A Comparison of Temperature Data from Automated and Manual Observing Networks in Georgia and Impacts of Siting Characteristics

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to compare average monthly and seasonal maximum and minimum temperatures of the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) to those of geographically close (i.e., paired) manual observations from U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) stations and Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) stations for the period 2002–13, and to evaluate the extent to which differences in siting characteristics of paired AEMN–USHCN stations contribute to the temperature differences. Correlations for monthly and seasonal maximum and minimum temperatures of paired AEMN–USHCN and AEMN–COOP stations were high and almost always significant, although the correlations for seasonal minimum temperatures were slightly lower than those of maximum temperatures, especially for summer. Monthly maximum and minimum temperatures and seasonal maximum temperatures of paired AEMN–USHCN and AEMN–COOP stations were significantly different in only a few instances, while seasonal minimum tem...