How to properly perform solar radiation shield comparisons for weather stations
QUESTION: How to properly perform solar radiation shield comparisons for weather stations?
Sun screens and solar Radiation shields for weather stations should be rotated between their testing locations to eliminate most side influences on measurement from the comparison.
ANSWER: Since there are many factors that influence meteorological measurements, it is important to eliminate most of them for the comparative analysis to be valid.
When performing solar radiation shield comparisons for weather stations, one should rotate the radiation shield positions to remove any effects of interference, sensor variation, and location influences from the comparison.
Shields should be rotated between positions A, B, and C, as shown in the illustration, while the sensors should remain fixed to their original positions (A,B,C) so that each shield and sensor combination is evaluated.
This will remove the effects of mutual shield interference, sensor variation, and other location influences from the shield comparison.
If, later on, the comparison goal changes to the comparative evaluation of sensors, then the solar shields should remain fixed to their locations while the sensor locations rotate between positions A, B, and C as shown in the illustration.