Abstract: Based on daily mean air temperature data from 97 stations in Hunan province during 1961-2008, spatial interpolation methods for daily mean air temperature over complex terrain was analyzed. Six methods were used for calculating a gridded product with a high resolution of 500m×500m, checking errors by using observational data from 1215 automatic weather stations during 2007-2008, and discussing different methods under the circumstance of different time, different regions and different topography. The results showed that the results from different methods were similar. However, the validity of methods was different depending on different regions, different elevations and different seasons. The results were better than traditional method and they could provide daily high resolution gridded data for the fine agro climatic regionalization in Hunan province.

Key words:  Daily mean air temperature, Spatial interpolation method, Geographic information, Error checking