Ground and Water Temperature in a Mid-Latitude Swamp

Ground and water temperature and hydrologic data were collected at an experimental site in Beverly Swamp, Ontario, to enable a description of the thermal regime of the swamp. The results suggested that vertical conduction was the dominant heat flow mechanism. A one-dimensional vertical conduction model was used to simulate the thermal regime using air temperature and water level as the input variables and several empirical equations to estimate ground surface temperature and thermal properties of the soil. The model yielded satisfactory results when used to simulate annual and short-term ground temperature data. Departures from the observed values are probably due to errors in predicting surface temperature and in estimating thermal properties of the soil. This model can be applied to other mid-latitude swamps because it requires a minimal amount of input information.