Mean monthly maximum and minimum air temperature spatial grids (1971-2000), Andrews Experimental Forest

Mean monthly maximum and minimum air temperature spatial grids (1971-2000), adjusted for the effects of solar radiation and sky view factors, Andrews Experimental Forest. Maps were created using PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model), developed by Dr. Christopher Daly at Oregon State University’s PRISM Climate Group in 2010 (prism.oregonstate.edu). Grids were exported into ASCII format from GRASS GIS software; values are in degrees C x 100. Spatial resolution is 50 meters. Two sets of temperature values are available: (1) values derived from an interpolation of point station temperature values accounting for elevation; and (2) values from (1), adjusted for effects of solar radiation exposure and sky view factors. Radiation exposure and sky view factors were calculated from a two-stream solar radiation model that accounts for elevation, slope, aspect, and shading from adjacent pixels on a 50-m digital elevation model. Temperature data were obtained from selected benchmark and reference stand climate stations within the HJ Andrews, as well as National Weather Service Cooperative (COOP) and USDA NRCS Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations in the vicinity. Due to the sparseness of the station data outside the Andrews, values outside the Andrews are considered to have high uncertainty. Temperature values assume an open site with no canopy cover, so are not appropriate for describing temperatures within the forest canopy. See MS033 for radiation grids used to make the radiation adjustments.