The Oklahoma Mesonetwork is a network of over 110 automated environmental monitoring stations operated jointly by Oklahoma State University and The University of Oklahoma. At least one site is located in each of Oklahoma's 77 counties. The average spacing between stations is approximately 32 km. The network collects data at 5-minute intervals with 5-minute resolution, ... 24-hours per day. Data are recorded at each site and relayed to a base-station computer via radio telemetry.
The following parameters are measured: Air Temperature (1.5 and 9.0 meters), Relative Humidity (1.5 meters), Wind Speed/Direction (10 meters), Wind Speed (2 meters), Barometric Pressure (0.75 meters), Rainfall via tipping bucket (surface), Solar Radiation (1.8 meters), Soil Temperature bare soil (5 and 10 cm) and sod (5, 10, and 30 cm), and Soil Moisture (5, 25, 60, and 75 cm).
The network was developed to adhere as closely to WMO guidelines as possible. Therefore, Mesonet acts as both a real-time observation network and a research-quality archive. Dataloggers can store up to 30 days of data, allowing for retrieval of data 'lost' during communications failures. The archive data set contains nearly 100% of possible observations since Mesonet was commissioned in March, 1994.
Data are available upon request to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. The network was developed under a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Energy and is supported through a combination of state, federal, and private funding.
Geographic Coverage
(Click for Interactive Map)
Spatial coordinates
N: 37.0
S: 33.0
E: -94.0
W: -103.0
Data Set Citation
Dataset Creator:
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
Dataset Title:
Meteorological Data from the Oklahoma Mesonetwork
Quality
The Mesonet's quality assurance system consists of 5 components: (1) Lab Calibration, (2) Automated Software, (3) Manual Inspection, (4) In-Field Comparisons, and (5) Routine Maintenance. During Lab Calibration, each sensor is tested or calibrated before deployment to a remote site. When a sensor reaches its rotation interval, it is returned ... from the field and re-calibrated. This provides an accurate calibration history for each sensor. The Mesonet's custom Automated Software provides an efficient means to sift through the nearly 1 million observations collected each day. Any observation that has failed an automated test is manually inspected by full-time Quality Assurance Meteorologists. The QA Meteorologists also employ numerous manual methods to inspect and quality assure the data. For In-Field Comparisons, reference sensors are taken to each remote station to test how the site's temperature, relative humidity, pressure, rainfall, and solar radiation sensors are performing. Lastly, for Routine Maintenance, each station is visited, at a minimum, each Spring, Summer, and Fall to clean/test sensors and to maintain site vegetation.
QA flags are stratified (0="good", 1="suspect", 2="warning", and 3="failure") so that users can decide the level of QA they prefer.
Access Constraints
Real-time data and products are available free at http://www.mesonet.org/public. For special data requests, please contact datarequest@mesonet.org Annual CDs of all 5-min data for all sites are available for $995.
University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
100 East Boyd, Suite 1210
City:
Norman
Province or State:
OK
Postal Code:
73019-1012
Country:
USA
Publications/References
Brock, F.V., Crawford, K.C., Elliott, R.L., Cuperus, G.W., Stadler, S.J., Johnson, H.L., and Eilts, M.D. 1995. The Oklahoma Mesonet: A Technical Overview. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 12:5-19.
Elliott, R.L., Brock, F.V., Stone, M.L., and Harp, S.L. 1994. Configuration Decisions for an Automated Weather Station Network. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 10:45-51.
Fiebrich, C.A., and K.C. Crawford. 2001. The Impact of Unique Meteorological Phenomena Detected by the Oklahoma Mesonet and ARS Micronet on Automated Quality Control. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 82(10):2173-2187.
Fiebrich, C.A., D.L. Grimsley, R.A. McPherson, K.A. Kesler, and G.R. Essenberg. 2006. The Value of Routine Site Visits in Managing and Maintaining Quality Data from the Oklahoma Mesonet. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology: Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 406416.
Shafer, M.A., C.A. Fiebrich, D. Arndt, S.E. Fredrickson, T.W. Hughes. 2000. Quality Assurance Procedures in the Oklahoma Meso network. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 17(4):474-494; American Meterological Society.
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