Purchase of Additional Davis Weather Station Equipment for the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences Dave Flory and Eric Aligo Dept. of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences (Proposal to the ISU chapter of the AMS)

Existing Instrumentation Davis Weather Wizard III – Inside/outside Temperature, wind speed and direction, wind chill, and precipitation. – Map room – Temperature Sensor. Missing/assumed broken anemometer.

Why Davis Instruments? Research quality station Campbell Scientific ( CR23X data logger - $ (CR10X - $ ) Temperature Probe (107-L) - $ /ft Anemometer (014A-L) - $ /ft Rain gauge – 8” (TB4-L) - $ /ft TOTAL: ~$ $3500 Plus CSAT3 3-D sonic anemometer ($7700)  ~ $10,000.00

Contributions Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences ~ $ for purchase of equipment Dr. William Gallus Anemometer + cable Rain gauge + cable

Contributions, cont. Eric Aligo – Graduate Student Research, purchasing, proposal writing Installation Cost: freebie, freebie, freebie. Dave Flory – Graduate Student Linux Application Development Plotting and web development Installation Cost: freebie, freebie, freebie Daryl Herzmann – IEM program assistant, Grad. Student Mesonet assimilation and archiving Cost: freebie, freebie, freebie

Problems/Exposure Errors Temperature sensor is the original sensor old and out of calibration Radiation exposure Current radiation shield is ‘old’ technology. Aluminum? High temperature bias Poor shielding?

Problems/Exposure Errors …..but the sensors are on the ROOF!!!! School Net stations – also on roofs. Several studies of roof-top temperature bias. Every sensor has a bias, variance of the error, etc. It is good practice to know how to calculate these. Educational tool.

What is needed? New temperature sensor. Passive or Fan-Aspirated Radiation shield. Rain Collector Heater

Benefits to you, the student. Semester Projects Meteorology 432 – Instrumentation Measure instrument bias and possibly come up with a correction equation. Senior thesis projects Comparison of local observations to automated stations in the area (RWIS, ASOS, SCAN, School-Net, etc.) Conditions ‘where I am at’ rather than conditions at nearest automated station. Department or University webpage, Cy’s Eye’s, etc.

Cost of Equipment Standard Temperature Sensor: $23.00 Passively ventilated Radiation shield: $72.50 Fan-Aspirated Radiation shield (AC): $ Rain collector Heater: $ Thank you for your time!!