Overview

In support of the Wind Forecasting Improvement Project, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) deployed surface meteorological stations in Oregon.

Data Details

A PNNL computer is used as the base station to download the meteorological data acquired by the data logger at each site via a cellular modem. The data collected will be made available to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration each hour and used to support the short-term forecasting project by providing an independent evaluation of the added value of new data to meteorological forecasts.

Each meteorological station consists of a solar-powered data acquisition system and wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and solar radiation sensors on a 3-m tower. Specifically, the stations are comprised of the following instruments and equipment:

• Campbell Scientific CM6 Tripod
• Campbell Scientific CR10X Measurement and Control System
• R.M. Young 05106 Wind Monitor
• Vaisala HMP45C Temperature and Humidity Probe
• Vaisala PTB101B Barometric Pressure Sensor
• Li-Cor LI200X Pyranometer
• RavenXT Cellular Modem

The data logger is used to sample, at 1-second intervals, the horizontal wind speed and direction at 3 meters above ground level (AGL); the air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and solar radiation at 2 meters AGL; and the logger temperature and power supply. The logger outputs the 1-minute averages of these measurements to final storage and power on the cellular modem, so the data can be retrieved and downloaded to a base station computer. The data are archived as 1-hour comma-delimited ASCII files (see "Table 2. Format of the WFIP2 Comma-delimited ASCII Data Files" in wfip2-met-data.pdf). All dates and times in the file names and data records are in UTC and denote the end of the 1-minute average.

Data Quality

Data for each primary measurement at every site are automatically plotted daily and reviewed about every three days. Instrument outages or events are reported with the Instrument and Model Data Problem Log at: .