Image of Lascar Sensor inside a radiation shield and hung in a tree within the Great Basin National Park, NV.
Data Collection – Lascar Sensors
Lascar sensors are USB loggers that record hourly temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) data. Our sensors are placed inside radiation shields to prevent error from direct sunlight. They a hung in trees and on posts to record weather data at 29 sites across the park. In 2005 faculty and staff from Ohio State University visited Great Basin National Park to determine site locations for the sensors. They returned in 2006 and installed many of the sensors. Additional lascars were added in the years to follow. Annual maintained is required to replace batteries and download data from each site. Data from the sensors are used to monitor climate patterns throughout the park. If you see one of our sensors in the park, please let it do its job!
This data collection process is a collaboration between Ohio State University, University of Georgia, and Sinclair College. The project is lead by Dr. Bryan Mark, the Glacier Environmental Change lab at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at OSU, and the OSU Geography department. Funding for this research is supported by the Western National Parks Services and OSU Geography.
Dataset Information:
The Daily datasets include days with at least 23 hourly observations. The maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures (T) and relative humidity (RH) values were calculated for each day. All temperature data is in degrees Celsius (°C) and relative humidity are percentages (%). Raw, hourly data is available upon request.
How To Cite this Dataset
Mazan, Emily et al. (2023). Great Basin National Park, NV air temperature and relative humidity [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzjm
Related Publications
- Cooper, C. S., D. F. Porinchu, S. A. Reinemann, B. G. Mark, and J. Q. DeGrand, 2021: A lake sediment–based paleoecological reconstruction of late Holocene fire history and vegetation change in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA. Quat. res., 104, 28–42, https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2021.17.
- Porinchu, D. F., S. Reinemann, B. G. Mark, J. E. Box, and N. Rolland, 2010: Application of a midge-based inference model for air temperature reveals evidence of late-20th century warming in sub-alpine lakes in the central Great Basin, United States. Quaternary International, 215, 15–26, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2009.07.021.
- Reinemann, S. A., D. F. Porinchu, G. M. MacDonald, B. G. Mark, and J. Q. DeGrand, 2014: A 2000-yr reconstruction of air temperature in the Great Basin of the United States with specific reference to the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. Quat. res., 82, 309–317, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.06.002.
- Sambuco, E. N., B. G. Mark, N. Patrick, J. Q. DeGrand, D. F. Porinchu, S. A. Reinemann, G. M. Baker, and J. E. Box, 2020: Mountain Temperature Changes From Embedded Sensors Spanning 2000 m in Great Basin National Park, 2006–2018. Front. Earth Sci., 8, 292, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00292.
Newsletters
- Mazan, E., Mark, B., Degrand, J., Porinchu, D., Reinemann, S., Tjoelker, A., Frenken, H., 2023: The Highs and Lows of Monitoring Temperature in the Park. The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 23, No. 2, Winter 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/monitoringtemperature.htm
Related Websites
- ArcGIS Story Map: Exploring temperature variation in Great Basin National Park
- For information about the Mathers weather station, SNOTEL, and other data collection programs within the park, click here
- For more information about the Great Basin National Park, visit https://www.nps.gov/grba/index.htm
Contact
For hourly, raw data or questions regarding the dataset, please contact Dr. Bryan Mark at mark.9@osu.edu