Monthly Mean Diurnal Cycles and Soil Temperature and Moisture Correlations from the Pennsylvania Environmental Monitoring Network

Launched by the Pennsylvania State University in 2020, the Pennsylvania Environmental Monitoring Network (PEMN) has installed 20 surface weather stations across Pennsylvania to collect and share atmospheric and soil temperature and moisture observations. Atmospheric observations include 2-m air temperature, 2-m relative humidity, surface pressure, 3-m wind speed and direction, rainfall, and solar radiation. Soil observations include soil temperature and soil moisture at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 cm depths. Monthly mean diurnal cycles are calculated for 2023 for each station to explore the horizontal variations in mean diurnal cycles. We also investigate correlations between soil moisture and soil temperature at various depths during the cold (October to March) and warm (April to September) seasons. Preliminary findings suggest soil type significantly influences the strength of the correlations. Further studies are needed to explore the dynamic between physical environmental factors and atmospheric factors that impact the strength of the correlations.