Scales of Meteorological Networks - How are Meteorological Networks Classified?

While the world of meteorology is changing fast, it is important to use and maintain correct terminology. The following meteorological network classification promotes clear and concise communication between professionals, researchers, amateur enthusiasts, and the public.

Meteorological observation networks are classified by their sensor and weather station spacing (how far apart are observations and measuring points from each other). With the advent of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), there is a strong focus on creating dense city-scale and local-scale weather station networks even at the expense of conforming to even the loosest measurement standards. 

Scientists seem to be forgetting that the promise of lower-cost wireless and sensor technologies does not, in fact, replace measurement know-how. This measurement know-how is a result of long-term experience and R&D, which takes time and, by default, drives up sensor costs of companies able to perform real measurements with scientific precision. Minimizing the "Observer Effect" of measurement systems takes know-how to avoid measuring unintended influences.  One such sin is mounting a rain bucket or a radiation shield close to an ultrasonic wind sensor. Cheap solar radiation shielding for air temperature sensors is another common mistake of amateurs and professionals alike. It is described in detail in "Will the BARANI DESIGN MeteoShield® replace the Stevenson screen as the new reference for climate change measurements?"

Types of meteorological networks and their density.
Spatial scale areal extentDescriptionAtmospheric processes and applicationsNetwork examples
Global-scale
1,000+ km
Global network of networks, internationally coordinated and facilitatedSemi-permanent pressure centers like the Polar Vortex and trade winds. Data is used from synoptic forecasting, global climate change monitoring and modeling, satellite sensor calibration and validationGlobal surface temperature monitoring networks such as NOAA Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) and Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
Synoptic
Macro-scale
100 km - 1,000 km
Networks of national meteorological monitoring stations located within countries, usually in rural areas. Used for examining regional and national synoptic eventsNational weather forecasting (extratropical cyclones, baroclinic troughs and ridges, frontal zones), modelingUS Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS), US Climate Reference Network (USCRN), AMeDAS, Japan, and the UK Met Office MIDAS network have stations in rural and urban areas that provide hourly surface weather data for weather forecasting, aviation. These datasets are also fed into global data networks
Meso-scale
Mesonet
Regional network
10 km - 100 km
Monitor regional meso-scale weather events. Cover urban, peri-urban and rural areas. Meso-scale meteorological events are often hazardous and might go undetected without densely spaced weather observations. Individual monitoring equipment representative of the local or micro-scale climate meso-scale measurements from individual sensors is only now becoming possible with the advent of WMO precision micro-weather stations like the MeteoHelix.Thunderstorms, downbursts, squall lines, temperature variations over urban and rural areas, sea circulations Currently several relatively high-density Mesonets (meso-scale networks) exist in the US, China, Finland like the Oklahoma Mesonet network which was designed and implemented by scientists as the gold standard for mesonets by the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU).
For more information about Mesonets across the United States, visit the National Mesonet website.
City-scale
1 km - 10 km
Monitoring weather and climate at the scale of the whole city. Individual monitoring equipment representative of the local micro-climate. City-scale measurements from individual sensors are now becoming possible with the advent of WMO precision micro-weather stations like the MeteoHelix.Urban heat island studies, urban climate studies, air pollutionVery high weather station density networks such as the Oklahoma City Micronet, installed to examine urban climate variability.
Local-scale
Neighbourhood
100 meters - 1 km
Effects of minor landscape features (parks, ponds, small topographic features) neighbourhoods with similar types of urban development (surface cover, size and spacing of buildings, activity). Meteorological equipment can be mounted on street lamp posts and is sited to be representative of neighbourhood (i.e. a set height, representative surface cover, little obstructions, to avoid micro-climate effects)Urban heat island, variations with land use, surface cover, air pollution, tornadoes and twisters Few local-scale networks exists, since most individual climate stations within city-scale networks or meso-scale networks are often representative of the neighbourhood in which it is located (unless they are specifically examining micro-climates). Urban networks are usually city-scale or meso-scale since dense networks are not necessary to assess local-scale climate over similar land-use types
Micro-scale
100 meters or less
Micrometeorological phenomena. Influenced by urban areas, the dimensions of component elements: buildings, green roofs, trees, roads, streets, courtyards, and gardens. Equipment such as a micro-weather station can be located on street lamps or traffic light poststo be representative of the micro-climateUrban canyon studies, turbulence and dispersion studies, human comfort and exposure, impact of buildings, agricultural meteorologySome micro-scale networks such as uScan project, Tokyo, have been used to examine fine-scale temperature variations over complex infrastructure
CitationMuller, C.L., Chapman, L., Grimmond, C.S.B., Young, D.T. and Cai, X. (2013), Sensors and the city: a review of urban meteorological networks. Int. J. Climatol., 33: 1585-1600. doi:10.1002/joc.3678   https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.3678
MANUFACTURER WMO PRECISION MICRO-WEATHER STATIONS FOR MESONETS, MICRONETS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SENSORS.

MANUFACTURER WMO PRECISION MICRO-WEATHER STATIONS FOR MESONETS, MICRONETS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SENSORS.

Smart-City Mistakes to Avoid: The Question of Big-Data vs. Accurate-Data

Smart-City Mistakes to avoid: quality of low-quality data sets does not improve as the data set gets bigger

Smart-City Mistakes to avoid: quality of low-quality data sets does not improve as the data set gets bigger

When sensor networks don’t meet basic standards of measurement, smart-city sensor networks become bottomless money pits. They can turn great ideas into senseless infrastructure and clouds of deceitful or meaningless data.

Early in the 21st-century, cities started experimenting with Smart-City projects as part of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) even before the phrase Internet-of-Things (IoT) became popularized. Now, at the current peak of the IoT craze fueled by artificial intelligence and data-processing hype, the first signs of a need to meet basic measurement standards of NIST, WMO/CIMO, NWS/NOAA, ASTM and ISO are becoming apparent.

The clearest example of the need to meet basic measurement standards can be found in urban climate monitoring since cities pose a number of challenges to accurate air temperature measurement. Pavement and building walls in the vicinity of weather stations reflect and radiate solar energy much more than grass turf and from every direction onto a temperature sensor causing large errors of air temperature measurement. Since the distribution of errors in air temperature measurement is not symmetric around the real-temperature value and is unique for each weather station installation, practical experience has shown that the quality of low-quality data does not improve with data set size.

Quality of air temperature measurement can be easily assessed by plotting together sunshine intensity (W/m²) and air temperature (°C/°F). Low-quality air temperature sensors, together with cheap solar radiation shields, show an increase in air temperature of +0.5 °C (+1 °F) or more within a few minutes of the sun coming out from behind clouds or the weather station coming out of a shadow.

 
Manufacturer of high-quality and affordable meteorological solutions for Smart-City environmental sensor networks including the MeteoHelix IoT, MeteoRain IoT and MeteoWind IoT wireless weather station and sensors

Manufacturer of high-quality and affordable meteorological solutions for Smart-City environmental sensor networks including the MeteoHelix IoT, MeteoRain IoT and MeteoWind IoT wireless weather station and sensors

BARANI DESIGN Technologies v roku 2019 zdvojnásobili obrat a zoštvornásobili medzinárodný predaj

PATENTOVANÝ DIZAJN METEOSHIELD®PROFESSIONAL OD BARANI DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES V ROKU 2019 VYNIKAL

PATENTOVANÝ DIZAJN METEOSHIELD®PROFESSIONAL OD BARANI DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES V ROKU 2019 VYNIKAL

Po vynikajúcom roku 2019 pre spoločnosť BARANI DESIGN Technologies s. r. o. s rekordným výnosom a predajom meteorologických staníc a senzorov sú predpovede na rok 2020 taktiež optimistické. V silnej konkurencii technická divízia spoločnosti BARANI DESIGN s. r. o. nielen zdvojnásobila svoje príjmy za rok 2019 a štvornásobne zvýšila medzinárodný predaj, ale aj v príprave na rok 2020 a nasledujúce roky významne investovala do výroby, duševného vlastníctva, výskumu a vývoja.

BARANI DESIGN sensory sú vizuálne jedinečné a zároveň ponúkajú v profesionálnych klimatických meraniach najvyššiu úroveň presnosti vo všetkých poveternostných podmienkach. Meteorologické stanice MeteoHelix® IoT weather stations získali v roku 2019 certifikáciu najvyššieho stupňa U0 pre bezdrôtové Sigfox zariadenia. Verzia LoRaWAN poskytuje rovnaký bezdrôtový a merací výkon a parametre.

V roku 2020 je do výroby zaradený revolučný kompaktný bezdrôtový zrážkomer schopný s presnosťou zachytiť stopové množstvá dažďa pod 0,1 mm a prívalove dažde až do 40 mm/min. (2400 mm/hod.).

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