Figure 3

Time course of half-hourly-mean surface conductive heat flux inside the burn area (or underneath the slash pile) during the same burn as discussed in Figure 2 and inferred from soil heat flux transducers manufactured by Thermonetics Corporation (La Jolla, California, USA) and buried at a soil depth of 0.02 m. These sensors, their temperature sensitivities and calibrations, and thermal conductivity effects are described by Massman and Frank (2004). These heat flux data include corrections for underestimations in the true heat flux caused by incomplete contact with the soil (e.g., Sauer et al. 2003) and for the time lag between the heating observed at 0.02 m depth and the forcing at the surface. Negative fluxes indicate that the heat flow is downward or into the soil.