# Heat Capacity of Drained Peat Soils
The improvements in the MDSC technique involve the application of a sinusoidal heating or cooling signal to a sample and the subsequent measurement of the reversing and non-reversing components of the heat flow response [17; 18]. [PERSON] (2012) [19], using this method, indicated that the heat capacity of the homoionic forms of bentonite and kaolinite is linearly dependent on temperature in the range of \(\sim\) 70 to 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C. [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2004) [20], using the MDSC method, stated that the \(c_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) value for selected peat and soil sediments is different for temperatures of 0 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C.  
The \(C_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) value can also be quantified experimentally by using the heat thermal probe method (HTP). This technique is based on the solution of the radial heat conduction equation for a line heat source in a homogeneous and isotropic medium with a uniform initial temperature [21; 22; 23]. One factor of the attractiveness of the mixing model is that if \(c_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) is known, and if \(C_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) has been determined experimentally, it can be used to estimate soil moisture content [24; 25; 26; 27] and soil dry bulk density [27]. [PERSON] et al. (2003) [25] indicate that this approach can provide accurate estimates of the moisture content in mineral soils. [PERSON] et al. (2013) [15] suggest that the heat pulse method can also be used satisfactorily to estimate the soil specific heat capacity of mineral soil using the quotient of the \(C_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) value and soil bulk density. For a better estimation of specific heat, the authors propose the use of temperature distribution data obtained at later times, when the temperature generated by the heat pulse probe starts to decay. This assumption enables reducing the estimation error of the \(c_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) comparing to DSC data. The main limitations of the heat pulse method are regarding the geometry of the heater and response element, which records the temperature. Both require calibration to account for these effects and to improve the accuracy of volumetric heat capacity measurements and consequently the estimation of other soil properties such as soil water content and soil bulk density [23; 28; 29]. Regardless of the limitations of the heat pulse method, it is currently one of the most informative techniques that can be used for the study of soil thermal status and soil water-related processes [30; 31]. Applying this method to organic peat materials is attractive because of their tendency to change geometry during the drying process [32; 33; 34], which occurs during the vegetation season under natural condition and leads to changes in soil bulk density [35]. The \"direct\" measurements of \(C_{\text{\tiny{p}}}\) using HTP probe can eliminate the need to determine the soil bulk density which is needed in the mixing model. There is limited information in the literature about the applicability of the MDSC and HTP methods in peat soil. The calorimetrical method is rather implemented in organic soil to study glass transition temperature [20; 36]. The data regarding the influence of temperature on specific heat capacity are only described in the work of [PERSON] and [PERSON] (2004) [20]. In the case of the heat pulse method, there are only limited studies where it is applied to peat soils [37; 38; 39; 40]. The motivation of this study was to measure the specific heat capacity as a function of the temperature (\(c_{p}(T)\)) of different peat materials commonly occurring in drained peatland deposits using the MDSC method. We hypothesized that peat soil materials with differential chemical and physical properties characterize contrasted \(c_{p}(T)\) characteristics. Hence, we tried to develop an approximation method of the specific heat using basic soil properties. The proper \(c_{p}\) value is crucial for calculating the volumetric heat capacity of peat soils variety by a mixing model concept application.