Abstract
Hourly temperature was measured for approximately one year at 17 stations in three caves in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Thirteen of these stations were in the extensive twilight zones of all three caves. All seventeen stations showed seasonality in temperature with a 3°C drop during the Nortes season. Two of the caves, Muévelo Sabrosito and Muévelo Rico, showed greater variability during the winter months while in Río Secreto (Tuch) variability was greatest during the rainy season. Río Secreto is less open to the surface than the other two. All sites also showed a daily temperature cycle, although it was very faint in some Río Secreto (Tuch) sites. While temperature variability is diminished relative to surface variation, its temporal pattern is worthy of further study.
Highlights
Besides the absence of light, caves are distinguished from surface habitats by their relative constancy of temperature
Cave temperature should be the mean annual temperature of the surface [3] other factors such as air flows, water flows, and percolating water can cause deviations. This relative constancy of cave temperature makes the stable isotopic composition of cave speleothems a useful proxy for paleoclimate [4]
Raw temperature data for the three caves are given in S1 Table (Sistema Muevelo Rico), S2 Table (Sistema Muevelo Sabrosito), and S3 Table (Rıo Secreto [Tuch])
Summary
Besides the absence of light, caves are distinguished from surface habitats by their relative constancy of temperature. Gèze [2] proposed that there is a zone of constant temperature (practiquement invariable) in most caves. Cave temperature should be the mean annual temperature of the surface [3] other factors such as air flows, water flows, and percolating water can cause deviations. This relative constancy of cave temperature makes the stable isotopic composition of cave speleothems a useful proxy for paleoclimate [4]. Cave temperatures have been used directly to evaluate shorter term natural and anthropogenically induced climate changes on the scale of decades [5, 6]
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