1. Mesonets and Portable mesonets
Shirley Murillo
AOML/Hurricane Research Division

2. 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Outdated communication system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.

3. 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.

4. 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)

5. 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]

6. Standard, Consistent, Framework
H*Wind observations are adjusted to:
Height:10m (ASTM standard D )
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.

7. 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.

8. 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

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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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.