Would you mobile mesonet for science?

[Tyler Allison]

If someone were to provide a mobile mesonet "kit" for a reasonable price and at cost...that had been checked and validated by various "experts" would you be willing to put one on your car while you chased so the scientific community could get in-situ measurements? It would have to be this "kit" since the research community can't really use everyones random choice of weather gear. It all has to be the same equipment with the same type of installation so observations can be compared and believed.

Basically you would plug this "kit" into your laptop and it would update your position and weather data to something like Spotter Network while you are doing your own thing. All it would need is a GPS and an internet connection.

Having discussed this with various researchers at the CoD Severe Weather Symposium there is interest in this. But the question is would the chaser community be willing to do it?

Personally I think this would help the research community a ton, since one of the big complaints is the density of surface observations around the storm. Chasers are already there...why not help the science?

-Tyler

 

[Billy Griffin]

Absolutely, I would. I've already done it in the past, providing data to local TV stations while mobile, so certainly would enjoy doing it again!

 

[Joey Ketcham]

If it were a kit provided for scientific research and the data collected would serve a purpose, absolutely I would.

 

[Brett Adair]

Sign me up.....I think it's a great idea.

 

[rdale]

Add me to the list...

 

[JeffGonzales]

sounds pretty good. what is the size of this mobil mesonet?

 

[Ric Burney]

If someone were to provide a mobile mesonet "kit" for a reasonable price and at cost...

-Tyler

I'm interested.

What would be the cost?
Would this be a lease or would the chaser end up owning the equipment?
What type of mounting equipment would be required?

 

[David Drummond]

I would absolutely be interested in this!

 

[Scott Weberpal]

I would be very interested. However, there would need to be some kind of subsidization to make it affordable for most. The RM Young anamometers alone cost thousands of dollars.

I'm also more than willing to drop probes in close proximity to tornadoes

 

[Tim Marshall]

I ALSO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS. TM

 

[darnalljason]

mobile meso

sounds like a great idea

 

[Tony Perkins]

I'm interested in staying in the loop on this.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I'd like to be involved as well.

 

[Chad Cowan]

I'd definitely be interested. Great idea.

Would the data be published in real-time to an open location? If so, it could really benefit the chasers as well as researchers.

 

[rdale]

Given the history of showing realtime vehicular mesonets on GR software, I'd assume that would be a given.