Mesonets and Portable mesonets Shirley Murillo AOML/Hurricane Research Division

Motivation There is a need to increase our surface observing network both on land and in the ocean Primary surface observing network –ASOS isn’t reliable for use in extreme weather events Lack emergency battery back-up power Instrument failure during high wind events Outdated communication system Motivation for mesonets. ASOS was designed primarily for aviation use.

Mesonets Various mesonets in Florida –FAWN, SFWMD, UNF Road Weather sites, etc. Data is available through FSL’s MADIS Portable mesonets include FCMP, TTU and UAH.

Not all mesonets are the same Some support activities in Agriculture Water resource management Transportation monitoring Ecosystem management Different calibration, exposure, sampling methods and heights Different measuring instruments (sonic vs. cup anemometer)

Ongoing efforts “Florida Mesonet” “National NOAA Mesonet” Combine all mesonet data into a centralized database FAWN and MADIS are good starting points “National NOAA Mesonet” Similar to the NOAA CO-OP program Efforts have begun in Georgia Site visits performed (level-1 sites, etc.) Ongoing efforts to get all mesonet partners to talk to each other are occurring at the state level as well as the national level. Florida mesonet-grass roots efforts which is now taking on a bigger shape as more people get involved. [Talk about major points from mesonet conference] Goal is to have at least one (or two) weather observing stations per county. At meeting strategies were discussed on how to meet this goal. There are also efforts from NOAA to have a national mesonet program. This is a long term goal and will not be available in the immediate future. [Mention points that were brought up during this talk]

Standard, Consistent, Framework H*Wind observations are adjusted to: Height:10m (ASTM standard D 5741-96 ) Maximum 1 min sustained wind Exposure: Open terrain (Zo ~0.03 m) or Marine Before any mesonet data is combined into a database there needs to be a standard and consistent framework. In H*Wind, where we combine various observing platforms we use this framework. This way we aren’t comparing apples to oranges. A similar approach should be taken into account when creating a statewide mesonet program.

Exposure and Height: Exposure documented by photographs Sector photos Exposure needed for roughness Roughness needed to correct winds to open terrain at 10 m BAMS, Powell et al. June 2004 Exposure of the instrument is crucial when using data from a particular station.

Chatham Municipal Airport The good… Panama City Airport Panama City, FL These are examples of exposures. PFN-open exposure, CQX-Upstream trees and house will influence the wind measurements The bad… Chatham Municipal Airport Chatham, MA

NDBC C-MAN Sector Photo Various C-MANs now have sector photos to help determine roughness Settlement point, Grand Bahamas

Florida Coastal Monitoring Program Deploys portable wind towers Assembled in advance of projected landfall locations Pioneered real-time data transmission Program like the FCMP have filled the power outage void in the network of official observing stations. During the 2004 Hurricane season the FCMP data was transmitted in real-time and used in our H*Wind analyses.

Hurricane Charley at landfall This is screen shot of H*Wind as Hurricane Charley is making landfall. H*Wind allows users to view various platforms at once. The data show here is in storm relative coordinates. Notice that there is very little data over land. The quality of our H*Wind analyses depends on the quality and distribution of observations.

Mesonet ASOS Ship CMAN FCMP Mesonet GOES GPSSonde AFRES GOES Adding the mesonet and ASOS data can increase the quality of our analyses. With a robust surface observing network, we wouldn’t have to apply an inland decay model to our analyses as storms cross over the state. GOES GPSSonde AFRES GOES

Summary Mesonet data is available from various sources. Before considering data ‘ground truth’ Need to remember that not all mesonets are the same Important information to have about mesonets: exposure, sampling period, height and instrument specs.