Weather Station Mounting Specs?

[Mike Parker]

I can't seem to find any sites that explain what, if any, official guidelines that are used in setting up weather stations. For example, what size of a radiation shield should be used, what size of a vented box, what kind of wood, what color, how high off the ground etc... If anyone can point me in the direction of the "official specifications" that NOAA uses to set up their official stations I would be grateful. Thanks.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Mike,

You've looked through the ASOS User Guide? --> http://www.nws.noaa.gov/asos/pdfs/aum-toc.pdf ... Page 14 of the appendix ( http://www.nws.noaa.gov/asos/pdfs/appen.pdf ) has a table of specifications.

EDIT: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso11/oso...s/sensrgrp.html ... Some sensors have a link to "Technical Information" that includes manufacturer and model names. For example, regarding the tipping bucket:

The current precipitation accumulation gauge ASOS uses is a heated tipping bucket manufactured by the Frise Engineering Company of Baltimore, MD (see figure Page 2). Essentially, it is a revamped version of the old Belfort tipping bucket, widely used for decades. Today's Frise Tipper uses several design modifications that have either solved or mitigated a number of performance flaws in the original design. These modifications allow the new automated gauge to perform close to the old manual gauges, which serve as the "standards" in the testing world.

 

[B Ozanne]

I can't seem to find any sites that explain what, if any, official guidelines that are used in setting up weather stations. For example, what size of a radiation shield should be used, what size of a vented box, what kind of wood, what color, how high off the ground etc... If anyone can point me in the direction of the "official specifications" that NOAA uses to set up their official stations I would be grateful. Thanks.

Are you talking about making an instrument shelter? (Also called a cotton region shelter) If you make one I'd love to see your specs and how you made it.

I've never seen any official specs on one. Just guidelines on how high it needs to be and siting locations. White, glossy paint is best.