Minimum temperature at El Verde Field Station, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico since 1975

Daily minimum air temperature at the El Verde Field Station since October 1992. Temperature is measured daily using a manual Min-Max thermometer placed in a wooded box in the understory. The box is mostly shaded by surrounding trees, but it is more exposed to sunlight after hurricanes defoliate the forest canopy (e.g., hurricane Maria in 2017). Measurements are available for workdays only, as a technician at the station collects measurements. The thermometer is reset after each reading.

Notes:
• An automatic Hobo pendant sensor complements reading (see El Verde Field Station Air temperature from automatic sensor).
• Daily maximum air temperature available in a separated data set.
• Data from before 1992 is available in dataset #181 (1975 -August 1992). Data-missing gaps were filled in by extrapolated data from other sources, making the subsequent manipulations less valuable for interpreting long term trends.

Daily emperature has been measured at the El Verde Field Station since 1975 (see methods). Monthly averages have been calculated. Lowest average values for minimum temperature were recorded from January to April with nearly 18 Centigrades during this period of time (see chart). During these months, the lowest average minimum temperature was recorded in 1976 ranging from 20 to 22 Centigrades (see chart). Highest minimum montly average records are shown from June to October with peak in the vecinity of 20 Centigrades. The year with lowest minimum tempearture was 1995 and 2000 with the low values near 14 and 15 Centigrades, respectively.

Support for this work was provided by grants BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-9705814 , DEB-0080538, DEB-0218039 , DEB-0620910 , DEB-1239764, DEB-1546686, and DEB-1831952 from the National Science Foundation to the University of Puerto Rico as part of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional support provided by the University of Puerto Rico and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service.