Contributing to Science

As I have written about before, I am participating in a project to survey US weather stations (see here, here, and here). The idea is to try to determine how site biases (e.g., asphalt, air conditioner vents, cars, etc.) may be affecting temperature readings over time. As locations become more urban, stations that were once rural are now surrounded by development, and this might cause abnormally high readings.

Well, 33% of the stations have been surveyed and assessed, and using official criteria for site ratings (1 = ideal location,..., 5 = horrible location), here's what's been found so far:



As you can see, many of the stations are sited quite poorly. In fact, only 13% are considered acceptable (rating of 1 or 2).

Anyway, the man who's running this project, Anthony Watts, gave a presentation of his work at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research conference, and one of my sites made it into his presentation. See here. I had thought this station was well-sited, since it is in an open area, but I neglected to consider the concrete pad on which the station sits. Because of that, the Logan station received a rating of 5.

I haven't done a station in awhile, but I hope to get a few more as my travels take me to various places. Not a single North Dakota station has been done, so I hope to remedy that on my next trip home.