Measurements of surface air temperatures in Lombok with low cost miniature data

loggers
I. W. Sudiartawayan.sudiarta@unram.ac.idM. S. YadnyaL. Mardiana and I. N. Kuripan

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1617, 43 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4897100

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4897100
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1617/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 Measurements of Surface Air Temperatures in Lombok
with Low Cost Miniature Data Loggers
I. W. Sudiarta1*, M. S. Yadnya2, L. Mardiana1, and I. N. Kuripan1
1
Physics Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences, the University of Mataram, NTB 83125
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Mataram, NTB 83125
* Email: wayan.sudiarta@unram.ac.id

Abstract. The global warming and climate change are two of our major problems in this decade. Local impacts of
global warming need to be investigated since it depends on local conditions. Understanding variability of local weather
especially surface air temperature requires many observations, not only periodic but also covers large area. In this paper,
we report our progress in developing low cost miniature data loggers for temperature measurements. The data loggers
are based on microcontrollers ATMega8L and 10 k thermistors. Calibration results in laboratory and in field have
indicated that the temperature obtained by data loggers shows good agreement with thermometer readings. It is found
that errors of temperature measurements are less than 0.3 oC. We have performed preliminary temperature measurements
in Lombok Island using twenty data loggers for about one week duration. Temperature variation in Lombok shows
localized temperature distribution that is affected by position and topography.
Keywords: Surface air temperature, Data loggers, Temperature variability
PACS: 92.60.hv, 07.20.D

INTRODUCTION Continuous data for a fairly long period of time is

The negative impacts caused by weather and
climate change have been felt in recent years such as
floods, landslides and droughts. Mitigation and
adaptation of the impacts require researches in the
fields of measurement and data collection of weather
elements, physical modeling and prediction of weather
conditions as well as validation with observations [1].
Rainfall rate as one of weather elements is observed to
depend on location and environmental conditions
[2,3]. Sudiarta et al. [4] showed that precipitation is
influenced significantly by local temperature in an
area. As an example on the Lombok Island with non-
uniform topographical regions, surface air
temperatures, relative humidity and rainfall rates [5]
vary significantly over the island . In order to study
weather conditions and to improve weather prediction
models, it is desirable to have complete, continuous
and comprehensive weather observation data.
Currently, observations of weather conditions on
the Lombok Island are conducted by the Meteorology ,
Climatology and Geophysics Agency, known as
BMKG, located in Kediri and in Central Lombok. Due
to the topography of Lombok Island, additional
weather observations in the northern part of the island
or around Mount Rinjani are needed to complete the
weather data. In remote areas that do not have
adequate electrical facilities, weather observations
require a data storage system or a data logger that is
efficient, portable and accurate.
3rd International Conference on Theoretical and Applied Physics 2013 (ICTAP 2013)
AIP Conf. Proc. 1617, 43-47 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4897100
2014 AIP Publishing LLC 978-0-7354-1254-5/$30.00
not easy to obtain and it requires development of
techniques and technologies for weather observations .
The rapid developments in the field of electronics have
brought advances in the field of sensors,
microcontrollers and data storages. At present there
are weather sensors, both analog and digital, at an
affordable price. In addition, improvement of the
ability of microcontrollers and large capacities of
flash memory IC components give the possibility of
merging the three basic components into a portable
efficient data logger.
Previous studies by Whiteman et al [6] and
Hubbart et al. [7] have found that temperature data
loggers are suitable for environmental applications.
Data loggers were successfully used also in previous
studies, for examples, by Hoelzle et al.[8] and Isaksen
et al. [9] for mapping and monitoring of Permafrost in
high mountain areas, Apaloo et al [10] for studying
temperatures variability with snow cover and
topography and Pike et al [11] for studying local-scale
climate in Finnish Lapland.
In an effort to help the BMKG and the community
on the island of Lombok in improving the availability
of weather data, in this research, a miniature low cost
data logger for temperature measurements is designed
using a microcontroller ATMega8L and a 10 k
thermistor.
This paper is organized as follows, in the next
section we explain the design of data logger. In
Section 3 we give calibration and measurement results.

43
The last section we give some conclusions and future
studies.
LOW COST DATA LOGGER
The data logger designed in this study is comprised
of three main components: a microcontroller
ATMega8L, a 10k thermistors and a battery. The
ATMega8L is used because of its facilities and
capabilities, low cost and small size. It has enough
analog and digital inputs and outputs. It also provides
flash programming memory, RAM and EEPROM
memory, analog to digital conversion, serial
communication, low voltage and power management
capabilities [12]. To keep the cost of data logger
minimum, we only use 512 bytes EEPROM memory
in the ATMega8L for storing observation data. The
EEPROM memory is able to store 512 temperature
data. This seems too limited data storage. However,
this is enough for twenty days of hourly temperature
measurements.
The complete circuit diagram of the data logger is
shown in Figure 1. The software CodeVision AVR
[13] and an ISP programmer are used to program the
ATMega8L and to download data stored in the
microcontroller using serial data communication. To
save the battery power, it is essential to used power
management facilities of the microcontroller. Beside
that the timer of microcontroller needs also to be
programmed and checked for its accuracy. Some
adjustment of timer may be required to get a correct
interval of time.
FIGURE 1. A circuit diagram of data logger using an
ATMega8L and a thermistor.
The 10 k thermistor connected with 10 k
resistor and a 100nF capacitor is used to obtain
temperature by measuring the voltage across
thermistors. The capacitor is included to reduce
voltage fluctuations. Due to small variations in the
resistivity of the thermistor and the resistor, every
thermistor used for temperature measurement needs to
be calibrated with a standard thermometer.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this study, we have built twenty low cost data
loggers. It is found that the total cost of each data
logger is about $5 or Rp 50,000. The twenty data
loggers are used to perform preliminary surface air
temperature measurements over the Lombok Island
and to test stability and efficiency of the design of data
logger
Calibration of Thermistors
The result of voltage measurements of the
thermistor circuit by the microcontroller ADC is
converted to the resistivity of the thermistor. Using the
conversion data provided by a manufacturer of the
thermistors [14], the temperature value can be
obtained. Due to small variation in the values of the 10
k resistor and 10 kohm thermistor, the conversion data
needs to be rescaled to match the measured
temperatures. We have performed two calibration
measurements with a standard thermometer for a short
and a long period of time.
The results of surface air temperature measurements
are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 It is found that the
temperatures measured using thermistors can be
corrected by multiplying with a scale factor (see
Figure 2) with errors less than 0.3 oC..
Using the scale obtained using the temperature data
in Figure 2, we have tested the calibration factor by
performing longer measurements as shown in Figure
3. It is indicated by the good agreement between
temperature values of data logger and thermometer
that the scale factor obtained for the short period of
measurement is also correct for longer period.
Every thermistor requires calibration and have a
different scale factor. We have calibrated all our
twenty data loggers with the standard thermometer. An
example of measurement results using two not
calibrated data loggers and one calibrated data logger
is shown in Figure 4. This shows that three data
loggers give correct fluctuation in temperature but
with different scale factors.

FIGURE 2. Surface air temperatures were measured by a
data logger with a thermistor and a standard thermometer.
The lines are added to guide the eye.
FIGURE 3. Surface air temperatures were measured by a
calibrated data logger with a thermistor and a standard
thermometer. The lines are added to guide the eye.
FIGURE 4. Surface air temperatures were measured by two
not calibrated data loggers (DL1 & DL2) and a calibrated
data logger (DL). The lines are added to guide the eye.
45
Preliminary Field Study
We have performed preliminary temperature study
by placing the twenty data loggers at various locations
in the Lombok Island. It is found that only twelve of
data loggers gave good measurement data. Eight data
loggers gave shorter data or incorrect temperature
values. Loose connections of sensor cables and
defective battery holders are the main cause of
problems. The locations of twelve good data loggers is
shown in Figure 5.
FIGURE 5. Locations of twelve good data loggers (star
symbols) and contour of topographic elevation above sea
level on the Lombok Island. The names of locations are A.
Bayan, B. Gondang, C.Sembalun Lawang, D. Sindu, E.
Narmada, F. Buyak, G. Jagerage, H. Semoyang, I. Teros, J.
Leneng, K.Darmaji dan L. Lembar.
To simplify the discussion, we divide the results of
temperature measurements into two regions, the
northern part and the southern of Lombok Island.
Three data loggers (A,B,C) in Bayan, Gondang and
Sembalun Lawang respectively are located in the
northern part of the island. The results for these
locations are shown in Figure 6. It is noted that the
average temperature in Sembalun Lawang (C) is
18.7oC which is much lower than average temperatures
of 27.5 oC in Bayan and 27.0 oC in Gondang. This is
expected since Sembalun Lawang is located about
1000 m above sea level. It is also noted the
temperature variations for Bayan and Gondang are
similar since they have about the same elevations and
close to the sea.

FIGURE 6. Surface air temperatures for three locations in
the northern part of Lombok starting on August 25, 2013.
Nine data loggers (DL) are located in the southern
part of Lombok Island. The results for these locations
are shown in Figure 7 for seven locations. Data for two
locations (Teros and Semoyang) have shorter overlap
data than others and also show similar variations. The
temperatures in all locations show similar patterns.
The average temperatures for these regions are 27.7 oC
(location D), 25.2 oC (E), 25.0 oC (F), 25.0 oC(G),
26.2 oC(J), 26.6 oC(K) dan 27.6 oC(L). These data
indicate that the temperature values are affected by
local conditions. It is also noted that there are
significant increases in the lowest temperatures at
night and decreases of the highest temperature during
the day observed for two days (at hour 96 to hour
144). This pattern may be caused by the presence of
large scale clouds that give warming effect at night
and cooling effect during the day.
FIGURE 7. Surface air temperature for six locations in the
Southern part of Lombok starting on August 25, 2013.
The data loggers used in this study do not have a
dedicated real time clock (RTC) and a large data
memory, so that during the preliminary field studies,
we needed to place the data loggers at approximately
the same time or during few days time window. This is
done to increase synchronization or the length of
46
overlap data between all data loggers. We can
overcome this problem by inserting delay time at the
start time of measurement. To increase data storage,
we currently have make some improvement in the
design of data loggers by adding a micro SD memory
card for storing larger data. An RTC module has also
been added for clock information. Other sensors such
as pressure and relative humidity sensors will be added
in the near future.
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE
STUDIES
A design of data logger using a microcontroller
ATMega8L and a thermistor for temperature
measurement has correctly measured surface air
temperatures with an accuracy of 0.3oC. The
thermistor used as the temperature sensor need to be
calibrated by a scale factor due to small variations in
resistivity of the thermistor and the resistor used.
Data loggers with RTC and SD card modules as
well as other additional sensors will be used in our
future studies in mapping weather patterns in Lombok.
Analysis of weather data will also be conducted to
understand weather variability and to develop weather
models.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by DIPA Universitas
Mataram No. 023.04.2.4.415278/2013 under Hibah
Bersaing scheme. We thank physics students at
Physics Study Program for helping collecting
temperature data with data loggers.
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