The Huron Mountain Climate Monitoring Network

Dr. Frederick Nelson, University of Delaware, and

Dr. Kenneth Hinkel, University of Cincinnati

2005-

Because of the complex topography and the effects of Lake Superior, the microclimates of the Huron Mountains are extremely variable -- but they have not been thoroughly documented.  Nelson and Hinkel have installed a network of sensors and data-loggers, like this one, placed so as to document the range of microclimates over the landscape.  They are particularly interested in how temperature and other variables are affected by distance from Lake Superior and smaller lakes, and by elevation and exposure.  These stations record data hourly and data are down-loaded twice annually. While the Huron Mt. Club lands afford excellent security for instruments with respect to human vandals, researchers have had to devise ways to protect instruments from squirrels, and one site had to be abandoned because of repeated bear damage to installations. (Photo by Kerry Woods)

This figure, from Nelson and Hinkel's  annual report for 2006,  illustrates the effect of proximity to Lake Superior on summer air temperatures. The 'box-and-whisker' plot shows temperature differences between a station on the  Lake Superior shore and another station only  about 100 meters inland. The horizontal line is the average difference, over the summer, for the indicated time of day. Note large differences between sites at mid-day resulting from heating of the land surface.

Other results from Annual Reports from this project show differences in air and ground temperature over the winter and between other sites.  December air temperatures at the southern end of Club lands near the Salmon Trout River were as much as 6°C lower than those near the lakeshore, while ground temperatures never dropped below freezing because of snow cover.  Data also show the highest temperatures of the year -- about 97° F near Pine River Point -- on the day of the annual meeting of the Huron Mt. Wildlife Foundation. 

The full climatic data set from this study will soon be freely available on the web, and we anticipate that these data will be useful to a wide range of other researchers.