COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS OF CALCULATING AIR-TEMPERATURE FROM ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS

Data was collected on air temperature every 20 minutes using a YSI 440 36 thermistor with a Lakewood data logger at three stations in differe nt climatic and latitudinal situations. Mean daily air temperature was calculated from the data in three ways, viz.: dividing the total of 7 2 readings by 72 (the integration method), adding the minimum and maxi mum temperatures and dividing by 2 (the International Standard), and a dding the 0800 and 1700 hour readings and dividing by 2. The integrati on method provides a lower reading for most monthly and yearly data, a nd there are substantial differences (up to 7 degrees C) for mean dail y air temperatures calculated by different methods. These are largest in winter and least in summer. Differences increase with continentalit y and the integration method clearly gives a more accurate measure of heat flux and climatic change, and should be calculated along with the minimum-maximum average for automated stations.