The Tarp Difference

During the last seven days Nova Scotia (and much of the Country) has experienced a very unique weather system. The recent temperatures have smashed old high temperature records (not just for March but also for April) by as much as 15 degrees. While I haven't heard any personal complaints about the unusual conditions, the event certainly gave strength to the global warming theories. There was much talk on the radio about sea levels rising and continued elevations in the volatility of the weather patterns.
I'm not a meteorologist and don't pretend to understand or predict the outcomes, but if you were to judge the change in the climate by the last five years of weather cycles, there does seem to be some validity to the argument. Nova Scotia has always been known as a place with unpredictable weather patterns and the possibility of volatile changes in temperature. It's not unusual to see 20 degree C swing in temperature from below zero to above in a 24 hour period. It was the results of these conditions that eventually led to the purchase of covers for the greens.
In 2009, the golf course suffered from a killer combination of extreme temperature fluctuation, exposure to the wind from a lack of snow and poor spring conditions to help in the recovery process. There were certain areas of the golf course that a more likely to suffer from exposure during these periods. Numbers 13, 12, 8, 16 being the most exposed and likely to be damaged. This is becuase there is more fluctuation in the temperatures, mainly due to increased wind conditions from the lack of shelter.  The areas like four and ten, which are more sheltered from wind, are less likely to suffer from temperature fluctuations and dessication.
When purchasing the tarps we knew they would create a 'green house effect", thereby sheltering the playing surfaces from dessication, and those temperatures would be elevated during the sunny days. Through the infomation from the data loggers and regular spot testing we discovered a interesting fact. The tarps actually reduce the fluctuations in temperatures, to the point that the conditions are emulating the natural conditions created in the sheltered areas (like 4 and 10) on the golf course.  On a warm sunny day this becomes even more obvious.
Here are some pictures to illustrate. All of these were taken within a few minutes.

The surface of Ten Green

The surface of One Green, more exposed, a little cooler then the surface of ten.

Five Green, much more exposed then one and ten, but with a cover.  Note the similar temps to 10 green.  

The soil temperature at a three inch depth on Ten Green.

The soil temperature at a three inch depth on Five Green, very similar to the uncovered 10 green.

The Temp at 3 inches on number one green, cooler than the covered number five and the uncovered number ten.

The air temps at 10 green, remained the same at thirteen and one.

It's pretty obvious that the tarps are helping to maintain the same conditions as the sheltered areas on the golf course.  Realistically, we haven't had a really testing winter like that of 2008/09, and it remains to be seen how much of a difference the tarps will make during those kinds of conditions, but so far they are a positive influence on our winterization program.