Oklahoma Mesonet

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The Oklahoma Mesonet is a network of environmental monitoring stations designed to measure the environment at the size and duration of mesoscale weather events. The phrase "mesonet" is a portmanteau of the words mesoscale and network. In meteorology, “mesoscale” refers to weather events that range in size from one mile to 150 miles and can last from several minutes to several hours. Mesoscale events include thunderstorms, wind gusts, heat bursts and dry lines. Without densely spaced weather observations, these mesoscale events might go undetected.

The network consists of 120 automated stations covering Oklahoma and each of Oklahoma's counties has at least one station.[1] At each site, the environment is measured by a set of instruments located on or near a 10-meter (33 ft)-tall tower. The measurements are packaged into “observations” and transmitted to a central facility every 5 minutes, 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

Oklahoma Mesonet is a cooperative venture between Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma and is supported by the taxpayers of Oklahoma. It is headquartered at the National Weather Center on the OU campus.

Observations are available free of charge to the public.

Variables Measured

Every five minutes

Every 15 minutes

  • Soil temperature under bare soil and natural sod at 5 cm (2.0 in) and 10 cm (3.9 in)
  • Soil temperature under natural sod at 30 cm (12 in)

Every 30 minutes

  • Soil moisture at 5 cm (2.0 in), 25 cm (9.8 in), and 60 cm (24 in)

References

  1. ↑ McPherson, R. A., C. Fiebrich, K. C. Crawford, R. L. Elliott, J. R. Kilby, D. L. Grimsley, J. E. Martinez, J. B. Basara, B. G. Illston, D. A. Morris, K. A. Kloesel, S. J. Stadler, A. D. Melvin, A.J. Sutherland, and H. Shrivastava, 2007: Statewide monitoring of the mesoscale environment: A technical update on the Oklahoma Mesonet. J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech., 24, 301-321.

External links


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