Dataset Title: Barrow Urban Heat Island Air Temperatures NSF Grant: 0094769 Dataset Authors: Kenneth M. Hinkel and Frederick E. Nelson Technical Contact: Kenneth M. Hinkel Department of Geography University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131 Phone:(513)556-3430 Fax:(513)556-3370 Web page: http://www.geography.uc.edu/~kenhinke/ Dataset Overview: In mid-June 2001, 54 temperature recording instruments were installed near Barrow, Alaska to monitor the urban heat island effect (UHI). About half of the instruments are in the urban area, which contains facilities with high winter energy consumption such as schools, businesses, and the power plant. Urban site selection was opportunistic and depended on local volunteers. The remaining sites are distributed across the ~150 km2 study area using a crude grid pattern, and measure the background temperature field. Each instrumented site consists of a 2-channel data logger (HoboPro( by Onset Computer Corporation) measuring and recording temperature on an hourly basis. The instruments have an accuracy of (0.2( C at the ice point, and a precision of 0.02( C in high-resolution mode. One thermistor is installed in a radiation shield mounted 1.8 m above the ground to measure air temperature; the other is inserted 5 cm into the organic mat to measure near-surface ground temperature. In addition, a meter stick is installed on some masts to measure snow cover thickness in winter. At some urban locations, it was not possible to erect an instrument mast for fear of damage. In these cases, the radiation shield and data logger were installed on utility poles, signs or towers. Since the thermistor inside the radiation shield is located ~25 cm from the pole, no impact on the measurement was anticipated or observed. As an initial step, average daily air temperature and daily air temperature range for each of the 54 sites were computed using the hourly temperature measurements over the period of record, defined as 1 Dec 2001 to 31 March 2002. Dataset Format: These readings are contained in the files BUHIS-Ta.xls and BUHIS-Ra.xls. BUHIS refers to the Barrow Urban Heat Island Study, T and R respectively stand for average daily air temperature and daily air temperature range calculated from 24 hourly readings, and "a" refers to the first portion of the record. The site name and Digital GPS location (UTM) is recorded in the first several columns. Further details are available in: Hinkel, K.M., Nelson, F.E., Klene, A.E and Bell, J.H. (2003). The urban heat island in winter at Barrow, Alaska. International Journal of Climatology, 23, 1889-2005.