Water temperatures at Thomas Point MD light
As a frequent sea kayaker in the Chesapeake Bay area, I want to know the current air and water temperatures. The following graphic is based on an R program that reads the past roughly 45 days of data.
Insights
- Combining air and water temperature makes it easy to estimate kayaking conditions, which are exposed and may entail immersion.
- During the period of 1.5 months water temperature has been declining fairly steadily.
- Air temperature is much more variable than water temperature.
- The daily cycle of air temperature is visible.
Original graphic (earlier data)
Revisions and discussion
- People engaged in watersports will want to see both temperatures.
- The vertical tick labels are less cluttered and will accommodate a wider range of values.
- Having 2 temperature scales is useful for scientists and non-US visitors.
- The weekly and daily grids help understand any temporal trends (and forecasts).
- The revised graphic is slightly larger but could be more efficiently designed to accommodate any NOAA specifications.
Source and technology
Data read directly from the NOAA website for Thomas Point.
Programming in R and web page coding in Dreamweaver.
2011/03/10