SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
JOURNAI
VOL. 47 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1983
DIVISION S-l—SOIL PHYSICS
Estimating Soil Temperature by Linear Filtering of Measured Air Temperature1
N. PERSAUD AND A. C. CHANG2
ABSTRACT
Linear dynamic filtering techniques were used to model the re-
lationship between time series of average daily air temperature and
soil temperature at the 10-cm depth. The data utilized consisted of
730 consecutive daily observations of these two variables measured
at Brawley, Calif., for the period 1 Jan. 1962 to 31 Dec. 1963. The
soil temperature measurements were made in a bare and level Holt-
ville silty clay soil completely exposed to the sun. Spectral analysis
procedures were used to first identify and then to obtain the factors
for filtering the frequency components contributing most to the var-
iance of each temperature series. The annual cycle (frequency 2ir
rad d~' •*• 365) contributed 82.30 and 91.10%, respectively, and the
semiannual cycle (frequency 4ir rad d ' -5- 365) contributed, re-
spectively, 2.36 and 1.56%, of the variance of the air and soil tem-
perature series. The analysis also showed that the annual and sem-
iannual cycles of the soil temperature series lagged the corresponding
cycles of the air temperature series by 2.5 and 10.4 d, respectively.
After removing the annual and semiannual cyclic components from
each series, Box-Jenkins transfer function modelling techniques were
used to describe the filter relating the residual stochastic series. The
transfer function was then used in conjunction with the results of
the spectral analysis to yield a relation for estimating the soil tem-
perature at the 10-cm depth using the air temperature as input. The
residual variance of this estimation was 58.5% less than the residual
variance using a linear regression equation.
Additional Index Words: spectral analysis, Box-Jenkins transfer
function modelling, linear regression, time series analysis.
Persaud, N., and A.C. Chang. 1983. Estimating soil temperature by
linear filtering of measured air temperature. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J.
47:841-847.
T HE TEMPERATURE of the soil profile is important
in ecological and agricultural studies. The main
cause of temperature changes in the atmosphere near
the ground and in the soil profile is the transference
of heat energy produced at the soil surface by incident
solar radiation. Studies are available describing the
heat transfer in soil profiles and the resulting changes
in soil temperatures with depth and time (Patten, 1939;
Fluker, 1958; de Vries, 1963; Ghuman and Lal, 1981).
841
No. 5
The primary mechanism of heat transference in the
soil is conduction and the soil temperature variations
with depth and time can be successfully modelled us-
ing Fourier's law of heat conduction. Application of
these theoretical models requires temperature mea-
surements either at the soil surface or at a shallow
depth beneath the soil surface. Such measurements,
however, are not usually made at weather recording
stations. Since air temperature measurements are
available for a large number of locations, a functional
relationship that would estimate soil temperature at
shallow depths would have great utility.
Bonham and Fye (1970) and Ghuman and Lal (1982)
used linear regression analysis to estimate soil tem-
perature using daily mean air temperature as the in-
dependent variable. In estimating the linear regression
relationship between Admeasurements of a dependent
variable y, and an independent variable x, with t =
1,2, . . . N, it is assumed that the residuals at are NID
(0, CTQ). This implies that a, are independent of y, or
x, and are not autocorrelated. Regression analysis fur-
ther assumes that the system is in equilibrium and
therefore only a simultaneous input-output relation-
ship can be modelled. The simultaneous response of
x, to yt is represented by the regression coefficient. It
is also assumed that the variables x, and y, are not
autocorrelated.
Linear filtering techniques treat the variables y,, x,
as time series and models their relationship as the
input-output response of a linear, dynamic system in
which there may be response delay between input and
output of the system. This approach does not require
the above-mentioned assumptions of a regression
analysis and provides information on the dynamic
characteristics of the system. The system is assumed
to be (i) time invariant, implying that a shift of time
1
Contribution from the Dep. of Soil and Environmental Sciences,
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521. Received 14 Feb. 1983.
Approved 24 May 1983.
2
Respectively, Postgraduate Research Soil Scientist and Profes-
sor of Agricultural Engineering, Univ. of California, Riverside.
842 SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 47, 1983
in the input produces the same shift in the output, (ii)
physically realizable, meaning that output depends
only on present and past values of input, and (iii)
stable, so that a bounded input does not produce an
unbounded output. The' filter of the system may be
conceptualized as a mathematical device for trans-
forming the input series x, into the output series yt. If
the filtering mechanism were completely defined phys-
ically, the filter can be represented by differential
equations. Most natural systems, however, are subject
to stochastic disturbances and the input and output
series should also reflect the effects of these probabi-
listic mechanisms. The filter for these stochastic dis-
turbances can be modelled as a transfer function (Box
and Jenkins, 1970; Gottman, 1981).
In this study, it is assumed that time series of daily
air and soil temperature measurements can be decom-
posed into deterministic cyclic components due to the
influence of the annual rotation of the earth around
the sun, and an independent stochastic component.
Spectral analysis techniques (Chatfield, 1975; Bloom-
field, 1976) can be used to identify these cyclic com-
ponents in the two series and to determine the factors
relating their amplitudes and phases. After removing
the deterministic components from the two series, the
transfer function relating the stochastic residuals can
then be obtained using the transfer function identifi-
cation and estimation procedures of Box and Jenkins
(1970).
The objective of this study was to examine the use-
fulness of these procedures in developing a model to
describe the relationship between air and soil temper-
ature and further, to contrast estimates of the soil tem-
perature calculated using this relationship with those
obtained from regression analysis.
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Spectral Analysis
The spectral decomposition theorem postulates that
the variance of a discrete time series Yt, t = 1 , 2 , . . .
N, can be decomposed and distributed among statis-
tically independent oscillations of different frequen-
cies (Chatfield, 1975; Bloomfield, 1976). The theoret-
ical spectral distribution function /w), where o> is the
angular frequency, defines the variance accounted for
by all components with frequencies less than the given
<o value. The slope of/w) is the spectral distribution
function jF(co), and may be approximated by the dis-
crete periodogram function /(w/) for the series Yt. The
periodogram is defined as (Chatfield, 1975).
[1]
where i = \/— 1.
The values of uj are chosen such that u>>• — 2
for j = 0, 1,2, ... m, with m = (N-l)/(2) or m =
N/2, respectively, for odd and even N. For computa-
tional purposes, Eq. [1] can be written
2
' AJ ai each frequency. The value of |/y(w/)| is computed
y,sin«,/
• (2}
The terms in parenthesis represent N/2 times the co-
sine and sine coefficients Oj, bj, of the finite Fourier
transform of the series Yt. For odd N the Fourier rep-
resentation of Y, is given by
y =
with
and
For even TV the coefficient for uN/2 = ir is given by
(Chatfield, 1975)
N
Cross-Spectral Analysis
Cross-spectral analysis is an extension of the uni-
variate spectral analyses of two time series X,, Y,. It
defines the relationships between the amplitude (Aj =
\foj + bj), and phase ($y) of each frequency compo-
nent in the Fourier representation X((aJ), Y(UJ) of the
two series.
By analogy with Eq. [1], the cross-periodogram es-
timate IY(WJ) of the cross-spectral density function
for the two series Xt, Y, is (Chatfield, 1975)
N N
2 *,exP(i«,r) • 2 y,ex P (-/«/) [3]
r=1 r=l
Unlike the univariate periodogram estimates, the
cross-periodogram is a complex function. The real and
imaginary parts of/y(wj) denoted as £/y(w;) and
are computed by
(N/4*) [af aj + bf bj]
and
respectively, where a,, bj are the Fourier coefficients
obtained from the univariate spectral decomposition
of X, and Yt.
The function //(o>) called the frequency response
function is defined as (Chatfield, 1975)
and is estimated by
The modulus of the frequency response function is
given by
and provides the relationship of the amplitudes Af,
by
 PERSAUD & CHANG: ESTIMATING SOIL TEMPERATURE BY LINEAR FILTERING OF MEASURED AIR TEMPERATURE 843
The value
= tan-1
measures the phase shifts between each frequency
component ofX(uj) and Yfaj). The lead or lag in time
may be computedY as 0y(a;;)/w7. The coherency hy(uj)
= l/y^p/T^co,) I (UJ) measures the linear correlation
between X(<aJ), Y(WJ) and is analogous to the square of
the correlation coefficient in regression analysis. Im-
proved representation of all spectral estimates dis-
cussed may be obtained by smoothing with a set of
symmetrical weights Wt with / = —p, —p + 1, ...
-2, 1, 0, 1, 2 . . . p - \,p (Chatfield, 1975; Panofsky
and Brier, 1958).
Box-Jenkins Transfer Function Identification and
Estimation
The linear filtering of a stationary input stochastic
series xt into a stationary output series yt can be ex-
pressed as (Box and Jenkins, 1970)
[4]
1=0
Stationarity requires that the mean, variance, and co-
variance of each series do not depend on historic time.
The series at represents influences other than xt that
may affect y, and are assumed uncorrelated with xt. A
plot of v/ vs. / is called the impulse response function
and the values of v/ are the impulse response weights,
which along with o* (variance of a,) are estimated from
the data series. Box and Jenkins (1970) suggested re-
writing Eq. [4] as
B"x, + a,, [5]
where AS(B) = (A0 - Afi - A2B2 . . . ASBS) and
= (1 - CiB - C2B2 . . . CrB1} are polynomials of
orders s, r, respectively, and B is the backward shift
operator defined by B"Xt = Xt-n. The value of b in-
dicates the response delay of the filter. The term
Bb - vm(B) ,
where vm(B) = v0 + v\B . . . vmBm, and is called the
transfer function of order (r,s,b). Byb equating coeffi-
cients of B in the equation A^B) B = vm(B) C^B),
Box and Jenkins (1970) derived the following set of
simultaneous equations relating the impulse response
weights to the parameters of the transfer function:
v, = 0, Kb , [6a]
l=b, [6b]
v, = 2 CiV,_r- A,,, , I = b + 1,6 + 2, . . . b + s,
i= 1
[6c]
v,= iX.v,_ r , l>b + s. [6d]
The method of estimating the weights v/ was taken
from Box and Jenkins (1970). The series x, was filtered
into a nonautocorrelated white noise series by fitting
an appropriate ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated
Moving Average) linear stochastic model. Identifica-
tion and estimating the parameters of ARIMA models
are detailed by Box and Jenkins (1970). This first step
is termed "prewhitening" of the input series xt. The
ARIMA filter was then applied to the entire Eq. [4]
to obtain
[7]
/=o
where z,, n, are the resulting series after applying the
ARIMA filter to y,, at, respectively, and w, denotes the
prewhitened series x,.
Equation [7] was multiplied by w,_k fork= 0, 1,2
. . . and expectations taken to obtain
=E E[n,Wt_k] . [8]
/=o
If the series z, is centered (i.e., has zero mean or the
mean is subtracted) the LHS of Eq. [8] represents the
cross-covariance, Ck, of z, with wt. Since wt is a white
noise series and nt is assumed uncorrelated with w,
then Ck = vk <$, which yields the values of vk =
CkJal for k = 0, 1, 2, . . . m.
Using the definition of the cross-correlation, Rk, of
zt with w, namely Rk = C^Jajsw where a denotes stan-
dard deviation, then vk = R/,ffz/aw. These values and
Eq. [6a] through [6d] were then used to obtain prelim-
inary estimates of the transfer function parameters.
These estimates were then used in Eq. [5] to estimate
the residual series a, which was then examined to de-
termine whether an ARIMA model was required for
its description. This model (noise model) was iden-
tified, its parameters estimated and was included in
Eq. [5]. A final estimate of the parameters of both the
transfer function and noise model was then made by
nonlinear least-squares fitting. The computations in
this last step were made using the Bipmedical Statis-
tical Software Package (Univ. of California, Los An-
geles, 1981).
DATA
The data utilized in this study consisted of daily average
air temperature and corresponding soil temperature mea-
surements at the 10-cm depth recorded at the National
Weather Service Station Brawley 2 SW (Brawley, Calif.) dur-
ing the period 1 Jan. 1962 through 31 Dec. 1963. The Braw-
ley Station is located at latitude 32° 57' and longitude 115°
33' at an elevation of 33 m above mean sea level. The soil
temperature was measured in a bare, level Holtville silty
clay soil, fully exposed to the sun. The soil temperatures
were recorded on a thermograph and the maximum and
minimum temperatures for a 24-h period ending at 9:00 a.m.
were read from the trace. The data may be found in the
climatological data bulletins for California compiled by the
United States Environmental Data Services.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 summarizes the mean, range, and variance
of the observed average daily air temperature and the
corresponding soil temperature at the 10-cm depth for
844
Table 1—Mean, range, and variance of 730 daily averaged
valuest of air and soil temperature for the period
1962 to 1963 at Station Brawley 2 SW.
Maximum Minimum
Variable Mean value value
Air temperature, °C 22.02 36.67
Soil temperature, °C 27.92 44.73
t [(maximum + minimum)/2].
station Brawley 2 SW (Brawley, Calif.) for the period
1 Jan. 1962 to 31 Dec. 1963. Both the mean and var-
iance of the soil temperature are higher than those of
the air temperature, indicating that the filtering pro-
cess represents an amplification.
A linear regression relating soil temperature to the
air temperature (Table 2) shows that the air temper-
ature explains 93.3% of the variance of the soil tem-
perature. In accordance with the assumptions of the
linear regression analysis, the residuals are considered
NID (0, (T2). There is a 0.95 probability that the regres-
sion equation would be able to estimate the soil tem-
perature within ±4.8°C (±2<r).
Plotting the average air and soil temperature vs. time
demonstrates the annual periodicity typical of energy-
related meteorological data of the temperate and sub-
tropical regions (Fig. 1). Close examination of Fig. 1
shows that upward and downward trends in the air
temperature are matched by similar trends in the soil
temperature indicating a strong causative relationship
between the two series. The spectral analysis of the
two series showed that in each case the periodogram
values were highest at the annual and semi-annual
frequencies of 0.0172 1 and 0.03442 rad/d, respec-
tively. The contribution to the variance of compo-
nents at other frequencies were relatively insignificant.
The annual frequency accounted for, respectively,
SOIL TEMPERATURE 10cm
384
DAYS
JAN MAR MAY JULY SEPT NOV JAN MAR MAY
MONTHS
Fig. 1—Time plots of 730 observations of average daily air and 10-
cm depth soil temperature at station Brawley 1 SW (Brawley,
Calif.) for the period 1 Jan. 1962 to 31 Dec. 1963.
SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 47, 1983
Table 2—Results of a linear regression of soil temperature at the
10-cm depth on air temperature, f
Residual F statistic Coefficient
Slope Intercept mean for of
Variance ( ± std. error) ( ± std. error) square regression determination
1.11 61.35 1.1568 2.447 5.90 10 152.7 0.933
8.61 87.99 (±0.0115) (±0.268)
t Number of observations = 730.
82.30 and 91.10%, and the semi-annual frequency, re-
spectively, for 2.36 and 1.56% of the variance of the
air and soil temperature series (Table 3). The values
of the parameters of the sine functions describing the
annual and semi-annual cycles of the two series are
also given in Table 3. The estimates of the spectral
and cross-spectral functions at these two frequencies
are given in Table 4. The phase spectral values (0y)
showed that the annual cycle and semi-annual cycles
of the soil temperature lagged (4>y > 0) the corre-
sponding cycles of the air temperature by 2.5 and 10.4
d, respectively. A plot of the coherence (hy) over all
frequencies (Fig. 2) shows that strong relationships ex-
isted between the two series over the majority of the
frequency range. Before plotting, the estimates of hy
were smoothed using a set of relative weights 1:2:3:2:1.
The smoothed estimates were calculated as
with WQ = 3/9, Wl = W^ = 2/9, W2 = PF_2 = 1/9.
The cyclic components at the annual and semi-an-
nual frequencies were removed from each series and
the residuals analyzed using the Box-Jenkins tech-
niques. For the prewhitening step, the autocorrelation
function (ACF) of the residuals (xt) of the air temper-
ature series was determined (Fig. 3) in order to iden-
tify the order (p, d, q) of the appropriate ARIMA
model. The standard error o> of an estimate of the
autocorrelation coefficient 7^ at lag k was calculated
as
IN,
-{2*}
S-o J
and the values of yk were considered significantly dif-
ferent from zero at the 95% confidence level if yk >
2 ffk (Fig. 3). The ACF of x, showed an exponential
decay pattern typical of an ARIMA (1, 0, 0) linear
stochastic process of the form (1 — \B) xt = wt. This
model was fitted to the series x, using the time series
analysis program (BMDP2T) of the Biomedical Sta-
tistical Software Package (Univ. of California, Los An-
geles, 1981). The estimate of the parameter X was
0.7226 with standard error 0.0256. The ACF of the
residual series, wt, after fitting the stochastic model
showed no significant value in the first 36 values of
yk. The residuals of soil temperatures (y,) were filtered
using the ARIMA model and the cross-correlation
JULY SEPT NOV JAN
function (CCF) of the residuals zt with wt was calcu-
lated (Box and Jenkins, 1970). The impulse response
weights v/ were then determined. The impulse re-
sponse function of y, with xt (Fig. 4) showed that b
was equal to zero indicating that there was no re-
 PERSAUD & CHANG: ESTIMATING SOIL TEMPERATURE BY LINEAR FILTERING OF MEASURED AIR TEMPERATURE 845

Table 3—Spectral analysis estimates of the sine function! parameters describing the annual! and semi-annual§ cycles
of the air and 10-cm depth soil temperature series.
Parameter estimates
Residual variance after Total variance accounted
Annual cycle Semi-annual cycle removing cycles for by cycles, %
B B Annual Annual + Semi-
Series A (radians) A (radians) alone semi-annual Annual annual
Air temperature -10.050 1.1263 1.700 -0.6329 10.85 9.39 82.30 2.36
10-cm depth soil temperature -12.658 1.1695 1.605 -0.9906 7.88 6.59 91.10 1.46
t u = 0.01721 rad/d. § a = 0.03443 rad/d.

Table 4—Values of unsmoothed estimates of spectral and cross-spectral analysis functions for air temperature (X) and
soil temperature (Y) series for wj = 0.01721 and co, = 0.03443 rad/d.t
Estimates of spectral and cross-spectral functions and parameters
Frequency x y
uij (rad/d) IX IY ir
UY Q? \H\ j*
hy 0y aX bX a 6y
0.017 21 5868 9309 7384 320 1.2596 1.00 0.0432 -9.074 -4.322 -11.653 -4.944
0.034 43 169 150 149 56 0.941 1.00 0.3577 -1.000 1.375 - 1.342 0.880
t Number of observations = 730.

1.28

036-

O
LjJ
K OJS4-
Ul
o
o

032-

0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2

FREQUENCY, RADIANS
Fig. 2—Coherence function [Af(u>)] obtained by cross-spectral analysis of the series of air and 10-cm depth soil temperature observations.

8 10 1 14 16 18 20 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15
LAG, K LAG, K
Fig. 3—Autocorrelation function of the residual series after removing Fig. 4—Impulse response function relating the stochastic series ob-
the annual and semi-annual cyclic components from the series of tained after removing the annual and semi-annual cyclic compo-
air temperature observations. nents of the air and 10-cm depth soil temperature series.

sponse delay time for the stochastic filtering process.
No decay pattern appeared in the impulse response
function indicating that r was also equal to zero. From
Eq. [6d] a decay pattern would be present for r ^ 0.
The transfer function was therefore taken to be of or-
der (0, 1, 0). Equation [5], in this case, is reduced to
y, = (A0 — AiB) x, + a,, with A0 = v0 and AI = Vj.
This result is similar to the finding of Hasfurther and
Burman (1973) that only the air temperature of the
same day and two previous days were required in their
predictions of soil temperature from air temperature.
The initial estimates of A0, AI were 0.5003 and
846 SOIL SCI. SOC. AM. J., VOL. 47, 1983
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36
LAG K
Fig. 5—Autocorrelation function of the estimated noise series (at)
after substitution of tentative transfer function model in Eq. [5].
—0.0577, respectively. These estimates were used to
approximate the noise series a, in Eq. [5]. The ACF
of the noise series (Fig. 5) showed a strong autore-
gressive component was present in the ARIMA model
for at. Initially an ARIMA (1, 0, 0) model was fitted
to the noise series but the first 36 values of the ACF
of the residuals after fitting contained significant val-
ues for ji, 73, and 7,3. An ARIMA (1, 0, 1) model,
however, was adequate to filter the series a, into a
white noise series et, which showed no significant value
for yk in its ACF. The model for the noise series a,
was therefore taken as (1 — \B) a, = (1 — 8B) et. This
model was substituted for at in Eq. [5] and final es-
timates of the parameters A0, Ai,\,8, and o-§ calculated
by nonlinear least squares fitting using the time series
analysis program (BMDP2T) of the Biomedical Sta-
tistical Software Package (Univ. of California, Los An-
geles, 1981). The final estimates and standard errors
of the parameters A0, A\, X, and 0 were, respectively,
0.5182 ± 0.0168, -0.0393 ± 0.0160, and 0.4658 ±
0.0406 and were all significantly different from zero
(estimate > 2 x standard error). The estimate of of
was 0.939.
The parameters when substituted into Eq. [5] yield
the following equation for filtering the stochastic com-
ponent x, to produce yt:
nsioT +
yt = 0.5182x, _ i 0.0393*,
_ n m o i _ , +, |
f 1 - j 0.4658.B
_ 0 9344^
The filter for the noise series a, can be written as
= (12 - XB) (1 - QB)-1 where ^(B) = (<A0 +
\l/2B ...). The ^-weights can be obtained by equating
coefficients after expanding 2 2
(1 — \B) (1 - OB)~l =
(1 - Xfi) (1 + 6B + 8 1B ...). This yields Vo = 1, lAi
= (X - 0 ) , . . . \l/j = X'' (X - 0). Because of the large
value for X these ^-weights converge slowly. The var-
iance of a, is given by (1 + ^2 + \l/2 • • •) °i (B°x and
Jenkins, 1970) and represent the residuals not ex-
plained by the transfer-function model (Eq. [5]). The
i/'-weights were calculated out to j = 40 and the value
of a2 used to calculate the value of a2a = 2.54. This
value represents a 58.1% reduction in the residual var-
iance of 5.90 obtained using the linear regression
equation (Table 2), and shows that the transfer func-
tion approach provides a more precise estimate of the
soil temperature than linear regression.
384
DAYS
JAN MAR MAY JULY SEPT NOV JAN MAR MAY JULY SEPT NOV JAN
MONTHS
Fig. 6—Observed 10-cm depth soil temperature series and values
calculated using Eq. [9] with and without inclusion of the filtered
stochastic residuals (*,) of the air temperature series.
The results of the spectral and transfer function
analyses were combined to compute the soil temper-
ature at the 10-cm depth from the air temperature.
The amplitude and phase (AY, BY) of the annual and
semi-annual cycles for the soil temperaturex
can
x
be ob-
tained from the corresponding values (A , B ) of the
air temperature as AY = \H\AX, BY = Bx + 0f (Table
4). These components were added to the stochastic
component y, calculated using the residuals (xt) of the
air temperature series and the transfer function (first
two terms of Eq. [8]). The initially required but un-
known value for xt-\ was set equal to zero, in actual
computations. The final equation used for estimating
soil temperature was
Yt = 27.92 + (1.2596 X -10.05) sin[0.01721f
+ (0.1263 + 0.0432)] + (0.941 X 1.70) sin[0.03443/
- (0.6329 + 0.3577)] + 0.5182*, + 0.0393;c,_i .[9]
The results of calculations using Eq. [9] are shown in
Fig. 6. Also shown is the line representing the filtered
annual and semi-annual cycles, and the actual obser-
vations. The mean2 of the squared deviations [(ob-
served-calculated) /^ of the observed from the cal-
culated values was 2.60. This value is close to the
estimated variance of oi and serves as a check on the
accuracy of the transfer function parameter estimates.
The series of daily average air temperature obser-
vations at the Brawley station for 1 Jan. to 31 Dec.
1964 was used to further test Eq. [9]. Spectral analysis
of this series revealed an amplitude and phase angle
of -10.90 and 1.128 rad for the annual cycle and 1.35
and —0.472 rad for the semi-annual cycle. The sto-
chastic series after removing these cyclic components
was also calculated. The mean of the 1964 air tem-
perature series was 21.15°C. The ratio of the means
of the 1962-1963 air and soil temperature data series
(Table 1) was used to factor this mean value to esti-
mate the mean of the 1964 soil temperature series.
These results were then used in Eq. [9] to estimate the
daily soil temperature for 1964. In addition the linear
regression equation (Table 2) was also used to esti-
mate the 1964 soil temperatures. The mean of the
squared deviations of the 366 observed and calculated
values of soil temperature were, respectively, 3.77 us-
 WARD ET AL.: WESTERN KENTUCKY SURFACE MINE SPOILS & SOILS 847

ing Eq. [9] and 5.51 with the linear regression equa-
tion.
Estimating the soil temperature using the linear fil-
tering approach offers several advantages over regres-
sion analysis. The calculated values form a more re-
alistic pattern of the soil temperature variation at the
10-cm depth (Fig. 6). Equation [9] is already in a form
which can be used as input into a linear deterministic-
stochastic model (Persaud and Chang, 1983) for cal-
culating soil temperature at deeper depths. Finally the
transfer function analysis yields a model for the noise
series at which can be included in Eq. [9] to produce
simulated soil temperatures based on the parameters
derived from air temperature measurements.
By using all cyclic components obtained by the
spectral analysis, it is possible to reproduce exactly the
soil temperature from the air temperature series.
However, this will require as many parameters as there
are data points. This approach was tried in a related
study by Hasfurther and Burman (1973). The results
using the approach in the present study produced
comparable results to those of Hasfurther and Burman
(1973) and were obtained with considerably less pa-
rameters.