Seasonal Frost and Soil Temperature Data from Waaihoek Mountains

Micro-climatic monitoring data from two stations in the Western Cape mountains of South Africa, established to evaluate climatic controls on diurnal soil frost. The dataset includes daily records from Waaihoek Peak (starting 1990) and Mount Superior (starting 1993), capturing temperature extremes, precipitation, and soil moisture. It is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing diurnal soil frost cycles using daily maximum and minimum temperature records.
• Comparing micro-climatic conditions across different substrates (quartzitic sandstone vs. shale) and elevations.
• Studying the relationship between precipitation totals and soil moisture levels in a seasonally frozen ground environment.
• Investigating the controls of slope, aspect, and vegetation cover on ground temperature variability.

Strengths

• Provides long-term monitoring with data collection starting in 1990 for the first site.
• Captures detailed site characteristics including elevation, slope, aspect, soil type, and vegetation cover.
• Includes data from two distinct stations (Waaihoek Peak and Mount Superior) 5km apart for comparative analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and complete column list are unknown across all sources.
• Data recording frequency reduced from hourly/daily to only daily records after November 1992 for the Waaihoek Peak site.
• The license is specified as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data gathered from two fixed data logger stations recording micro-climatic conditions.

Time Range

1990 to at least 1993, with ongoing daily records after 1992.

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:00:48.709186

Geography

Summit region of the Waaihoek mountains, Western Cape, South Africa.