Formal Introduction to our Project
Diurnal temperature range is the temperature variation that occurs throughout daylight hours (from sunrise to sunset). They are patterns because, generally speaking, they are the same from day to day. Several factors can affect the temperature variations. The length of the day is an obvious one, if the sun is heating the area for a longer period of time then the ambient temperature will naturally continue to increase over time, increasing the temperature variation. Along the same vein as the day length is cloud coverage. The clouds prevent the sun from heating the earth as much during the day while also preventing heat from escaping during the night, decreasing the variation. Ambient humidity and proximity to bodies of water are a major way that solar heat is absorbed. Water serves as a very effective heat sink and is able to absorb a lot of solar radiation before increasing in temperature. Once it has absorbed a lot of heat, it will remain at a more consistent temperature because of how much energy it has absorbed. If that makes sense. For this reason, places with little water (like desert regions) will experience the highest amount of diurnal temperature variations, being extremely hot during the day and extremely cold during the night.
There are several reasons why the study of diurnal heat patterns are important. Some topics that are affected by these daily temperature patterns are crop lifecycle (e.g. grapes are more acidic and sugary if they are exposed to a higher daily temperature variation), interior heating and cooling of buildings, expansion and retraction of materials due to heat changes, the effects on people or livestock, or even insect life cycles. It is also important data when looking at larger, long-term, trends of temperature in a given area and cannot be overlooked when comparing multiple data that have been gathered at different times.
Current data collection methods for studying diurnal heat patterns include satellite and aerial photography. Problems with these methods include cost, speed, timing, and resolution. Current thermal satellite images don’t offer good enough resolution to study diurnal heat patterns on the scale that we would like to study them. We will be studying on the scale of acres with centimeter resolution, while satellite imagery only provides resolution in the multi-meter to kilometer range. This is not high enough resolution to study individual buildings, sidewalks, or other man-made objects that we would like to observe with our thermal sensor. Satellites are good for studying large areas, but the coarse resolution that they provide would not be ideal for our project. Planes, on the other hand, can offer competitive resolution to our UAV, but are much more expensive to operate and maintain. They also require a licensed pilot to operate.
To combat these issues, we will be using a DJI Matrice 600 with a XT2 thermal sensor. We will be conducting 3-5 flights throughout the day. Our first flight will be within 30 minutes of sunrise and our last flight will be within 30 minutes of sunset. The other flights will be equally spaced throughout the day to see how the temperature changes as the day progresses. We will avoid flying when the sun is directly above us as to avoid reflections that would make our data blurry. Part of our project involves finding the best altitudes and speeds that produce the highest quality results. We will be flying at 400ft, 300 feet, and 200 feet at several different speeds to see which combination yields the best results, or if it even matters that much at all.
Our ultimate goal with this project is to show the power of UAS technology. We want to show that our plan of study has vast potential in the future and to show the capabilities of the technology that we work with. We plan to do this by studying the effects that man-made structures have on diurnal heat patterns, and the resulting effects on the ecosystems in the area. We have already researched how urbanization affects bee populations and we would like to further our scope and research more effects that urbanization has on the natural environment. We plan on showing how certain structures and materials affect the surrounding heat patterns.
There are several reasons why the study of diurnal heat patterns are important. Some topics that are affected by these daily temperature patterns are crop lifecycle (e.g. grapes are more acidic and sugary if they are exposed to a higher daily temperature variation), interior heating and cooling of buildings, expansion and retraction of materials due to heat changes, the effects on people or livestock, or even insect life cycles. It is also important data when looking at larger, long-term, trends of temperature in a given area and cannot be overlooked when comparing multiple data that have been gathered at different times.
Current data collection methods for studying diurnal heat patterns include satellite and aerial photography. Problems with these methods include cost, speed, timing, and resolution. Current thermal satellite images don’t offer good enough resolution to study diurnal heat patterns on the scale that we would like to study them. We will be studying on the scale of acres with centimeter resolution, while satellite imagery only provides resolution in the multi-meter to kilometer range. This is not high enough resolution to study individual buildings, sidewalks, or other man-made objects that we would like to observe with our thermal sensor. Satellites are good for studying large areas, but the coarse resolution that they provide would not be ideal for our project. Planes, on the other hand, can offer competitive resolution to our UAV, but are much more expensive to operate and maintain. They also require a licensed pilot to operate.
To combat these issues, we will be using a DJI Matrice 600 with a XT2 thermal sensor. We will be conducting 3-5 flights throughout the day. Our first flight will be within 30 minutes of sunrise and our last flight will be within 30 minutes of sunset. The other flights will be equally spaced throughout the day to see how the temperature changes as the day progresses. We will avoid flying when the sun is directly above us as to avoid reflections that would make our data blurry. Part of our project involves finding the best altitudes and speeds that produce the highest quality results. We will be flying at 400ft, 300 feet, and 200 feet at several different speeds to see which combination yields the best results, or if it even matters that much at all.
Our ultimate goal with this project is to show the power of UAS technology. We want to show that our plan of study has vast potential in the future and to show the capabilities of the technology that we work with. We plan to do this by studying the effects that man-made structures have on diurnal heat patterns, and the resulting effects on the ecosystems in the area. We have already researched how urbanization affects bee populations and we would like to further our scope and research more effects that urbanization has on the natural environment. We plan on showing how certain structures and materials affect the surrounding heat patterns.
