Dieser Datensatz enthält hochauflösende stadtmeteorologische Messdaten, die am Campus Süd des Karlsruher Instituts für Technologie (KIT) erhoben wurden, um die Forschung im Bereich des urbanen Mikroklimas und der Baumkronen zu unterstützen.
Er umfasst kontinuierliche In-situ-Messungen von Lufttemperatur, relativer Luftfeuchtigkeit, Sonneneinstrahlung, Windgeschwindigkeit, Windböen und volumetrischer Bodenfeuchte.
Um die vergleichende Analyse der Auswirkungen urbaner Vegetation zu erleichtern, sind die Messstationen in zwei unterschiedliche räumliche Kontexte unterteilt: „tree“ (Sensoren, die innerhalb oder in unmittelbarer Nähe des Einflussbereichs einer Baumkrone installiert sind) und „free“ (offene, unbeeinflusste Referenzbereiche abseits des Kroneneinflusses).

This dataset provides high-resolution urban meteorological measurements collected at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Campus South to support urban microclimate and canopy research. It contains continuous, in-situ observations of air temperature, relative humidity, global radiation, wind speed, wind gusts, and volumetric soil moisture. To facilitate the comparative analysis of urban vegetation effects, the monitoring stations are categorized into two distinct spatial contexts: "tree" (sensors mounted within or adjacent to a tree canopy footprint) and "free" (open, ambient reference areas away from canopy influence).

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.