Weather Lab Handout Spring 2023

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Palo Alto College *

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1406

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Biology

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Feb 20, 2024

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BIOL 3407 Ecology Lab Lab 1. Weather and Short term climate data analysis Objectives:  Become familiar with weather databases and basic meteorological parameters.  Learn to formulate questions about how meteorological parameters changes over time and test these questions by analyzing data.  Learn how to acquire the desired meteorological parameters from the weather database and analyze them using Microsoft Excel.  Analyze the changes in outdoor air temperature over a year to determine the average time of day when temperature are lowest, and the average temperature when temperatures are the highest.  Analyze the changes in cumulative precipitation and outdoor air temperature in San Antonio during 2010, 2011, 2015, 2020 and 2021.  Learn how to construct a combined figure with two vertical axes and one horizontal axis.  Interpret results from the weather data analysis based on El Niño and la Niña events. Research questions for this lab: 1. What is the average time of the day when outdoor air temperature is the highest and the lowest for the year 2011? 2. Does maximum average outdoor temperature and cumulative precipitation differ during a La Niña event from an El Niño event? (3 hypothesis) Background: Solar inputs and the type of vegetation cover help drive weather and climate at different latitudes. Weather patterns are the result of energy transfers between earth’s surfaces (land, water) and the atmosphere. In this lab, we will focus on two particular weather parameters: outdoor air temperature and cumulative precipitation .  Outdoor air temperature: This parameter is indirectly affected by several factors such as the amount of solar radiation received, time of the year, atmospheric pressure, cloud cover, air moisture, wind currents, distance from the ocean, and the amount of surface covered by vegetation, among others. Outdoor air temperature is generally presented as degree Fahrenheit (  F) or Celsius (  C) . This temperature is generally recorded by weather stations every 30 minutes or every hour during a 24 daily hour period.

 Precipitation (pp): This parameter is a measure of the amount of water received at ground level generally in the form of snow or rain. In San Antonio we generally report rain accumulation using rain gauges. These are plastic cylindrical containers of standard dimensions with markings on the side in centimeters or inches. Daily precipitation is recorded every 30 minutes or every hour during a 24 daily hour period and is generally reported as cumulative rain over time or average precipitation.  El niño and La niña: Are two types of South Pacific decadal (i.e., every 10 years) oscillations characterized by an abnormal warming of the pacific ocean equatorial waters off the coast of Peru (El niño), and an abnormal cooling of the pacific ocean equatorial waters off the coast of Peru (La niña). In South Texas La niña years are characterized by drier and cooler winters and drier and hotter summers. In South Texas El niño years are characterized by higher than average monsoonal rains particularly during late Spring. Resources: The lab exercise will require the use of laptop computers with internet connectivity. The information on outdoor air temperature and precipitation used in this lab was collected from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) website. Weather data from this website is available to the public from any computer with internet connectivity. The web address for this site is: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/select_year.pl?region=13 A yearly data report was generated selecting outdoor temperature and precipitation data from the San Antonio Weather Station 678 Pecan Valley for 2010, 2011, 2015, 2020 and 2021. The webpage with this information is: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/yearly_summary.pl?cams=678 The matrix displayed by the website includes hourly values from January 1 st to December 31 st . Each matrix was copied from the website and pasted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet by year.

Activity 1: Average daily outdoor surface temperatures analysis for years 2011  We will visit the TCEQ website and generate a yearly report for 2011, selecting outdoor air temperature as the weather parameter from weather station 678 located in Pecan Valley, San Antonio.  We will copy the data from the TCEQ website and transfer it to an EXCEL spreadsheet.  We will calculate the average yearly outdoor air temperature by time of day for 2011 and generate a table. When generating this table you will learn the transpose function in EXCEL.  We will use the average outdoor air temperatures by time of day over a 24 hour period to construct a line figure for entire year 2011.  We will analyze the line graph and interpret results in class to answer research question 1. Activity 2: Outdoor air temperature and cumulative precipitation analysis for the years 2010, 2011 and 2015  We will visit the TCEQ website and generate a yearly report for years 2010, 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2021 for daily maximum outdoor air temperature and cumulative precipitation using the weather station 678 in Pecan Valley, San Antonio  We will copy the data from the TCEQ website and transfer it to an EXCEL spreadsheet  We will edit the table in EXCEL and use the Maximum outdoor air temperature column and the cumulative precipitation column for years 2010, 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2021  We will clean the data and calculate the AVERAGE and cumulative precipitation of each month from January to December of years 2010, 2011, 2015, and January to July for 2020 and 2021. We will then create a combined figure that will include average maximum outdoor air temperatures and cumulative precipitation by month for 2010, 2011, 2015, 2020, and 2021.  We will analyze the lines and column figure and interpret results in class to answer research question 2 and test the three different hypotheses by comparing the combined figures for 2010 and 2011, then the 2011 and 2015, and 2020 and 2021.

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Post-lab Report: Introduction:  Include any relevant background to help a reader (with no experience of the lab) understand why this lab was conducted. o While doing this, include at least one citation (2-3 preferred). Format of the citation is your choice but must be from either a governmental source (i.e., United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, etc.) or a peer-reviewed journal article (found through the library or Google Scholar). Make sure to include a reference section!  Outline the main goals of the lab.  In sentence form, state your hypotheses for the lab. Methods:  Write out your methods (i.e., the steps you performed) in paragraph form . You should be able to replicate the lab to a large degree based on your methods! Results:  You will have six tables and graphs on Excel that you will need to copy and paste to a word document for you report.  For Activity 1 you will generate one figure for 2011 (Figure 1).  For Activity 2 you will generate a combined figure (temperature and precipitation), on for each year 2010 (Figure 2), 2011 (Figure 3), 2015 (Figure 4), 2020 (Figure 5) and 2021 (Figure 6).  You will compare Figure 2 and Figure 3 side by side to test hypothesis 1, Figure 3 and Figure 4 side by side to test hypothesis 2, and Figure 5 and Figure 6 side by side to test hypothesis 3.  You must include a written paragraph describing (but not interpreting) your results. You can reference the figures in this paragraph. Conclusion  Describe the take home message of your results from each activity and explain how these answer research questions 1 and 2.  Describe the errors (if any) that could lead to the results and interpretations of the results changing and how to mitigate the impact of these errors.  Suggest at least 1 future experiment that could further explore the topics covered in this lab.

Reflection (Separate from conclusion)  Explain how these activities help you learn about the topic of the lab.  Explain the challenges you faced in this lab and how you resolved them.  Explain how the techniques or content learned in this lab could apply to future classes or your future career (even if it isn’t ecologically connected!).  Explain how the content and experience will help shape or interpret future daily life experiences such as your home or your workplace.

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