Brunei Darussalam rainforest temperature and light intensity data recorded in 2017

Area of Science:

• Tropical ecology
• Environmental monitoring
• Forestry science

Background:

• Tropical rainforests are vital ecosystems facing climate change impacts.
• Long-term environmental data is crucial for understanding these changes.
• Peat swamp and mixed dipterocarp forests in Brunei Darussalam require detailed study.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a unique dataset of air temperature and light intensity from a Brunei tropical rainforest.
• To assess the precision and reliability of environmental data loggers in field conditions.
• To provide data for analyzing diurnal, seasonal, and weather-related phenomena in forest ecosystems.

Main Methods:

• Deployed five HOBO Pendant® data loggers on tree trunks (2m height) in a 5m radius circle.
• Recorded air temperature and light intensity at 20-minute intervals from 2011 to 2017.
• Collected ancillary RGB orthoimagery and LiDAR data in 2018; calibrated sensors before deployment.

Main Results:

• Achieved high data precision with a Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 0.37°C for temperature (below manufacturer's 0.53°C).
• Recorded an RMSE of 569.5 lux for light intensity data.
• Detected no systematic errors, confirming data reliability after sensor calibration.

Conclusions:

• The collected multi-annual dataset offers a valuable resource for ecological research.
• This data supports multidisciplinary analysis of climate change impacts on tropical rainforests.
• Datasets are publicly available in the Mendeley repository for scientific use.