Soil temperatures under ponderosa pines during prescribed burns in northern Arizona

In 1980, a study was initiated to measure soil and cambial temperatures of mature ponderosa pines in northern Arizona that occurred during prescribed burns. Over the next 25 years, soil temperature data were measured on prescribed fires on the Coconino, Kaibab, and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. This data publication contains the hourly temperatures of heated soil measured with Type K sheathed thermocouples at various depths below the O2-A1 soil subhorizon interface during prescribed burns between 1981 and 2005. Also included are the linear depths of organic material (forest floor) above the temperature probe site pre-fire and the amount of fuel consumption measured post-fire; fuel moisture content (dry weight basis) of the litter, fermentation, and humus layers measured pre-fire; as well as soil moisture content (dry weight basis) measured pre- and post-fire at the depth of the thermocouples. The soil moisture, fuel moisture and forest floor depth data sets are linked to the temperature data set by the SOIL_ID variable. The dates of collection for the other measurements corresponds to the date that soil temperature measurement commenced.The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of heating in the soil under the canopies of mature ponderosa pine trees during prescribed fires.