Soil and air temperature

    Whilst cool-season grasses typically used for sports facilities in Northern Europe are tolerant of the low temperature they routinely encounter, the incorporation of a soil and/or air heating system into the design of stadia can prevent the abandonment of events due to frost, and can provide a management tool to assist in the maintenance of turf quality.  The traditional way of achieving this is to incorporate a network of hot water pipes into the soil profile.  Some early systems are still providing efficient frost protection after 25 years.  For mild frosts, adequate protection can be achieved at low cost by deploying frost covers.  In recent times, pitch domes, inflated with warm air, have been used successfully and have the advantage over frost covers of enabling some turf maintenance to continue during frost protection.  There is some merit in using hot water systems in conjunction with a dome so that the risk of ‘root burn’ can be reduced (as the pipes can be run at a lower temperature), and excess precipitation can be managed by strategic use of the dome. 


Figure 9 Systems to control soil temperature using; hot water pipe (courtesy of The Donbass Arena) and air-filled domes (courtesy of Ipswich Town Football Club, UK). 

    In recent years, ‘forced-air ventilation systems’ to improve the soil aeration status, and afford frost protection or cooling in hotter areas of the world, have been developed.  These comprise a system of ducts below the turf construction which can be used in a number of modes:

• Suction - to remove excess soil water
• Pressure (cool air) - to aerate the soil profile and/or reduce soil temperature
• Pressure (warm air - to aerate the soil profile and increse soil temperature

    Whilst these systems have proved to be effective in removing excess water and, as a result, improving soil aeration status, to-date the frost protection capability has been questionable.