GeographyPost-Field Work PresentationGroup 4:1. Ryan Low (25)2. Eugene Tan (27)3. Li Yiqun (16)4. Austin Yu (34)

THE INVESTIGATION

On the 16th and 17th of January 2014, our team went to 7 locations around the school to record the temperatures within our school’s microclimate.

Before the investigation, we had the following hypothesis:

Concrete areas are generally hotter than non-concrete areas.

FINDINGS

Location A – Top floor of multi-storey carparkTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

31.0˚c

28.0˚c

1.5m aboveground

31.5˚c

28.4˚cDAY 1: Lots of sun, concrete ground | DAY 2: Sunny, cloudless and windy, concrete ground

FINDINGS

Location B – Garden outside printing centreTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

30.4˚c

28.5˚c

1.5m aboveground

30.6˚c

29.5˚cDAY 1: Trees and grass nearby | DAY 2: No wind close to vegetation and a bit of clouds

FINDINGS

Location C – Open space between canteen and block CTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

32.0˚c

30.8˚c

1.5m aboveground

27.6˚c

27.7˚cDAY 1: Sun. trees and grass | DAY 2: Sun, no cloud cover, near vegetation

FINDINGS

Location D – TerracesTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

31.0˚c

29.4˚c

1.5m aboveground

30.0˚c

29.2˚cDAY 1: Windy and sunny with no cloud cover | DAY 2: Sun, no cloud cover, concrete ground

FINDINGS

Location E – FieldTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

29.4˚c

31.1˚c

1.5m aboveground

26.6˚c

32.0˚cDAY 1: Wind, cloud cover, grass | DAY 2: Sun, a bit of cloud cover, grass

FINDINGS

Location F– Running trackTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

29.6˚c

29.3˚c

1.5m aboveground

26.7˚c

29.0˚cDAY 1: Cloud cover, windy | DAY 2: Sun, a bit of cloud cover, grass nearby

FINDINGS

Location G – Running trackTemperature:

Day 1

Day 2

15cm aboveground

31.2˚c

28.8˚c

1.5m aboveground

30.9˚c

28.6˚cDAY 1: Sun, near water, no wind, concrete ground | DAY 2: Little wind, no cloud cover, near

water

SUMMARY OF DATA

We calculated the average temperatures for the each of the locations and altitudes for the two days.

LOCATION AVERAGE TEMERATURE 15CM ABOVE GROUND (˚c)

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 1.5M ABOVE GROUND (˚c)

MSCP 29.50 29.95Garden 29.45 30.05Open space 31.40 27.65Terraces 29.70 29.60Field 29.75 27.30Running track 29.45 27.85Fountain 30.00 29.35

SUMMARY OF DATA

We then arranged the locations in increasing order of temperature:1. Running track

2. Garden3. MSCP4. Terraces5. Field6. Fountain7. Open space

Coolest

Hottest

ANALYSIS

1) The recorded temperatures did not strictly follow the factors of proximity to water, vegetation or concrete. In fact, there was no distinct pattern to tell what caused the temperature differences.

EVIDENCELocations close to water:Fountain – 2nd hottest (not justified)Locations close to vegetation:Garden – 2nd coolest (justified)(continued on next slide)

ANALYSIS

(continued from previous slide)Field – 3rd hottest (not justified)Garden – hottest (not justified)Locations close to concrete:MSCP – 3rd coolest (not justified)Terraces – 4th coolest (not justified)Fountain – 2nd hottest (justified)

ANALYSIS

2) The air temperature drops slightly in most cases, at a height of 1.5m as compared to 15cm.EVIDENCEAverage temperature of all locations 15cm above ground=29.9˚c (3 s.f.)Average temperature of all locations 1.5m above ground=28.8˚c (3 s.f.)Difference=1.1˚c

ANALYSIS

As seen, most of the locations have temperatures we cannot justify.

Coming back to our hypothesis:

HYPOTHESIS

WRONG!!!!!

Nope, our hypothesis was WRONG. The discrepancies in the information gathered has proved it wrong, without the foggiest doubt. Here’s a recap:

Locations close to concrete:MSCP – 3rd coolest (not justified)Terraces – 4th coolest (not justified)Fountain – 2nd hottest (justified)

Two of the three locations close to concrete were in the cooler half of the table, contrary to our hypothesis. Furthermore, for the word ‘generally’ to apply, MOST of the results should comply. However, we are very far from that.

THE CULPRIT

Factors that could have been the culprits of altering our information:1) Body heat. The temperature sensor can pick up our body

temperature if our fingers are too close, then mistake it for air temperature. Therefore we have to place our fingers far away from the sensor to avoid such a situation.

2) Damaged equipment. Any damage done to the temperature sensor can drastically affect the readings taken. Therefore we have to handle the equipment with extreme care. Anyway, we have been reminded that the equipment costs a king’s ransom.

3) Human error. Someone could have inaccurately recorded the reading on the weather meter. Just be careful!

THE CULPRIT

There are also other factors that can alter the temperature taken▪ Presence of vegetation▪ Wind▪ Time▪ Proximity to water ▪ Cloud cover▪ How much the site is enclosed▪ Surface of floor

CREDITSMR LAU – FOR PROVIDING EQUIPMENT AND GUIDANCE

RYAN LOW – FOR COMPILING DATA AND PREPARING SLIDES

EUGENE TAN – FOR RECORDING DATALI YIQUN – FOR TIME-KEEPING AND RECORDING DATA

AUSTIN YU – FOR TAKING THE PICTURESAND ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US ONE WAY OR

ANOTHER.