HR: 1020h
AN: PP52A-0654    [Abstracts]
TI: A Decade of Ground-Air Temperature Tracking at Emigrant Pass Observarory, Utah
AU: * Bartlett, M G
EM: bartletm@byuh.edu
AF: Brigham Young University - Hawaii, Dept. of Biochemistry and Physical Sciences 55-220 Kulanui Street, Laie, HI 96762 United States
AU: Chapman, D S
EM: dchapman@mines.utah.edu
AF: University of Utah, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics 135 South 1460 East WBB 719, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 United States
AU: Harris, R N
EM: rharris@coas.oregonstate.edu
AF: Oregon State University, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences 104 COAS Admin Bldg, Corvallis, OR 97331 United States
AB: Observations of air and ground temperatures, collected between 1993 and 2004, from Emigrant Pass Geothermal Climate Observatory in Northwestern Utah are analyzed to understand the relationship between these two quantities. We explore the influence of surface air temperature (SAT), incident solar radiation, and snow cover on surface ground temperature (SGT) variations. SAT variations explain 94% of the variance in SGT. Incident solar radiation is the primary variable governing the remaining misfit and is significantly more important during summer months than winter months. A linear relationship between the ground-air temperature difference (ΔT_sgt-sat) and solar radiation exists with a trend of 1.21 K per 100 Wm^-2; solar radiation accounts for 1.3% of the variance in SGT. The effects of incident solar radiation also account for the 2.47 K average offset in ΔT_sgt-sat. During the winter, snow cover plays a role in governing SGT variability, but exerts only a minor influence on the annual tracking of ground and air temperatures at the site, accounting for 0.5% of the variance in SGT. These observations of the tracking of SGT and SAT have important implications for the use of SGT histories as a complement to SAT and multi-proxy climate change studies.
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1626 Global climate models (3337, 4928)
DE: 1631 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1843, 3322)
DE: 4920 Dendrochronology
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005