Ecology lab number two

Christina Ram Lab# 2 1. What trends can you observe in the climate data? Use the graph y-axes to visually estimate average precipitation and average temperature. Record them here, being sure to report proper units in your answer:  Average precipitation 1895-2018: 2151 mm  Average temperature 1895-2018: 11.8 Degree Celsius 2. Look specifically at the variation in precipitation and temperature graphs. Are there any visible patterns in the precipitation data? How about in the temperature data? Describe them here. Consider differences with-in and among years as well as early-century vs late-century differences. Precipitation rose in the beginning of the 1900s. It continues to go up and down steadily but kinda stayed around the same number. It looks like the temperature was going up and down in the 1900’s to the 1940’s and the started increasing from the 1940’s to the 2000’s. 3. Visually compare between precipitation and temperature trends. For these data, do you think these climate factors are related to each other (or correlated )? In other words, do high precipitation years tend to occur during high or low temperature years? How confident would you rate yourself in your ability to visually detect a correlation? I do believe that there is/might be a correlation between precipitation and temperature mainly because high precipitation happens when there was a higher temperature. I would say that I am about 50% confident in my ability to visually detect the correlation and understand the data. 4. Now look at the third graph, at the bottom. This is a slider that allows you to see more detail for any particular time frame – it lets you zoom in to see the month-by- month values for any time period. Using the sliders, zoom in to the year with the highest precipitation value. What’s going on here?... Was this an entire year that was unusually wet? Or was there some type of short-term weather event that caused this? Based on the graph, I would say that the year 2018 had the most precipitation value. This may be the result of a hurricane. 5. Once you’ve answered the previous question, use the internet to search for the potential cause. Search terms might include “NYC precipitation + time period” where you designate the year and/or month(s) for the time period search term. What happened during that time? How are short-term weather events different than long-term climate trends? Based upon my research, there was warmer winter temperatures, with fewer days below freezing, are bringing more winter precipitation to New York as rain, less snow, reduced snow cover, and earlier spring snowmelt. 6. What other major climatic events can you see in NYC climate history? For example, what were climate patterns like during significant historical events in NYC? … For example: Stock market crash of 1929? Stonewall uprising of 1969? Hurricane Sandy 2012? What else can you find?

A good example can be the heatwave in 1993 in New York where the mean temperature was about 8 degrees hotter than average. Create numerical & visual summaries 7. First let's get the February data set in order by year in ascending order (going from past to present). There are several ways to do this.  You can highlight the column(s) you want to sort, including the header (the names at the top of each column). Then look under the Data menu and select "Sort Range". You can then pick which column you want to search by (check the box for "data has header row" to exclude the header row from being sorted and allow you to select columns by their name.  If you only want to sort one column, or you want to sort a group by the first column in it, you can highlight just the data (not the headers at the top of each column) you wish to sort. Then look under the Data menu and select ("A->Z" in the sort options). Repeat this step for the August data. With that done, use either the Sort function or the MAX and MIN functions to identify the following climatic extremes:  What’s the coldest winter on record, according to these data? (i.e., what year had the coldest February Tmin?) -12.1 in 1934  What’s the warmest summer on record, according to these data? (i.e., what year had the warmest August Tmax?) 30.8 in 1995  In which month (February or August), and in which year, was precipitation the all-time lowest? 5.8mm in 1995  In which month (February or August), and in which year, was precipitation the highest? 440.56mm in August 2011 8. Calculate the following numerical summaries for the February data set. Include units in your answers.  Average precipitation 1895-2018: 82.619mm  Median precipitation 1895-2018: 76.550mm  Average Tmean 1895-2018: 0.549 degrees  Median Tmean 1895-2018: 0.600 degrees 9. Repeat the previous step with August data:  Average precipitation 1895-2018: 112.754 mm  Median precipitation 1895-2018: 0.549mm  Average Tmean 1895-2018: 24.042 degrees  Median Tmean 1895-2018: 24.100 degrees 10. In your answers for 8 and 9, were the median values similar to the average values? Which of these measures is most likely to be influenced by extreme values, the mean or median? The median is a little bit similar to the average value, while the median and average temperatures for both the February and the August data were quite similar. The mean is more likely to be influenced by extreme values as it involves the sum of all the measurements. One major outlier can drastically affect the meanwhile the median is not as easily affected 11. For February data, create a scatterplot of Tmean vs Year (i.e., Tmean on the y-

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 August Tmean VS Year Tmean (degrees C) Linear (Tmean (degrees C)) Year Tmean(C) 0.0152(1895)+23.1=51.904 0.0152(2018)+23.1=53.7736 53.7736-51.904=1.8696 Average summer temperature has increased by 1.8696 ℃ since 1895. 14. Compare your graphs from 11 and 13. Which month has a stronger correlation between Tmean and Year? How can you determine that? When doing the comparison between two graphs, It looks like August has a stronger correlation between Tmean and Year as August's R² value is closer to 1 than February's R² value 15. For February data, create a scatterplot of Precipitation vs Year. Add a trendline including its equation and R 2 value. Based on the trendline and its equation, how much has average winter precipitation changed each year since 1895 in NYC? Include a copy of your graph for your answer.

1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Chart Title Year Precipitaton -0.125(1895)+90.3 =-146.575 -0.125(2018)+90.3=-161.95 -161.95-(-146.575)=-15.375 Average winter precipitation has decreased by 15.375mm since 1895 16. Repeat the previous step with August data. Based on the trendline and its equation, how much has average summer precipitation changed each year since 1895 in NYC? Include a copy of your graph for your answer. 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 August Precipitaton Vs Year Year Precipitaton -0.0149(1895)+114= 85.7645 -0.0149(2018)+114=83.9318 83.9318-85.7645=-1.8327 Average summer precipitation has decreased by1.8327mm.