Geography Post-Field Work Presentation Group 4: 1. Ryan Low (25) 2. Eugene Tan (27) 3. Li Yiqun (16) 4. Austin Yu (34)

THE INVESTIGATION  On the 16 th and 17 th of January 2014, our team went to 7 locations around the school to record the temperatures within our school’s microclimate.  Before the investigation, we had the following hypothesis: Concrete areas are generally hotter than non-concrete areas.

FINDINGS Location A – Top floor of multi-storey carpark Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 31.0˚c28.0˚c 1.5m above ground 31.5˚c28.4˚c DAY 1: Lots of sun, concrete ground | DAY 2: Sunny, cloudless and windy, concrete ground

FINDINGS Location B – Garden outside printing centre Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 30.4˚c28.5˚c 1.5m above ground 30.6˚c29.5˚c DAY 1: Trees and grass nearby | DAY 2: No wind close to vegetation and a bit of clouds

FINDINGS Location C – Open space between canteen and block C Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 32.0˚c30.8˚c 1.5m above ground 27.6˚c27.7˚c DAY 1: Sun. trees and grass | DAY 2: Sun, no cloud cover, near vegetation

FINDINGS Location D – Terraces Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 31.0˚c29.4˚c 1.5m above ground 30.0˚c29.2˚c DAY 1: Windy and sunny with no cloud cover | DAY 2: Sun, no cloud cover, concrete ground

FINDINGS Location E – Field Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 29.4˚c31.1˚c 1.5m above ground 26.6˚c32.0˚c DAY 1: Wind, cloud cover, grass | DAY 2: Sun, a bit of cloud cover, grass

FINDINGS Location F– Running track Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 29.6˚c29.3˚c 1.5m above ground 26.7˚c29.0˚c DAY 1: Cloud cover, windy | DAY 2: Sun, a bit of cloud cover, grass nearby

FINDINGS Location G – Running track Temperature: Day 1Day 2 15cm above ground 31.2˚c28.8˚c 1.5m above ground 30.9˚c28.6˚c DAY 1: Sun, near water, no wind, concrete ground | DAY 2: Little wind, no cloud cover, near water

SUMMARY OF DATA We calculated the average temperatures for the each of the locations and altitudes for the two days. LOCATIONAVERAGE TEMERATURE 15CM ABOVE GROUND (˚c) AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 1.5M ABOVE GROUND (˚c) MSCP Garden Open space Terraces Field Running track Fountain

SUMMARY OF DATA We then arranged the locations in increasing order of temperature: 1. Running track 2. Garden 3. MSCP 4. Terraces 5. Field 6. Fountain 7. Open space Coolest Hottest

ANALYSIS 1) The recorded temperatures did not strictly follow the factors of proximity to water, vegetation or concrete. In fact, there was no distinct pattern to tell what caused the temperature differences. EVIDENCE Locations close to water: Fountain – 2 nd hottest (not justified) Locations close to vegetation: Garden – 2 nd coolest (justified) (continued on next slide)

ANALYSIS (continued from previous slide) Field – 3 rd hottest (not justified) Garden – hottest (not justified) Locations close to concrete: MSCP – 3 rd coolest (not justified) Terraces – 4 th coolest (not justified) Fountain – 2 nd hottest (justified)

ANALYSIS 2) The air temperature drops slightly in most cases, at a height of 1.5m as compared to 15cm. EVIDENCE Average temperature of all locations 15cm above ground=29.9˚c (3 s.f.) Average temperature of all locations 1.5m above ground=28.8˚c (3 s.f.) Difference=1.1˚c

ANALYSIS As seen, most of the locations have temperatures we cannot justify. Coming back to our hypothesis:

HYPOTHESIS

WRONG!!!!! Nope, our hypothesis was WRONG. The discrepancies in the information gathered has proved it wrong, without the foggiest doubt. Here’s a recap: Locations close to concrete: MSCP – 3 rd coolest (not justified) Terraces – 4 th coolest (not justified) Fountain – 2 nd hottest (justified) Two of the three locations close to concrete were in the cooler half of the table, contrary to our hypothesis. Furthermore, for the word ‘generally’ to apply, MOST of the results should comply. However, we are very far from that.

THE CULPRIT Factors that could have been the culprits of altering our information: 1) Body heat. The temperature sensor can pick up our body temperature if our fingers are too close, then mistake it for air temperature. Therefore we have to place our fingers far away from the sensor to avoid such a situation. 2) Damaged equipment. Any damage done to the temperature sensor can drastically affect the readings taken. Therefore we have to handle the equipment with extreme care. Anyway, we have been reminded that the equipment costs a king’s ransom. 3) Human error. Someone could have inaccurately recorded the reading on the weather meter. Just be careful!

CREDITS MR LAU – FOR PROVIDING EQUIPMENT AND GUIDANCE RYAN LOW – FOR COMPILING DATA AND PREPARING SLIDES EUGENE TAN – FOR RECORDING DATA LI YIQUN – FOR TIME-KEEPING AND RECORDING DATA AUSTIN YU – FOR TAKING THE PICTURES AND ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.