Temperature Microclimate Near a Tropical Rainforest Waterfall

Abstract

The temperature microclimate of a tropical rainforest waterfall was evaluated over a six-day period in February 2020. Observations at the waterfall were compared to a weather station located in a small rainforest clearing at a research center more than 1 km away. Results found that the research center weather station was significantly warmer than all five waterfall sensors for all observations supporting previous research findings of warmer temperatures at forest clearing sites compared to forest with intact canopy. There were additional significant differences among sensors surrounding the waterfall, with results showing that sensors closer to the waterfall were the coldest. Because diurnal heating was believed to be the primary contributor to the significant results, tests were run for only the nocturnal hours to evaluate the robustness of the results. The research center weather station was still significantly warmer than all of the waterfall sensors for nocturnal hours with distance away from the waterfall again being the primary reason why there were significant differences between the waterfall sensors. It is hypothesized that modest evaporational cooling in a high-humidity environment due to downsloping winds at night is responsible for several low temperature outliers at four of the waterfall sensors.