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What's the temperature in tropical caves?

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-08-05, 13:03 authored by Luis Manuel Mejía-Ortíz, Mary C. Christman, Tanja Pipan, David C. Culver

Hourly temperature was measured for approximately one year at 17 stations in three caves in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Thirteen of these stations were in the extensive twilight zones of all three caves. All seventeen stations showed seasonality in temperature with a 3C drop during the Nortes season. Two of the caves, Muévelo Sabrosito and Muévelo Rico, showed greater variability during the winter months while in Río Secreto (Tuch) variability was greatest during the rainy season. Río Secreto is less open to the surface than the other two. All sites also showed a daily temperature cycle, although it was very faint in some Río Secreto (Tuch) sites. While temperature variability is diminished relative to surface variation, its temporal pattern is worthy of further study.

History

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Notes

PLoS ONE, Volume 15, Issue 12 December, December 2020, Article number e0237051.

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/1961/auislandora:93811

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