S. Hummer-Miller 1981 <div class=""><div class="article-section__content en main"><p>Sky and solar radiance are of major importance in determining the ground temperature. Knowledge of their behavior is a fundamental part of surface temperature models. These two fluxes vary with elevation and this variation produces temperature changes. Therefore, when using thermal-property differences to discriminate geologic materials, these flux variations with elevation need to be considered. From a representative set of field observations, it was found that flux variations with elevation can cause changes in the mean diurnal temperature gradient from −4° to −14°C per km evaluated at 2000 m. Changes in the temperature-difference gradient of 1°-2°C per km are also produced which is equivalent to an effective thermal-inertia gradient of 100 W s^1/2<span>&nbsp;</span>m⁻²<span>&nbsp;</span>K⁻¹<span>&nbsp;</span>per km. Thus, exposed bedrock on topographic ridges will appear to have a lower thermal inertia due to the additional effect.</p></div></div> application/pdf 10.1029/GL008i006p00595 en American Geophysical Union Estimation of surface temperature variations due to changes in sky and solar flux with elevation article