West Texas Mesonet

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West Texas Mesonet Texas Tech University

• www.mesonet.ttu.edu

TTU Wind Science Engineering www.wind.ttu.edu A
tmospheric Science Group www.atmo.ttu.edu
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INTRODUCTION
The West Texas Mesonet project was initiated in
1999 to provide free real-time weather and
agricultural information for residents of the
South Plains region of western Texas. The
network has grown to include fifty-five surface
meteorological stations, one radar wind profiler,
one acoustic wind profiler, and one upper-air
sounding system. Our newest station was just
completed near St. Lawrence, Texas.   Weather
information from each surface station is
transmitted every five minutes back to our base
station at Reese Center (12 miles west of
Lubbock). Agricultural data (including soil
temperature and moisture information) are
transmitted every fifteen minutes. All real-time
data collected from the surface stations are
available on our main web page at
www.mesonet.ttu.edu. 55 mesonet stations..in
37 counties..in two states..in two time
zonesand looking to expand!  
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West Texas Mesonet Map

• 55 Completed Stations 1/23/2009

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West Texas Mesonet Map
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Site Photo

• Memphis 1 mile Northeast Station Hall County

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Site Photo

• Goodlett 3 miles West Station Hardeman County

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Site Photo

• Childress 2 miles NNE Station Childress County

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Instrumentation

• The following data are collected at each mesonet
  station every 5 minutes
• 10-meter wind speed and direction (average and
  3-second peak wind speed)
• 9-meter temperature (for heat flux study)
• 2-meter wind speed
• 2-meter temperature (for heat flux study)
• 1.5-meter temperature and relative humidity
  (including dewpoint calculation)
• barometric pressure (using digital barometer
  calculations include station pressure and
  altimeter)
• rainfall (total for the 5-minute period and an
  hourly summation product)
• 2-meter solar radiation (Kipp and Zonen SP-Lite,
  CM-3, and CM-21 Apogee PYR-P)

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Instrumentation

• The following data are collected at most mesonet
  stations every 15 minutes
• Soil Temperature at 5cm (2 inches) under
  sod-covered ground
• Soil Temperature at 10cm (4 inches) under
  sod-covered ground
• Soil Temperature at 20cm (8 inches) under
  sod-covered ground
• Soil Temperature at 5cm (2 inches) for bare
  ground
• Soil Temperature at 20cm (8 inches) for bare
  ground
• Soil Moisture at 5cm (2 inches) (all of
  these are sod-covered ground)
• Soil Moisture at 20cm (8 inches)
• Soil Moisture at 60cm (24 inches)
• Soil Moisture at 75cm (30 inches)
• Leaf Wetness

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InstrumentationFluvanna 3W WTM Station
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Communications

• Radio We use an extended line of sight (ELOS)
  radio system to transmit data packets from our
  remote stations to our base station at Reese
  Center.
• Cell Phone Used in remote areas which are
  generally east of Lubbock.
• Landline Phone Partnership stations with NWS
  Lubbock.
• DSL/Cable modem Used at a few stations where
  local city provides internet.
• Wireless Internet Wireless internet at
  stationall equipment contained at station.
• Internet Spread spectrum radio transmissions
  from mesonet station to wherever internet is
  available (e.g., courthouse, school, private
  residence). Our server is located at that
  location for internet access.

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Power Requirements

• All stations use solar panels to charge external
  batteries. There is no electricity at any
  station.
• Each radio station has one 100-watt radio for
  communications. The power required to run each
  radio varies significantly with each site.
• Most sites use two 20-watt solar panels to charge
  two deep-cycle gel type marine batteries. The
  majority of newer stations use one 50-watt panel.
• Several of our major radio repeater stations use
  two 50-watt solar panels to charge three
  batteries.
• Each datalogger has a backup set of internal
  batteries to save data in case of a major failure
  in the marine batteries.

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Web Products
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Web Products
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Web Products
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Web ProductsProgram Written by John Lipe, NWS
Lubbock
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Web Products
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Web ProductsCourtesy Matt Haugland - OU
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Web ProductsSurface Plots
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Web ProductsWind Roses
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Web ProductsRainfall Map
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Users/Importance

• Users
• Agriculture
• Wind Power Industry
• National Weather Service
• Media Outlets
• And Many More.
• Real-time Data Access Real-time mesonet
  information (data and products) is free to anyone
  on the web page at www.mesonet.ttu.edu .
• Average web hits per day 41,000
• For the month of June 2008 2.1 million
  hits71,000 hits/day38.8 GB bandwidth9400
  unique visitors.
• Peak one-day total 156,946 (as of 9/12/2008)
• Maintenance Each station is visited every two
  months to complete routine maintenance. When an
  instrument fails, we replace it as soon as
  possible. If a station is not sending quality
  data, it is not helping anyone.
• Funding The funding to maintain the West Texas
  Mesonet has almost exclusively been provided by
  Texas Tech University, although we are pursuing
  other opportunities to support maintenance and
  continued expansion of the network.

• Schools
• Community Leaders
• Emergency Management
• General Public

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NWS Lubbock Partnership

• The West Texas Mesonet and the NWS Lubbock office
  share a unique relationship. The West Texas
  Mesonet provides high quality meteorological and
  agricultural information to a region with
  otherwise sparse data sources. The NWS Lubbock
  relays WTM data to the media and surrounding
  community through warnings, forecasts, local
  storm statements, and other reports.
• The NWS Lubbock, in conjunction with Southern
  Region Headquarters, helps with the communication
  costs at many stations in the WTM domain.
  Currently, there are seven stations on phone
  lines that would not be sending real-time data
  without this help.
• We look forward to a continuing partnership with
  the National Weather Service as we expand the
  West Texas Mesonet into other regions and
  additional NWS County Warning Areas.

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West Texas Mesonet New Products
Macy Ranch WTM Station Double Mountain Fork of
The Brazos River in Southwest Garza
County. New Products Coming to the Mesonet Web
Page Heat Units for Different Crops GIS Plots
of Rain, Temperature, And Other Data
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West Texas Mesonet New Products
WTM Station One mile Northwest of Lake
Alan Henry In Eastern Garza County
What products do you want to see on the web
page????
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West Texas Mesonet Expansion

• Expansion of West Texas Mesonet?
• Location
• Real-time Communications
• Maintenance/Quality Data
• Data Access
• Other Possibilities?
• Integration of New Sensors
• Development of New Data Products
• Event Notification
• Increasing Sampling/Reporting Rates

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West Texas Mesonet - Animals
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West Texas MesonetContact Information

• Dr. John Schroeder John.Schroeder_at_ttu.edu
• Wesley Burgett Wesley.Burgett_at_ttu.edu
• Brian Hirth Brian.Hirth_at_ttu.edu
• www.mesonet.ttu.edu