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Microclimate Data Collection

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Microclimate Data Collection

A building site is being planned beside a public walkway. Nathan, Ngaio and Mei need to find out how the site’s surfaces and shade affect local conditions. Plan a fair, safe investigation and interpret the sample results. Use the information and visuals on this sheet; no equipment or external resources are required to answer.

Plan a fair investigation

The team wants to investigate how shade may be associated with local conditions at the building site.

1.Which pair of instruments is best for measuring air temperature and relative humidity at each site?

Thermometer and hygrometer
Barometer and soil-moisture probe
Anemometer and rain gauge
Compass and measuring tape

2.Choose the strongest comparison plan. Explain one reason it makes the comparison fair.

Take one reading at each site at different times of day.
Take repeated readings at all sites at the same height and at similar times, using the same instruments.
Measure in the sun at midday and in shade near sunset.
Use a different instrument at each site so the team can work faster.

3.Write one testable investigation question, naming the factor being compared and the two outcomes measured.

4.List four details, besides the measurements themselves, that the team should record so the results can be interpreted or repeated.

5.A reading is taken beside a sun-warmed wall, but the investigation is meant to compare shade. Name the main problem this creates and suggest a practical way to reduce it.

Read the sample data

The team records three readings at each site during the same fieldwork period. Values below are site means.

Site

Shade condition

Temperature / °C; relative humidity / %

Full sun; paved surface

24; 45

Partial shade; beside wall

21; 55

Full shade; planted strip

19; 65

6.Describe the overall pattern in the sample means. Include the direction of change in both temperature and relative humidity from full sun to full shade.

7.Calculate the temperature difference between Site A and Site C. Include the unit.

8.Does this sample prove that shade alone caused the differences? Give one reason for your judgement.

TrueFalse

Improve the fieldwork

Consider reliability, safety and what the data can show.

9.The team has only one reading per site. Suggest one specific improvement to make the results more reliable, and explain how it helps.

10.The site is an active construction area beside a walkway. State two sensible safety or access precautions for the field team.

11.Give one limitation of using only air temperature and relative humidity to describe a microclimate, and name one additional variable or contextual observation that would improve the study.