Variation of surface albedo and soil thermal parameters with soil moisture content at a semi-desert site on the western Tibetan Plateau

Almost three years of continuous measurements taken between January 2001 and May 2003 at the Gaize (or Gerze) automatic weather station (32.30N, 84.06E, 4420 m), a cold semi-desert site on the western Tibetan Plateau, have been used to study seasonal and annual variations of surface albedo and soil thermal parameters, such as thermal conductivity, thermal capacity and thermal diffusivity, and their relationship to soil moisture content. Most of these parameters undergo dramatic seasonal and annual variations. Surface albedo decreases with increasing soil moisture content, showing the typical exponential relation between surface albedo and soil moisture. Soil thermal conductivity increases as a power function of soil moisture content. The diffusivity first increases with increasing soil moisture, reaching its maximum at about 0.25 (volume per volume), then slowly decreases. Soil thermal capacity is rather stable for a wide range of soil moisture content.