Laboratoire de Mécanique et Sciences des Matériaux, Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB), BP 1093 Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire
With global warming, heat stress is a phenomenon that is having a major impact on agricultural production. The extreme amounts of conductive heat during periods of drought to which soil surfaces and plants are subjected produce heat stress in crops. To predict these extreme conditions and anticipate actions to adapt our staple crops, an assessment of the energy potential within soils based on long-term hygrothermal behaviour has been carried out. This document assesses the conductive energy flux penetrating cultivated land in the Yamoussoukro area, based on biophysical properties, with the aim of controlling average seasonal and annual changes in energy fluxes. The study considered the closed energy balance model and modified it to obtain an estimate of heat fluxes in real time and space. The results showed that the Yamoussoukro area has two dry seasons contrasted by two rainy seasons with decreasing rainfall since 2013. High amounts of conductive energy were obtained between November and April, and between August and September, varying between -50 W/m2 and -25 W/m², while they were high (0 to 50 W/m²) in the rainy seasons. The calculated average annual net radiant heat flux, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux and conductive heat flux are 221.405 W/m², 218.592 W/m², 44.290 W/m² and -22.270 W/m², respectively. The lightness indices varied from 0.26 to 0.7, while the leaf area indices of the cocoa leaves varied from 2 to 5.42 m²/m².