Parameters of the Carslaw-Jaeger equation describing the temperature distribution in the ground

The ground temperature changes with depth and time. Time variability is considered as a harmonic function. The equation describing changes of the ground temperature contains four parameters: the average annual temperature of the surface of the ground, the annual amplitude of the temperature of the ground surface as well as the phase angle of the temperature and thermal diffusivity of the ground. Based on the results of the measurements presented in the literature, the parameters of the equation using the combined method on the basis of linear regression, described in the literature, were determined. This method, however, leads to an ambiguous value of the thermal diffusivity. It was found that the nonlinear regression method gives much better results, leading to obtaining precise and unambiguous values of all parameters of the equation.