Micrometeorological conditions of the soloteca of Embrapa Solos -Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Soloteca is the term used in Brazil to refer to the place where reference soil samples are stored. The Soloteca of Embrapa Solos-RJ, for example, stores soil samples from different regions of Brazil, and these samples need to be stored in conditions that preserve their intrinsic characteristics. In this context, the objective of this work was to determine the air temperature and relative humidity conditions in the Soloteca of Embrapa Solos-RJ. The data were collected by three Thermo hygrometers, installed inside and outside the place where the samples are stored, in the period from December 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017, corresponding to summer 2016/17. The difference between the mean and variance of the data for each environment/height was evaluated at the 5% level, respectively, by the  t-Student and Snedecor's F tests. The other statistical analyses were presented by boxplots. It was observed that the air temperature, on average, did not differ between the indoor and outdoor environments at a height of 1.6 meters, but there was a difference with the sensor installed near the surface (0.5 meters). On the other hand, the dispersion of the data attested by the variance and the coefficient of variation in the external environment was greater than those recorded internally.