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Tools and Data

In this Section

Tool

Microsoft Excel: A spreadsheet application is needed to analyze the data. Microsoft Excel is used in this chapter and is available as part of Microsoft Office.

Tool Builder

Microsoft Corporation - www.microsoft.com

Tool Cost

Excel is part of the suite of Microsoft Office software. Students and educators may be able to purchase this software at a reduced cost. The Student and Home Edition is sufficient for use in the Earth Exploration Toolbook chapters.  Open office, a free software can also be used.

Data Set 1

Burlington Vermont Monthly Average Surface Air Temperature

Data are provided by the United States Historical Climate Network (USHCN) from the “Burlington WSO AP, VT (431081)”weather station. Data were then processed to show seasonal average surface air temperature and are as shown in the MS Excel spreadsheet, “Burlington Winter Temperature” page.

Data Provider

USHCN http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ushcn/ushcn.html

These same data are also available through the NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis web tool

Data Set 2

Lake Champlain Closing Dates

The data are a list of years and the date the lake closed. If the lake did not close during a particular year, the data point is marked “not closed”. These data were copied from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website into the MS Excel file and processed to show Julian date, and the number of “not closed” data points per decade.

Data Provider

NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office, Burlington VT

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/climo/lakeclose.shtml

Data Set 3

Northeast Climate Data Predictive Models

Data are New York State average winter temperature for two scenarios predicted annually to 2099. Data presented in the MS Excel spreadsheet, “Climate Models” page, are “time series” data, and can be used to predict temperature in any given year.

Data Provider

Northeast Climate Data www.northeastclimatedata.org/