Abstract
Soil temperature plays a fundamental role in climatological and hydrological modeling as well as in simulating environmental processes and climate change. There are many models to simulate soil temperature, and the denitrification decomposition (DNDC) model is a widely used process-based biogeochemical model among them. However, this model does not simulate soil temperatures well under seasonal snow cover and plastic film mulching in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study, the DNDC model was calibrated and validated using a 9 years (2012–2020) soil temperature dataset from a typical semi-arid region of Gansu province, China (Yuzhong). Then, the model was tested in two other experimental sites in semi-arid regions (Dingxi and Tongwei in Gansu province, China). Model sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the simulated soil temperature was mainly related to air temperature. Model validation results indicated that the measured and simulated soil temperatures were in agreement with each other. Compared with the original model, the average RMSE of the soil temperature in the modified model decreased by 125.3 % and the average R2 increased by 52.1 % in winter under conditions of plastic film mulching and snow cover. For the test dataset, the R, R2, and RMSE of the modified DNDC model were 0.96–0.97, 0.89–0.94, and 2.01–2.76 in the Dingxi experiment site, and 0.94–0.95, 0.88–0.93, and 1.86–3.16, in the Tongwei experiment site, respectively. The performance of the modified model simulation was better than that of the original model. The modified DNDC model can be used as an effective simulation tool to predict soil temperature. The modified model also had good expandability and applicability in different experimental sites in different semi-arid regions. It can be used as an alternative scheme for future soil temperature predictions, and it can provide theoretical input for the formulation of local agricultural strategies.
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