Temperatures of impervious surfaces in rural Montana

Abstract. Data described here demonstrate utility of bicycles as platforms for and carriers of modern small capable sensors. For two years (September 2021 to October 2023), I rode a bicycle carrying sensors that simultaneously measured GPS time and position, air temperature(s), surface temperature, downwelling visible and UV light, spectrally-resolved upwelling (reflected) light, plus air flow. I rode more than 170 times, covering a standard 15 km rural loop or along ~12 km paths to and from Bozeman, over a range of times and weather. To accommodate frequent snow and ice conditions, I walked the same bike carrying the same sensors more than 30 times back and forth along a quiet stretch of paved (mostly) snow-covered surface. Because loop and to/from Bozeman routes ran along an identical 3 km stretch of rural highway, that stretch represents one of the most-measured extents of impervious surface. Routes covered impervious paved surfaces punctuated by intervals of gravel or tree-shade or both. Sensors, adopted from consumer applications, produced reliable repeatable data. I achieved spatial resolutions of 4 to 5 meters and temperature resolutions of 0.5 °C; a typical ride of 45 minutes produced ~4000 clean data records. These data serve a wide variety of engineers and scientists exploring pavement temperatures, heat islands, surface run-off, etc. Users can access all data following guidance as follows:

Time period	DOI	Image file DOI	Reference
Summer 2022–2023 (71 rides)	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15 053252	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15 053336	Carlson 2025b
Fall 2021–2023 (54 rides)	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15 053261	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15 053390	Carlson 2025c
Miscellaneous (53 files)	Sensor sheets, source files, pictures, etc.	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15 054004	Carlson 2025d

A set of screenshot images of combined sensor data time series, recorded for every ride, exists at separate Zenodo addresses; see table above and Data Description below. Users can familiarize themselves with these data by viewing a short (<5 minute) proof-of-concept video available at https://youtu.be/nMjBFbXxNWU.