Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Dixon, P. Grady

Committee Member

Rodgers, John C. III

Committee Member

Brown, Michael E.

Date of Degree

5-5-2007

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Daily temperature variations across an area can often be attributed to differences in land use/land cover (LULC). This study focuses on the relationships between the diurnal temperature ranges (DTRs) of 145 weather stations, classified as urban, agriculture, evergreen forests, deciduous forests, pine forests, and mixed forests. Paired samples t-tests were employed to test for significant DTR differences due to LULC type, season, and air mass type. Conflicting with previous research, agricultural areas reported the lowest DTRs, which may be due to the vegetation or to other physiographic variables. The forest types showed very few significant DTR differences. All of the LULC types experienced an annual bimodal DTR pattern, with peaks in April and October. Results of this study show that air mass has the largest influence on DTR (over LULC and season), therefore, the annual variability of air mass occurrence is most likely cause of the bimodal pattern.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/14925

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