Surfacestations update – we are within sight of the goal

I’m pleased to announce that the www.surfacestations.org project has reached a major milestone, with 67% of the 1221 USHCN network now surveyed.

819 of 1221 stations have been examined in the USHCN network. Of the 819, 807 have been assigned a site quality rating. In some of those cases we’ve found the stations closed, or we are waiting for supplemental information to enable assigning a rating.

The Google Earth map below shows current coverage. We are in sight of the goal. However there are still some holes, especially in south Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.

See this Google Earth generated image. The circles with question marks are stations left to be surveyed.

Click for a larger image

A Google Earth USHCN Station Rating Map (KML file used to generate the above image) is available – download here

You can download the Google Earth application for free from this link

Sincere thanks to Gary Boden for this contribution! This is a very useful tool to help locate stations as hi resolution lat/lon values and descriptions are available from each map icon. Of course, Google Earth will also plot driving directions too.

I’m hoping to reach a minimum of 75% before I start doing data analysis. I want to find more rural stations, with the hope of finding more of the better sited stations since the lions share is comprised of CRN3-5 stations. I’m hoping those of you that live near some of these “holes” can help. if you can, please leave a comment below and I’ll help you locate stations. You’ll also need to visit the website www.surfacestations.org and register as a volunteer. It’s free and easy.

Here is what the current rating breakdown looks like:

click for a larger image

For those unfamiliar with the rating system, it is identical to the one used by NOAA/NCDC to select sites for their new Climate Refernece Network (CRN) They drew this rating scheme from a paper published by Michel Leroy, of MeteoFrance, that he devised for their meteorological network. Here are the details:

Climate Reference Network Rating Guide – adopted from NCDC Climate Reference Network Handbook, 2002, specifications for siting (section 2.2.1) of NOAA’s new Climate Reference Network:

Class 1 (CRN1)- Flat and horizontal ground surrounded by a clear surface with a slope below 1/3 (<19deg). Grass/low vegetation ground cover <10 centimeters high. Sensors located at least 100 meters from artificial heating or reflecting surfaces, such as buildings, concrete surfaces, and parking lots. Far from large bodies of water, except if it is representative of the area, and then located at least 100 meters away. No shading when the sun elevation >3 degrees.

Class 2 (CRN2) – Same as Class 1 with the following differences. Surrounding Vegetation <25 centimeters. No artificial heating sources within 30m. No shading for a sun elevation >5deg.

Class 3 (CRN3) (error >=1C) – Same as Class 2, except no artificial heating sources within 10 meters.

Class 4 (CRN4) (error >= 2C) – Artificial heating sources <10 meters.

Class 5 (CRN5) (error >= 5C) – Temperature sensor located next to/above an artificial heating source, such a building, roof top, parking lot, or concrete surface.”

Here is how the survey status breaks down by state. States highlighted have less than 50% coverage and are in the need of the most help from volunteers.

For those that wish to help here is what you need to do:

1. Visit www.surfacestations.org and register as a volunteer. It’s free and easy.

2. Look over the the How To Guide for surveying a station. All you need is a digital camera, and optionally a portable GPS, but it is not mandatory. A GPS that can get you to a lat/lon you enter is helpful though.

3. Find a station that is unsurveyed by using either the Google Earth KML file download above, or by looking for stations with no entries yet in the Surfacestation image gallery database

When you decide on stations to survey, drop a comment here to make sure we don’t get duplication of effort.

4. Locate the details on station that you want to survey. The KML file has popup ballons for each station that gives details, and you can get lat/lon from doing a right click and “properties” for a station in Google Earth.Google Earth can give you driving directions. Note that lat/lon values are not alway accurate. I’ve seen them spot on, and sometimes they are as much as a 1/2 mile off., but they’ll generally get you close.

You can also visit the NCDC MMS database here: http://mi3.ncdc.noaa.gov/mi3qry/login.cfm and use the “guest login” button. Then do a search for the station name and match up with the city and the USHCN station # ID in the Google Earth KML file balloon. Getting that USHCN ID# right is crucial, as some towns may have 2 or three COOP stations which are not part of the USHCN network. Once you find the right station, click on the link. Be sure to note iuf it says “current” or not.

Another clue to make sure you have the right station in the NCDC database is the “station type” field which will say something like “COOP-A, COOP, LAND SURFACE, A, A” If there is no “A” in the description, then it is not a climate station.

Also check the “Location tab” in the NCDC database, which will say something like like “fire station” or “sewage treatment plant”…you maye have to look down a few entries from the top. Once you have that, some Google web searches will often help you narrow down a likely street address if the Google Earth imagery doesn’t help you visualize the location.

The “Equpiment tab” is also useful, since it will tell you what to look for. Here is a photo link that has most of the usual components of a climate station hat will help you get an idea.

5. If you determine that the station is located at a private residence, you’ll need help locating the observer. For that you need to find the observer name. Thankfully these exist on the NCDC database also, as a signature on many of the B91 forms the observers send in. To find B91 forms with observer names, go to this url:

http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/coop/coop.html

Then narrow down the state and station name in the web form, and click through to see what B91 forms are available, if you don’t see any within the last 6 -12 months, chances are the station is closed (a growing problem).

Download one and you may see an observer name at the lower right. A web lookup for the name and address may lead you there. Most private observers are interested and helpful. Just be sure that you advise them that you only want to get photos of their station and immediate surroundings (6 photos minimum: NSEW at about 20-30 feet, and two overall wide shots showing the station in relation to it’s surrounding) and that you are not going to reveal their names, addresses or phone numbers in any way, or any other private info.

6. Plan your trip. If you have trouble, or need help locating a station, drop a comment here.

7. Set your camera for 3.1 megapixels (2048×1536) for best results. Or use a photo editor program later to shrink the images to that size if you use a higher resolution. High resolution is good for long distance shots, such as are sometimes required when the station is at a fenced public facility like a water plant. You can then later crop out areas of the hi-res image. It’s like having an extra zoom level. All images should be 2 megabytes or less in size for uploading.

8. Fill out the station survey form (available here ) as best you can, making notes about the station. be sure to save it as a Adobe Acrobat PDF file, which is what is need to upload into the database. A free print to PDF application is available here at www.primopdf.com should you need one.

9. Navigate to the empty folder for the station you surveyed at the Surfacestation image gallery database and click on “add a photo” or “add items” on the left menu. Don’t try to do them all at once, as you may get a time out if your connection speed is slow. Doing 4 at a time really works well. Here at this link is what a completed survey looks like after uploading.

10. Drop us note at info { at } surfacestations dot org to let us know! Or if you need help.