth Sciences
Mar 30, 2026
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1009
The soil beneath our feet is a huge carbon bank storing up to approximately three times more carbon than the entire atmosphere. That makes it a significant player in the future of our climate. If even a small fraction of ...
For millions of commuters, the workday doesn't just begin with a train ride. It also begins with a blast of heat. In one of the largest studies ever conducted on thermal comfort in metro systems, Northwestern University scientists ...
Environment
Mar 10, 2026
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36
Mountain permafrost is warming and thawing worldwide due to climate change, with ground temperature being a key control of its mechanical stability. Heat conduction is the dominant mode of heat transfer in frozen ground, ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 18, 2025
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15
A study examining the effects of higher temperatures on soil shows that warming alone does not increase levels of carbon dioxide emitted from the soil. Instead, higher temperatures combined with more added carbon—and more ...
Ecology
Sep 16, 2025
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57
Efforts to enhance peat accumulation in European peatlands, which contain around half of Europe's soil carbon, will require a combination of warm temperatures and a specific depth of the water table, according to a study ...
Environment
Jul 23, 2025
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