The thermal behavior of the soil (annual cycle) at Salvador (13º 01' S; 38º 31' W; 51,4 m), a tropical station in Northeast Brazil, was studied using the soil temperature data collected at the depths of 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.50 and 1.00 m. The daily cycle was studied using the soil temperature data collected at the depths of 0.05, 0.20 and 0.50 m at 20 min intervals with the help of an automatic meteorological station developed by a German firm Lambrecht Klimatologiche Messtechnik. The soil at the experimental station is classified as distrophic Yellow Latosol. The thermal diffusivity for the annual cycle was determined using the amplitude method. For the daily cycle the thermal diffusivity was determined by employing different methods: Amplitude Method, Phase Method, Arctangent Method, Logarithmic Method and Numerical Method. The values of thermal diffusivity obtained through the Amplitude and Logarithmic methods show more consistency. The velocity of propagation of the heat wave is of 0.89 x 10-5 m s-1 and the damping depth is 0.12 m for the daily cycle.
thermal diffusivity; soil temperature; damping depth
