The purpose of this research is to investigate mesoscale-equivalent temperatures (TE) in Kentucky and potential land cover influences. Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to perform a study of this kind because of the observational infrastructure provided by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org). This network maintains 65 research-grade, in-situ weather and climate observing stations across the Commonwealth. Equivalent temperatures were calculated utilizing high-quality observations from 33 of these stations. In addition, the Kentucky Mesonet offers higher spatial and temporal resolution than previous research on this topic. As expected, the differences (TE-T) were greatest in summer (smallest in winter), with an average of 35 ºC (5 ºC). In general, the differences were found to be largest in the western climate division. This is attributed to poorly drained land and the mesonet stations’ adjacency to agricultural land. These differences are smaller during periods of drought, signifying less influence of moisture. Additionally, an inverse relationship between TE and pressure deviation on a daily timescale was found, suggesting a synoptic influence on near-surface heat content.
","abstract_html":"<p>The purpose of this research is to investigate mesoscale-equivalent temperatures (TE) in Kentucky and potential land cover influences. Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to perform a study of this kind because of the observational infrastructure provided by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org). This network maintains 65 research-grade, in-situ weather and climate observing stations across the Commonwealth. Equivalent temperatures were calculated utilizing high-quality observations from 33 of these stations. In addition, the Kentucky Mesonet offers higher spatial and temporal resolution than previous research on this topic. As expected, the differences (TE-T) were greatest in summer (smallest in winter), with an average of 35 ºC (5 ºC). In general, the differences were found to be largest in the western climate division. This is attributed to poorly drained land and the mesonet stations’ adjacency to agricultural land. These differences are smaller during periods of drought, signifying less influence of moisture. Additionally, an inverse relationship between TE and pressure deviation on a daily timescale was found, suggesting a synoptic influence on near-surface heat content.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Younger, Keri"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Department of Geography and Geology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Rezaul Mahmood (Director), Gregory Goodrich, Joshua Durkee, Xingang Fan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:52Z","subjects":["Climatology","equivalent temperature","land use","land cover","Geographic Information Sciences","Geography","Physical and Environmental Geography"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1459","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Rezaul Mahmood (Director), Gregory Goodrich, Joshua Durkee, Xingang Fan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Younger, Keri"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Geography and Geology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Climatology","equivalent temperature","land use","land cover","Geographic Information Sciences","Geography","Physical and Environmental Geography"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1459"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this research is to investigate mesoscale-equivalent temperatures (TE) in Kentucky and potential land cover influences. Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to perform a study of this kind because of the observational infrastructure provided by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org). This network maintains 65 research-grade, in-situ weather and climate observing stations across the Commonwealth. Equivalent temperatures were calculated utilizing high-quality observations from 33 of these stations. In addition, the Kentucky Mesonet offers higher spatial and temporal resolution than previous research on this topic. As expected, the differences (TE-T) were greatest in summer (smallest in winter), with an average of 35 ºC (5 ºC). In general, the differences were found to be largest in the western climate division. This is attributed to poorly drained land and the mesonet stations’ adjacency to agricultural land. These differences are smaller during periods of drought, signifying less influence of moisture. Additionally, an inverse relationship between TE and pressure deviation on a daily timescale was found, suggesting a synoptic influence on near-surface heat content.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Assessing Mesoscale-Equivalent Temperature in Kentucky"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Rezaul Mahmood (Director), Gregory Goodrich, Joshua Durkee, Xingang Fan"],"dc:creator":["Younger, Keri"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this research is to investigate mesoscale-equivalent temperatures (TE) in Kentucky and potential land cover influences. Kentucky presents a unique opportunity to perform a study of this kind because of the observational infrastructure provided by the Kentucky Mesonet (www.kymesonet.org). This network maintains 65 research-grade, in-situ weather and climate observing stations across the Commonwealth. Equivalent temperatures were calculated utilizing high-quality observations from 33 of these stations. In addition, the Kentucky Mesonet offers higher spatial and temporal resolution than previous research on this topic. As expected, the differences (TE-T) were greatest in summer (smallest in winter), with an average of 35 ºC (5 ºC). In general, the differences were found to be largest in the western climate division. This is attributed to poorly drained land and the mesonet stations’ adjacency to agricultural land. These differences are smaller during periods of drought, signifying less influence of moisture. Additionally, an inverse relationship between TE and pressure deviation on a daily timescale was found, suggesting a synoptic influence on near-surface heat content.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1459"],"dc:subject":["Climatology","equivalent temperature","land use","land cover","Geographic Information Sciences","Geography","Physical and Environmental Geography"],"dc:title":["Assessing Mesoscale-Equivalent Temperature in Kentucky"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Geography and Geology"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:52Z"}