The soil temperature (TS) is an important element in characterization of the microclimate and there are few studies on the variability in forest environments. A study was performed inside a fragment of Atlantic Forest remnant in the municipality of Coruripe, Alagoas, during the period between June/2009 to May/2011, with the objective to characterize the variability of annual and seasonal temperature and the influence of litter coverage on soil. The data were obtained from a micrometeorological tower of 26 m installed inside the forest. The temperature profiles were obtained using thermocouples type copper/constantan at depths of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 100 cm during the first experimental year and at 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cm in areas with a complete coverage of litter and no coverage of litter during the second experimental year. The results obtained presented higher variability of the TS between the more superficial layers. The behavior of TS was quite different between the two periods, the dry showing a greater thermal amplitude, while the wet registered the largest variations of TS with depth. The results also indicate that higher coverage of litter produced variation of TS with soil depth.
rainforest; heat flux; net radiation
