Interesting UCAR Open Source project: "3D Paws" - Real 3D printed weather stations

[Darren Addy]

Don't know how many here have 3D Printers (or want an excuse to get yo'self one) but I found this to be very interesting:

Here's a nice overview (a PDF of a Powerpoint presentation from late 2017): http://www.un-spider.org/sites/default/files/21. UNSPIDER Presentation - Mwangi.pdf

Here is an article about the initiative on UCAR: https://www.iepas.ucar.edu/core-programs/3dpaws/
Interesting quote at the end under "Example Applications":

• Regional weather forecasting
  Observations from the 3D-PAWS network can be assimilated into regional numerical weather prediction systems such as the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF: http://www.wrf-model.org) model to improve mesoscale weather forecasts.

So it is not clear to me if this initiative is being encouraged in the United States, or not. However the project is Open Source. The 3D Printed parts can all be found here, along with the Manual.

A separate part of this, which also looks interesting (but may not be for the general public?) is CHORDS (Cloud Hosted Real-time Data Services). This is essentially a "shrink-wrapped" package that lets you log into your AWS (Amazon Cloud) account and install a portal that connects your weather station observations to "Big Data" in the cloud.

What is CHORDS?

A link to UCAR's CHORD portal along with others.

Now a 3D printed weather station is probably not going to be robust enough to put on your chase vehicle, but this might be a cool way to create a mesonet, particularly if one got some funding. These are two of the most exciting projects (both 3D-PAWS and CHORDS) that I have seen for a long time.

Thoughts?

 

[Gareth L.]

Don't know how many here have 3D Printers (or want an excuse to get yo'self one) but I found this to be very interesting:

Here's a nice overview (a PDF of a Powerpoint presentation from late 2017): http://www.un-spider.org/sites/default/files/21. UNSPIDER Presentation - Mwangi.pdf

Here is an article about the initiative on UCAR: 3D-Printed Automatic Weather Station (3D-PAWS) Initiative – IEPAS
Interesting quote at the end under "Example Applications":

• Regional weather forecasting
  Observations from the 3D-PAWS network can be assimilated into regional numerical weather prediction systems such as the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF: http://www.wrf-model.org) model to improve mesoscale weather forecasts.

So it is not clear to me if this initiative is being encouraged in the United States, or not. However the project is Open Source. The 3D Printed parts can all be found here, along with the Manual.

A separate part of this, which also looks interesting (but may not be for the general public?) is CHORDS (Cloud Hosted Real-time Data Services). This is essentially a "shrink-wrapped" package that lets you log into your AWS (Amazon Cloud) account and install a portal that connects your weather station observations to "Big Data" in the cloud.

What is CHORDS?

A link to UCAR's CHORD portal along with others.

Now a 3D printed weather station is probably not going to be robust enough to put on your chase vehicle, but this might be a cool way to create a mesonet, particularly if one got some funding. These are two of the most exciting projects (both 3D-PAWS and CHORDS) that I have seen for a long time.

Thoughts?

@Darren Addy Did you end up trying the 3D-PAWS system?

 

[Darren Addy]

I did not. We bought a house and moved so my wife has other projects pushed somewhat ahead of my preferred 3d printer utilization schedule. :/