Microclimate measurements (temperature + soil moisture)

Summary

The project aims at studying forest microclimate with special focus on soil moisture as a driver for forest understory cooling. We established a network of temperature and soil moisture loggers in each of three SITES regions: Asa, Grimsö and Svartberget. Each network consists of ca. 40 plots, on each plot there is a temperature-soil moisture logger on the ground (TMS4, tomst.com) and a temperature logger at ca. 1.7 m at the nearest tree (Thermologger, tomst.com). Both loggers measure temperature in a 15 min interval. In Asa, we used a subset of the permanent vegetation plots. In Svartberget/Krycklan, we used a subset of Johannes Larson/Mattias Peichl plots, from which we have detailed information on soil and vegetation/forest. We did additional hemispheric canopy cover photos at each logger plot and also did some basic inventory of forest basal area (with a relaskop). We have installed the loggers in May-July 2022 and plan to download their data at least once a year during the snow-free season.

microclimate forest buffering soil moisture soil water evapotranspiration