Dataset: Meteorological Measurements at KIT Campus South

This work was supported by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology via a KIT-YIN Grant.

Data Dictionary

The following columns are present in the dataset (2026_07_28_sensor_data.csv):

• id: Unique identifier for the individual measurement record
• sensor_id: Foreign key identifying the specific sensor
• time_utc: Timestamp of the reading in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
• temperature_c: air temperature measured in degrees Celsius (°C)
• humidity_relative_pct: Relative humidity measured as a percentage (0–100%)
• irradiation_w_m2: Deployment height of the sensor above ground level measured in meters
• wind_speed_m_s: Sustained horizontal wind speed measured in meters per second (m/s)
• gust_speed_m_s: Maximum peak wind gust speed over the sampling interval, in meters per second (m/s)
• soil_watercontent_m3_m3: Volumetric soil moisture content measured as water volume per soil volume (m³/m³)
• type: Classification of the sensor station type
• model: Hardware model of the sensor
• sensor_gps_lat_deg: WGS84 latitude coordinate of the sensor in decimal degrees
• sensor_gps_lon_deg: WGS84 longitude coordinate of the sensor in decimal degrees
• height_m: Deployment height of the sensor above ground level measured in meters

Sampling Protocol & Temporal Aggregation

• Logging & Aggregation Frequency: Sensors internally sample measurements every 1 minute, but automatically aggregate and log records to storage at 10-minute intervals.
• Aggregation Methods by Variable:
  • temperature_c, humidity_relative_pct, wind_speed_m_s, irradiation_w_m2, soil_watercontent_m3_m3: 10-minute arithmetic mean of the internal 1-minute samples.
  • gust_speed_m_s: 10-minute maximum wind speed recorded across the internal 1-minute samples.
• Timestamp Alignment: The time_utc timestamp represents the end of the 10-minute aggregation window (e.g., 14:10:00 UTC represents the interval from 14:00:01 to 14:10:00 UTC).

Sensor Deployment & Station Classification (type)

The type column classifies the microclimatic exposure of each monitoring station:

• tree (Canopy / Tree-Adjacent): Sensors mounted directly on or within the immediate footprint of an urban tree.
• free (Open / Ambient Reference): Sensors installed in open urban areas away from tree canopy influence.
• Radiation Shielding: All temperature and relative humidity sensors are installed in standard meteorological radiation shields to prevent solar radiation biases.

Data Processing & Quality Control

• Raw Data Status: This dataset contains raw, non-quality-controlled sensor measurements. Users should apply their own quality assurance and filtering protocols (such as physical range checks or spike detection) prior to analysis.
• Coordinate Reference System: Geographic positions (sensor_gps_lat_deg, sensor_gps_lon_deg) are reported in decimal degrees using the WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) reference system.

Known Events & Environmental Disturbances (KIT Campus Fest / Unifest)

Data users should be aware of large-scale campus events at KIT Campus Süd, most notably the annual KIT Unifest (typically held in mid-June or early July, such as June 14/15 in 2024, July 11/12 in 2025, or July 10/11 in 2026), which bring high visitor density, temporary infrastructure alterations, and vehicles to the sensor deployment areas. During festival setup, event days, and teardown, sensors may record non-meteorological microclimatic anomalies.