RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STREAM WATER TEMPERATURE AND AMBIENT AIR TEMPERATURE

Abstract

The water temperature of streams and rivers is required for various practical purposes and is frequently obtained by calculating the heat budget. This method is tedious and yields rather inaccurate values of the water temperature. This paper presents an alternative approach using cheap and simple means to measure air temperatures, which are believed to be a major factor controlling the water temperature. It is demonstrated that a useful separation can be made between the seasonal cyclic variations and the daily stochastic fluctuations of these temperatures.