environmental monitoring
Environmental monitoring describes the processes and activities that need to take place to characterize and monitor the quality of the environment. Environmental monitoring is used in the preparation of environmental impact assessments, as well a ...
stations designed to measure the environment at the size and duration of mesoscale
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
events. The phrase "
mesonet
In meteorology and climatology, a mesonet, portmanteau of mesoscale network, is a network of automated weather and, often, environmental monitoring stations designed to observe mesoscale meteorological phenomena and/or microclimates.
Dry lines ...
" is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsmesoscale and
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
. In meteorology, “mesoscale” refers to weather events that range in size from approximately to and can last from several minutes to several hours. Mesoscale events include
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
s,
wind gust
A gust or wind gust is a brief increase in the speed of the wind, usually less than 20 seconds. It is of a more transient character than a squall, which lasts minutes, and is followed by a lull or slackening in the wind speed. Generally, winds are ...
s,
heat burst
In meteorology, a heat burst is a rare atmospheric phenomenon characterized by a sudden, localized increase in air temperature near the Earth's surface. Heat bursts typically occur during night-time and are associated with decaying thunderstorm ...
s, and
dry line
A dry line (also called a dew point line, or Marfa front, after Marfa, Texas) is a line across a continent that separates moist air and dry air. One of the most prominent examples of such a separation occurs in central North America, especially T ...
s. Without densely spaced weather observations, these mesoscale events might go undetected. In addition to
surface weather observation
Surface weather observations are the fundamental data used for safety as well as climatological reasons to forecast weather and issue warnings worldwide. They can be taken manually, by a weather observer, by computer through the use of automate ...
s, Oklahoma Mesonet stations also include environmental data such as insolation and soil conditions.
The network consists of 120 automated stations covering Oklahoma and each of Oklahoma's counties has at least one station. At each site, the environment is measured by a set of instruments located on or near a -tall tower. The measurements are packaged into “observations” and transmitted to a central facility every 5 minutes, 24 hours per day, every day of the year.
Oklahoma Mesonet is a cooperative venture between
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
(OSU) and the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
(OU) and is supported by the taxpayers of Oklahoma. It is headquartered at the
National Weather Center
The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide range ...
(NWC) on the OU campus.
Observations are available free of charge to the public.
Background
According to the ''
Tulsa World
The ''Tulsa World'' is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of Lee Enterprises. The new owners announced in January 202 ...
'', creation of the Oklahoma Mesonet resulted from the inability of emergency management officials to plan for the May 26–27, 1984 flood that killed 14 people in the Tulsa area. The 1984 flood demonstrated that emergency managers could not receive accurate and adequate data quickly enough about the progress of flooding from airport radars, updated hourly. The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University collaborated with the Climatological Survey and other public and private agencies to create the Oklahoma Mesonet. This system collects weather information (e.g., wind speed, rainfall, temperature) every 5 minutes from 121 Mesonet stations throughout Oklahoma. Emergency planners can now monitor up-to-date weather information in advance of the arrival of an approaching storm.Peterson, Althea "Oklahoma Mesonet had roots in the 1984 Memorial weekend flooding." ''Tulsa World''. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014. The article quoted an official of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management as saying that his staff uses the Oklahoma Mesonet every day.
Products
The Oklahoma Mesonet produces many products public use. Every five minutes, maps of all of the meteorological variables are updated to show the latest observations. Users can also look at time series plots of a station (called meteograms) over a given period of time. Quality assured data files are available to be downloaded. Historical data can be plotted using the Oklahoma Mesonet's Long Term Average tools.
See also
*
Flooding and flood control in Tulsa
The combination of topographic and climatic factors in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area have frequently caused major flash flooding, especially near streams that normally drain the area. The city was founded atop a bluff on the Arkansas River. Thus, elev ...