Statistical relationships between daily and monthly air and shallow-ground temperatures in Karkevagge, Swedish Lapland

Colin E. Thorn, J. Peter L. Schlyter, Robert G. Darmody, John C. Dixon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Single-year air and ground temperature records from 1995 to 1996 in Karkevagge (approximately 68°26'N, 18°18'E), a glaciated trough in northern Sweden, are compared using reduced major axis analysis (RMAA) to demonstrate the limitations in using air temperatures as indicators of ground temperatures in an Arctic-alpine environment. While air temperatures predict some 10 and 50 cm level ground temperatures with as much as 95% explanatory power at daily and monthly scales, other ground sites are predicted with as little as ~20% explanatory power. Such variability, found over sites differing in elevation, aspect and vegetation cover, is assigned to the influence of snow cover, which was not measured. As would be expected, the smoothing of data from daily to monthly scales generally improves the correlation between air and ground temperatures; this phenomenon is also due, in part, to lag effects associated with heat conductance. The 1995-96 record appears to be drawn from a period that is probably somewhat warmer than the average over the last 47 years; a conclusion drawn by examining the 1951-97 record from two nearby weather stations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)317-330
Number of pages14
JournalPermafrost and Periglacial Processes
Volume10
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1999

Keywords

  • Air temperature
  • Arctic-alpine
  • Ground temperatures
  • Statistical analysis
  • Sweden

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Earth-Surface Processes

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