Publication
Title
SoilTemp : a global database of near‐surface temperature
Author
Abstract
Current analyses and predictions of spatially‐explicit patterns and processes in ecology most often rely on climate data interpolated from standardized weather stations. This interpolated climate data represents long‐term average thermal conditions at coarse spatial resolutions only. Hence, many climate‐forcing factors that operate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions are overlooked. This is particularly important in relation to effects of observation height (e.g. vegetation, snow and soil characteristics) and in habitats varying in their exposure to radiation, moisture and wind (e.g. topography, radiative forcing, or cold‐air pooling). Since organisms living close to the ground relate more strongly to these microclimatic conditions than to free‐air temperatures, microclimatic ground and near‐surface data are needed to provide realistic forecasts of the fate of such organisms under anthropogenic climate change, as well as of the functioning of the ecosystems they live in. To fill this critical gap, we highlight a call for temperature time series submissions to SoilTemp, a geospatial database initiative compiling soil and near‐surface temperature data from all over the world. Currently this database contains time series from 7538 temperature sensors from 51 countries across all key biomes. The database will pave the way towards an improved global understanding of microclimate and bridge the gap between the available climate data and the climate at fine spatiotemporal resolutions relevant to most organisms and ecosystem processes.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Global change biology. - Oxford, 1995, currens
Publication
Hoboken : Wiley , 2020
ISSN
1354-1013 [print]
1365-2486 [online]
DOI
10.1111/GCB.15123
Volume/pages
26 :11 (2020) , p. 6616-6629
ISI
000542205100001
Pubmed ID
32311220
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Advancing predictions of Species Distribution Models by incorporating local-scale abiotic and biotic drivers.
SoilTemp
Global Ecosystem Functioning and Interactions with Global Change.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.04.2020
Last edited 02.10.2024
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