Reno, Nev. -- Christopher Davey of the Desert Research Institute's Western Regional Climate Center was awarded the inaugural Ph.D. Dissertation Medal in Applied Climatology from the American Association of State Climatologists, or AASC, for his paper entitled "Differences between near-surface equivalent temperature and temperature trends for the Eastern United States." Traditional approaches to measuring heat content at the Earth's surface have only involved looking at air temperature. However, Davey factored in humidity as well as air temperature, the combination of which is called equivalent temperature.

"While much attention is being given to global warming and global climate change, it is important to know that heating of the Earth's surface can't be judged simply by air temperatures," Davey said. "Humidity holds heat that is not directly measured by air temperature, which can affect how we measure the heat content at the surface of the Earth."

Davey and his co-authors Roger Pielke, Sr. and Kevin Gallo, compared temperature trends with equivalent temperature trends around the eastern United States from 1982 to 1997, including Oklahoma, Florida, North Dakota and Washington DC. In addition, they compared these trends with a variety of land cover that occurs in the eastern United States, like deciduous and evergreen forests, grasslands and pastures.

The results indicate that several factors influence heating and cooling trends on the Earth's surface, including land use or the amount and type of vegetation in an area, and seasonal changes. For instance, equivalent temperature trends are relatively warmer than traditional temperature trends in the winter and are relatively cooler in the fall.

Davey's paper will appear in the August edition of the journal "Global and Planetary Change."

Davey received the $500 award and travel expenses paid to the AASC's annual conference in June where the medal was presented to him. The association includes representatives from state climate offices across the nation along with partners in the National Weather Service, National Climate Data Center, Regional Climate Centers and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The AASC uniquely serves the nation by representing state and local level stakeholders in climate services.

ABOUT DRI: A nonprofit, statewide division of the Nevada System of Higher Education, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale.  More than 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct more than 300 research projects at DRI annually.  DRI generates approximately $50 million in total revenue consisting predominately of competitively won research contracts and grants. The State of Nevada provides critical funding in support of DRI's administration, operations, and maintenance through the Nevada System of Higher education budget.  While DRI’s portion of the NSHE budget is approximately one percent, the institute leverages these funds to enhance its competitiveness.