Land and Water Temperature Lag
Country: United States
Date: February 2007
Is there a difference in the lag in daily
temperature experienced over land compare to the daily temperature
lag over water?
The air temperature lag over water would be greater than over
land, assuming that the air temperature over the water is not
influenced by the air temperature from land nearby.
Solar radiation penetrates deeply into water, only raising
the surface water temperature slightly (and therefore raising
the air temperature only slightly) during the day. The highest
air temperature over water should occur later in the afternoon
than the high temperature over land.
David R. Cook
Climate Research Section
Environmental Science Division
Argonne National Laboratory
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Update: June 2012