1. Atmospheric Measurements
Brett Hoover
26 January 2009

2. Why Talk About Atmospheric Measurements?
They are the only way we know anything about the atmosphere (this includes weather models!)
Many kinds of measurements (simple/archaic  sophisticated/new)
Making sense of all of these measurements and using them to predict what will happen next is at the heart of what it means to be a meteorologist

3. Observations: The Oldest Measurements
The first observations in the United States came from the US Post Office, with postal agents writing down the weather that they observed

4. Observations: The Oldest Measurements
Benjamin Franklin, Postmaster General, took disparate observations from around the country and used them to develop theories about the behavior of weather

5. Franklin Theorizes on Waterspouts

6. Observations: The Oldest Measurements
Observations like these are still taken today, with stations around the country taking hourly measurements of temperature, dewpoint, wind speed/direction, and observed weather and reporting them in a meteorological short-hand called METAR reports:
KMSN Z 21005KT 7SM OVC020 M05/M10
A2982 RMK AO2 SLP112 T

7. Observations: The Oldest Measurements
Observations like these are still taken today, with stations around the country taking hourly measurements of temperature, dewpoint, wind speed/direction, and observed weather and reporting them in a meteorological short-hand called METAR reports:
KMSN Z 21005KT 7SM OVC020 M05/M10
A2982 RMK AO2 SLP112 T
Location: Madison WI
Wind Speed/Direction
Temperature/Dewpoint
Cloud Cover

12. Observations and Analysis Plots
Observations can be converted into symbols: 23
112
KMSN Z 21005KT 7SM OVC020 M05/M10
A2982 RMK AO2 SLP112 T 14

13. Observations and Analysis Plots
And the symbols can be plotted on a map detailing their location:

15. ? ? ?

16. Modern-Day Remote Measurements
Satellite

17. Modern-Day Remote Measurements
Satellite
Radar

18. Modern-Day Remote Measurements
Satellite
Radar
Aircraft Observations

19. Modern-Day Remote Measurements
Satellite
Radar
Aircraft Observations
Buoy/Ship Observations

20. 23
112 14
Data Assimilation

21. Data Assimilation
The process of taking many different kinds of observations and measurements and getting them to work together to create a scientifically consistent picture of the atmosphere
Without data assimilation, computer models cannot use the various weather observations that are taken. If we don’t know what the weather is like right now, we can’t predict what it will be like in the future!
Data assimilation is a growth industry in meteorology – there are always new kinds of observations being developed and they need to be assimilated into computer models