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ABSTRACT
The West Texas Mesonet originated in 1999 as a project of Texas Tech University. The mesonet consists of 40 automated surface meteorological stations, two atmospheric profilers, and one upper-air sounding system. Each surface station measures up to 15 meteorological and 10 agricultural parameters over an observation period of 5 and 15 min, respectively. The mesonet uses a combination of radio, cell phone, landline phone, and serial server (Internet) communication systems to relay data back to the base station at Reese Technology Center (formerly Reese Air Force Base), Texas. Data are transmitted through the radio network every 5 min for most meteorological data and every 15 min for agricultural data. For stations located outside of the radio network, phone systems transmit data every 30-60 min. The archive includes data received through the various communication systems, as well as data downloaded in the field from each station during regularly scheduled maintenance visits. Quality assurance/control (QA/QC) tests effectively flag data for manual review from a decision maker. The QA/QC flags and review decisions are then added to the database. All data are available free of charge; real-time data are available on the West Texas Mesonet Web page, and an interface to access the data archive is currently being developed.
1. Introduction
The West Texas Mesonet (WTM) is a joint partnership between the Atmospheric Science Group and Wind Science and Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University. Originating in 1999, the main goal of the WTM is to provide free, timely, and accurate meteorological and agricultural data to all residents of the South Plains/Rolling Plains region of western Texas. The WTM has a close partnership with the National Weather Service (NWS) offices in Lubbock, Midland, Amarillo, and Fort Worth, and provides valuable real-time data to aid in warning verification for the NWS in the data-sparse region of western Texas.
The WTM, originally intended to be a pilot project for a statewide Texas Mesonet, currently (as of January 2004) consists of 40 automated surface meteorological stations, two atmospheric profilers, and one upper-air sounding system. All, except one, of the WTM surface stations arc within 250 km of Lubbock, Texas (see Fig. 1). Each surface station measures up to 28 different parameters with an observation period of 5 min...