Average duration of a thermal winter in Hornsund has been determined for 216 days. Average soil temperature at depth of 5 cm in winter is equal —9.8°C. During a spring that lasts 35 days only, soil temperatures at depth of 5 cm indicate distribution nearest to a normal one. Soil temperature distribution in winter substantially differs from the one in spring.
On the ground of continuous records of air and soil temperature at standard levels, changes of soil temperature against changes of air temperature have been analyzed at thick and without snow cover. The first example concerns a six-day winter thaw, and the second one a four-day autumn cooling. A particular influence of energy advection has been noted. A delay of changes of soil temperature was found to increase with depth in relation to air temperature. A hypothesis on correlation between air temperature at a height of 5 cm and soil temperature at a depth of 5 cm has been verified.
Monthly and dekadal mean soil temperatures were evaluated with a use of measurements at depths of 5, 10, 20 and 50 cm, collected during the expeditions 1978—1986 and additionally at depths of 80 and 100 cm during the expeditions 1980—1986. Fourier analysis revealed a phase shift of 1 to 2 dekads between neighboring measurement depths.