Results
Overall Results
The correlations between solar radiation and
air temperature ranged from approximately 0.07 to 0.45. The lowest value of
0.06529 was observed at Bearwallow Mountain (BEAR) in Henderson County, while the
highest value of 0.45782 was observed at Siler City Airport (SILR) in Chatham
County. Most of the correlations for
each ECONET station ranged from 0.31 to 0.4. Aside from SILR, a few other
stations did observe correlations ranging from 0.41 to 0.5. Those stations are: UNCG - Lindale Farm Station (HIGH) in
Guilford County, Mountain Horticultural Crops Research Station (FLET) in
Henderson County, Mountain Research Station (WAYN) in Haywood County, and
Border Belt Tobacco Research Station (WHIT) in Columbus County.
The correlation between solar radiation and relative humidity ranged from approximately -0.2 to -0.6. The value of -0.19909, which indicated the least amount of correlation for any of the ECONET stations, was observed at Reedy Creek Field Laboratory (REED) in Wake County. The value of -0.60407, which indicated the most amount of correlation, was observed at Horticultural Crops Research Station (CAST) in New Hanover County. Most of the correlations for each ECONET station was less than -0.5. Between the three parameters of air temperature, relative humidity, and soil temperature, relative humidity correlations were the best overall.
The correlation between solar radiation and
soil temperature range from approximately 0.04 to 0.22. The lowest value of 0.04256 was observed at
Cunningham Research Station (KINS) in Lenoir County. The highest value of 0.22545 was observed at
Siler City Airport (SILR) in Chatham County. Most of the correlations for each ECONET station were between 0.11 and
0.2. In addition to SILR, Mountain
Horticultural Crops Research Station (FLET) in Henderson County also observed a
"higher" correlation of about 0.2. In addition to KINS, Piedmont
Research Station (SALI) in Rowan County observed a lower correlation of about
0.09.
From looking at the statewide maps above, it appears that the solar radiation correlations between air temperature and relative humidity are generally better in the Coastal Plain region of North Carolina. While more research is needed, it's a possibility that elevation is somehow influencing the stations in the western half of the state. This could be caused by the fact that the mountains can generate more cloud cover through orographic lifting (mountains force air to rise, which cools, condenses, and forms clouds), which ultimately would affect the air temperature and relative humidity measurements.
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Table of Correlations
Below is a table of correlation values for each of
the ECONET stations we used in our study, as well as the average correlations
overall.
|
Station ID |
SR vs. AT Correlations |
SR vs. RH Correlations |
SR vs. ST Correlations |
|
AURO |
0.361615442 |
-0.519552319 |
0.192193497 |
|
CAST |
0.386341331 |
-0.604075583 |
0.180199277 |
|
CLAY |
0.386849856 |
-0.501788058 |
0.184158596 |
|
CLIN |
0.392208987 |
-0.573749688 |
0.198887956 |
|
FLET |
0.413530043 |
-0.555591717 |
0.206633932 |
|
WINE |
0.326979541 |
-0.363881291 |
0.137034849 |
|
BEAR |
0.065297552 |
-0.225233193 |
0.13170163 |
|
HIGH |
0.423083531 |
-0.53493691 |
0.154955398 |
|
JACK |
0.374799495 |
-0.477421104 |
0.178231778 |
|
KINS |
0.380183392 |
-0.579642705 |
0.042562192 |
|
LAUR |
0.369579385 |
-0.458418237 |
0.155293796 |
|
LEWS |
0.320682054 |
-0.55244936 |
0.166707432 |
|
OXFO |
0.369889205 |
-0.492004174 |
0.185575525 |
|
LAKE |
0.392010245 |
-0.52346541 |
0.195622157 |
|
REED |
0.221200495 |
-0.199090988 |
0.110920782 |
|
REID |
0.370666792 |
-0.349482281 |
0.157318024 |
|
ROCK |
0.394080442 |
-0.568428305 |
0.189741454 |
|
SALI |
0.37050461 |
-0.510942845 |
0.092063132 |
|
SILR |
0.457821753 |
-0.571011295 |
0.225453179 |
|
WAYN |
0.42933264 |
-0.540213214 |
0.135251925 |
|
WHIT |
0.403286249 |
-0.596006046 |
0.128218108 |
|
WILL |
0.377161349 |
-0.516318116 |
0.171923487 |
|
Average |
0.363050199 |
-0.491531947 |
0.160029459 |