Climate

Yearly map of average mean annual air temperature .

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Authors:

A.N. Afonin, K.L. Lipiyaynen, V.Y. Tsepelev

Compilation date:

14.03.2005.

Scale:

10 km/pix

Map's precision:

The map contains averaged values of mean annual and mean monthly air temperatures for patches of the earth's surface with an area of 10 x 10 km. The variation of mean monthly air temperature values for specific years is shown in additional layers of standard deviation.

Projection:

.Alber.s equal-area projection for the USSR.
ref. system : Alber's Equal Area Conic for Russia
projection : Alber's Equal Area Conic
datum : Pulkovo 1942 (S42)
delta WGS84 : 28 -130 -95
ellipsoid : Krasovsky
major s-ax : 6378245.000
minor s-ax : 6356863.019
origin long : 100
origin lat : 0
origin X : 0
origin Y : 0
scale fac : na
units : m
parameters : 2
stand ln 1 : 44
stand ln 2 : 68

Main content:

A bitmapped map. The map contains yearly average mean annual air temperature.

Classifier's precision:

Temperature is expressed in degrees Centigrade within a tenth of a degree.

Map compilation procedure:

The map was compiled using observations of air temperatures made within a network of weather stations within the former USSR. Mean annual and mean monthly air temperatures were taken from climate handbooks (Climate Handbooks of the USSR, 1965-1974). The data from 4,620 weather stations were used to compile the map. The bitmapped temperature layer was created using the climate simulation technique and the Kriging method (Hart et al., 1996). The mapping took into account the influence on air temperature exerted by the seas and other large bodies of water. Thus, the map deals with coastal and mainland weather stations separately. All weather stations located less that 30 km away from the coast were considered coastal. The main features taken into consideration during mapping were the station's elevation above sea level, its geographic location, its mean climatic lapse rate of atmospheric temperature, and the station's latitude and longitude. Atmosphere's lapse rate is spatially very uneven, especially in winter. The data from temperature re-analysis on surfaces with standard pressures of 1000, 850 and hPa in the nodes of a regular grid of 2.5 x 2.5 degrees (NCEP) were used in order to obtain lapse rate values for each resolution cell. Temperatures observed at weather stations have been scaled for sea level in accordance with the values of the atmosphere lapse rate in that location, as derived by re-analysis. Afterwards, the regression equation was used to determine the relation of air temperature scaled for sea level to the location's latitude and longitude (multiple linear regression). The difference between actual and calculated values was the remainder, which was interpolated over the whole scanned area in accordance with the Kriging method. The temperature matrix was calculated using the Idrisi program (Image Calculator module) in accordance with the obtained regression formula, where corresponding latitudinal and longitudinal matrices were used as substitutes for latitude and longitude values. The interpolated remainder's layer was added to the calculated layer. Afterwards, the temperature values in each cell of the matrix were "elevated" from conventional sea level to the actual elevation, taking into account the temperature lapse rate at the given location. Matrix cells' altitudes were determined using the SRTM digital relief model scaled to a 10-kilometer spatial resolution.

Data sources:

A Climate Handbook. 1964-1975. Total Radiation. Issues 1-34. Leningrad.
Climate Handbooks of the USSR. 1965-1974. Air and Ground Temperature. Issues 1-34. Leningrad.
Hart T., Greene S., Afonin A. 1996. Mapping for Germplasm Collections: Site Selection and Attribution: ASPRS Annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Web-paper. April, 1996.
NCEP Reanalysis data provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) 3 arc second (90 meter) SRTM DTED(r) Level 1 "Finished" data derived from SRTM IFSAR data/ http://edc.usgs.gov/products/elevation.html

Rights and copyrights

All rights to the map and its descriptions are reserved by the authors.
 

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