Estimating the annual mean screen temperature empirically |
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| Authors: | E Linacre B Geerts |
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| Institution: | (1) Geography Department, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, AU;(2) Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA, US |
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| Abstract: | Summary We have examined station data from around the world to study the separate effects of the latitude (between 60° N–40° S),
elevation and distance inland, on the annual-mean screen temperature. In the first 200–400 km from some west coasts, screen
temperatures (after adjustment for elevation) rise inland, reaching a maximum called the ‘thermal-ridge temperature’ Tr. The
rise of temperature within this littoral fringe (of width F) depends mainly on the difference between the sea-surface temperature
off the west coast and the zonal mean. Further inland than such a fringe, adjusted temperatures generally decline eastwards,
approximately linearly, at a rate C. The rate is related to hemisphere and latitude.
Empirical relationships between latitude and the observed coastal sea-surface temperature, the near-shore screen temperature,
Tr, C and F for each continent are used to estimate annual mean temperatures on land. Independent estimates of this kind for
48 places, using a look-up table, differ overall by only 0.7 K from the actual long-term average annual mean temperatures.
This is less than half the error resulting from an assumption of zonal-mean temperatures. Basing estimates on coastal sea-surface
temperatures, instead of the look-up table, results in an average error of 1.0 K for the 48 places. The errors are comparable
with the standard deviation of annual mean temperatures during 30 years or so.
Received March 6, 2001 Revised July 30, 2001 |
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