DATA VALIDATION OF AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS BY TEMPERATURE MONITORING IN APPLE ORCHARDS

Celerino Quezada^1*, Marjorie Mercado¹, Richard M. Bastías¹, Marco Sandoval¹

ABSTRACT

Agrometeorological data monitoring is a useful tool to prevent crop damage, predict yield and make good farm decisions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of temperature data in apple orchards Malus x domestica Borkh. generated by automatic weather stations (AWS) in the central zone of Chile. The study was conducted in 3 orchards, using a completely randomized design. The temperature was monitored with iButton sensors installed in the tree canopy (inner, central and outer), and also next to the AWS. No significant differences were found between temperatures recorded in the tree canopy (inner, central and outer). However, temperatures observed in edge-row tree showed significant differences with respect to central-row tree. The distance of the AWS from the trees evaluated had no impact on the representativeness of the data, and validation range reaches up to 5.7 km.

Key words: sensor, temperature, tree position, distance.

¹ Universidad de Concepción, Facultad de Agronomía, Casilla 537, Chillán, Chile.

* Autor para correspondencia E-mail: cequezad@udec.cl