Wow, 70°C on the tilled soil (38°C air temperature). Incredible. In comparison, the patchy clover right next to it is 33°C cooler!
I am tempted to exclaim: If you want to cool the planet, cover the soil!
More on the background of the influence of land use on climate and water cycle in my UNEP paper, presentation, conference “Climate Landscapes”.
Once again on the road to measure temperature differences. Very exciting. Here two comparisons – at each 20°C difference between “without vegetation/open ground” and “with vegetation/trees”. Very impressive. What effects do surface temperatures of 60°C have, directly on the ground, the plants, the air layers, the weather?
Mind the difference between air temperature measured in 2m height and at the ground:
Ecological research heavily relies on coarse-gridded climate data based on standard- ized temperature measurements recorded at 2 m height in open landscapes. However, many organisms experience environmental conditions that differ substantially from those captured by these macroclimatic (i.e. free air) temperature grids. […]. We found that sub-canopy air tem- peratures differ substantially from free-air temperatures, being on average 2.1°C (standard deviation ± 1.6°C) lower in summer and 2.0°C higher (±0.7°C) in winter across Europe.
Been out again yesterday, and made a few new measurements. Astonishing the high temperatures on the open ground with >50°C – as hot as the asphalt. And also fascinating the comparison between “on the mulch” and “under the mulch” for vegetables: 24°C difference.