TY - JOUR
T1 - What is monthly mean land surface air temperature?
AU - Zeng, Xubin
AU - Wang, Aihui
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Land surface air temperature is one of the fundamental variables in weather and climate observations, modeling, and applications. Its monthly mean has been computed as the average of daily maximum and minimum temperatures [Jones et al., 1999]. This is different from the true monthly mean temperature, which is defined as the integral of the continuous temperature measurements in a month divided by the integration period and can be very accurately represented using hourly data, as has long been recognized [e.g., Brooks, 1921]. We argue, from scientific, technological, and historical perspectives, that it is time to compute the true monthly mean using hourly data for the national and international climate data record.
AB - Land surface air temperature is one of the fundamental variables in weather and climate observations, modeling, and applications. Its monthly mean has been computed as the average of daily maximum and minimum temperatures [Jones et al., 1999]. This is different from the true monthly mean temperature, which is defined as the integral of the continuous temperature measurements in a month divided by the integration period and can be very accurately represented using hourly data, as has long been recognized [e.g., Brooks, 1921]. We argue, from scientific, technological, and historical perspectives, that it is time to compute the true monthly mean using hourly data for the national and international climate data record.
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U2 - 10.1029/2012EO150006
DO - 10.1029/2012EO150006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84859884988
VL - 93
SP - 156
JO - Eos
JF - Eos
SN - 0096-3941
IS - 15
ER -