People Send me stuff. I get pictures of weather stations from all over the world. Here we have Henderson Field, serving the capital city of Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.
Hi Anthony, I thought you might be interested to see this weather station.
It is the main one for the Solomon Islands, good situation for the airport, but as you can see in the photos, not so good for accurate temperature measurement.
The planes land then turn down the road to the Terminal apron, as they turn onto the apron, the jet exhaust washes over the weather station.
I’m not a technician, but I’ve repaired enough damaged equipment in my time to think that the exhaust heat may cause some problems with calibration over time.
Google earth -9.430025° 160.047393°
I’m trying slowly to get some full size photos loaded into google earth at present, but internet here is sporadic at the best of times, and down right miserable the rest.
Thanks,
Warren Nash
Solomon Islands
Here’s the closeup view of the weather station at the airport, the instruments are inside the fenced in enclosure.
As weather stations go, it isn’t bad, as the Stevenson Screen is 30 meters from the taxiway asphalt. That would make it a CRN2, acceptable by NOAA siting standards.
Here’s a ground level view of the station taken from the terminal:
Here comes a plane!
Coming into the terminal…
Hey, park it over here!
Uh, oh, look where the jet exhaust is pointed:
Hmmm, a new high temperature today?
Back to normal.
Now in the defense of the global climate record, it doesn’t look like this station gets updated at GISS very much:
And here’s the plot of data from NASA GISS:
Source here
Hmmm, pretty crappy data set dontcha think? Why have it at all?
If only GISS could use Weather Underground:
Eh, but that would require a thousands of man-hours, and millions of dollars in grant money to pull off.
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Jet exhaust
I love you tube.
http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/publications/directline/dl6_blast.htm
Figuring out the thermal signature of a jet engine plume is pretty straightforward stuff. With the right models. Typical work for IR suppression.
Simple unclassified example here with some numbers ( too hard to read axis)
so the data is either out there or readily calculatable.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtic.mil%2Fcgi-bin%2FGetTRDoc%3FLocation%3DU2%26doc%3DGetTRDoc.pdf%26AD%3DADP023087&rct=j&q=signature%20engine%20plume%20idle%20power&ei=192iTIOFOJOCsQPfpaT6Bg&usg=AFQjCNEoIrAIQneWhP4iMhINXdzmi9lGag&sig2=Xt-tp5RkZ1ikJJzJGRI5nw&cad=rja
Start here to see if live testing is even necessary
http://www.thermoanalytics.com/products/thermal_analysis_software.html
or here
http://www.thermoanalytics.com/services/CFD_analysis_services.html
Any affect that the planes would have on the temperature is measurable and verifiable, but then climate calculations would suddenly need airport traffic flows to be factored in, as well as aircraft type. To record temperatures. Thats daft (?)
“DonB says:
September 28, 2010 at 6:04 pm
The station location issue highlighted here gives rise to a thought — do the record high temps in LA occur around quiting time?”
I second that. What about the WX-stations in LA?
Two definitions of anomaly;
1. any occurrence or object that is strange, unusual, or unique
2. a discrepancy or deviation from an established rule or trend
So plotting temperature anomalies against time would appear to (in)conveniently encompass both types. The question has to be: do anomaly temperature graphs show deviation from an established rule/trend or indicate events strange/unusual/unique? The surfacestations project is looking for noise in the signal but it could end up looking for signal in the noise!
(Or have I just embarrassed myself by revealing that I am the last to realise this?)
I’ll go along with Curiousgeorge.
A hundred feet back from engines running at breakaway thrust (enough to get a parked aircraft moving, much more than used to taxi) will have a warm breeze, but no blast. Temperature rise shouldn’t be more than plus 15 or 20 degrees above ambient. Windblown exhaust from a parked idling aircraft would give you a pretty high max temperature for that day.
Speaking of warmth and UHI. Today we heard that travellers to LA could expect 45 degrees C. I wondered how much of that extreme heat was caused by the surrounds. Anyone know?
Look at the air temperatures for the airports in the United States in the time period 10, 11, and 12 September 2001.
Now I know why Europe wants to combat warming by restricting flights! What better way is there (instrumentally)?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the siting of this weather station.
It would be doing a sterling job. So long as the data it produces is used solely for airport purposes and not in island wide historical records. Somehow I don’t think so .
It’s not just a problem of jet exaust going to the temperature sensor.
All that traffic inside the airport breaks up the nocturnal stable layer, mixing colder air with warmer air aloft.
And sure, early morning – night traffic has been on the increase in the last decades.
Quite normal for the adiabatic heating of the Santa Ana winds coming off of the high deserts and mountains into the Los Angeles Basin.
Mike McMillan says:
September 29, 2010 at 1:44 am
I’ll go along with Curiousgeorge.
A hundred feet back from engines running at breakaway thrust (enough to get a parked aircraft moving, much more than used to taxi) will have a warm breeze, but no blast. Temperature rise shouldn’t be more than plus 15 or 20 degrees above ambient. Windblown exhaust from a parked idling aircraft would give you a pretty high max temperature for that day.
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Sure, but why not have the screen moved AWAY from the runway to remove any chance or debate on what effect the exhaust will have?????
Ref – DR says:
September 28, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Not odd. Very, very human. Very.
One other thing: Guadalcanal is not exactly a commercial hub. I doubt there are more than 2 flights per day in and out.
REPLY: all it takes is one, the thermometer records the highest temperature of the day and does not discern whether it is from a sunny day with light winds or a Boeing 737 – Anthony
Sorry Anthony. This IS how to measure temperature, at an airport and for the purposes of flying. As airports have needed weather stations on site it has made perfect sense for communities close to airports to piggy back of the service provided. Extracting long term trends for climate is not so reliable and that is not the fault of these weather stations. It is the fault of those who would use this data while dismissing affects such as UHI as inconsequential.
Looking at the Google Earth picture the whole area surrounding the airport has changed with housing and roads to tree clearing which as we all know will change the way the area responds to heat from the sun. This change includes the way water is drained which means the land can dry out quicker which will add to UHI.
If I can tie this in with the other WUWT thread re Kilimanjaro, it would appear there is a reasonable amount of tree clearing going on in the Solomon:
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Solomon_Islands.htm
77.6% —or about 2,172,000 hectares—of Solomon Islands is forested.
“Change in Forest Cover: Between 1990 and 2000, Solomon Islands lost an average of 39,700 hectares of forest per year. The amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.43%. Between 2000 and 2005, the rate of forest change increased by 17.0% to 1.68% per annum. In total, between 1990 and 2005, Solomon Islands lost 21.5% of its forest cover, or around 596,000 hectares. Measuring the total rate of habitat conversion (defined as change in forest area plus change in woodland area minus net plantation expansion) for the 1990-2005 interval, Solomon Islands lost 21.5% of its forest and woodland habitat.”
Tarmac, concrete (airports don’t have a monopoly on this material), tree clearing, land drainage, all good for raising the temp. Jet exhaust I’m not so sure of.
REPLY: If you’ve read my previous posts on airports and weather measurements, particularly this one:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/06/01/hot-air-in-washington-dc-more-asos-failures/
…you’d know that the first sentence was unnecessary – Anthony
Curiousgeorge says:
September 29, 2010 at 4:50 am
One other thing: Guadalcanal is not exactly a commercial hub. I doubt there are more than 2 flights per day in and out.
HIR ARRIVALS
Date: Thu 30-Sep-2010
Departures Arrivals
Airport: (HIR) Henderson International Airport
Honiara, SB
Flight Carrier Origin Arrival Status
IE 531 Solomon Airlines (AKS) Auki 08:15 AM
IE 345 Solomon Airlines (GTA) Gatokae 09:45 AM
PBI 169 Pacific Blue Airlines (BNE) Brisbane 02:10 PM
DJ 169 ^ Virgin Blue (BNE) Brisbane 02:10 PM
IE 353 Solomon Airlines (GZO) Gizo 04:00 PM
IE 533 Solomon Airlines (AKS) Auki 05:15 PM
IE 845 Solomon Airlines (GZO) Gizo 06:00 PM
With the internet it doesn’t take much to find out.
Curiousgeorge says:
September 28, 2010 at 6:02 pm
“Having spend quite a lot of time in military jet exhaust plumes, I’d say the exhaust that far away from the station is probably not very significant. It’s only for a few seconds, and the engines are likely only at around 40% . EGT is probably less than 500 deg. at the engine and it drops off quickly with distance.”
Agreed but this is not a military jet. This is an Airbus with high by pass ratio engines. I’m sure you know but for those that don’t, most of the air coming out the back is cold. Perhaps as much as 4/5ths. Also the wind sock is showing a reasonable breeze away from the weather station.
Steven Mosher says:
September 28, 2010 at 11:24 pm
“Jet exhaust
This is an Olympus engine and industrial not aviation. The aviation version was used on Concorde. Other aircraft with engines that give out a lot of power at idle is/was the SR71. This supposedly will accelerate quite happily in idle. However, as stated above the plane in the Solomon islands photo uses high by-pass ratio turbofans. The Olympus is a turbojet. There is a world of difference.
Just digging around it seems the plane in the photograph only comes once a week. There are a handful of other airlines but some are smaller turboprops. One airline operates the bigger A330 and the runway is about long enough to get one in and out but I can’t find anything that says they go in there.
and now I am going to have to see if? I can get into the local airfield where they have OUR weather station:-) I suspect its locked unless planes are using it, but fences were made to be jumped:-) and its for science after all..
REPLY: Do NOT jump fences at airports, it’s an immediate recipe for arrest. Try this new invention: telephoto lens – Anthony
I read Ben’s site every day. He is good at cutting through the noise and revealing the real agenda.
Out of interest I thought I’d take a look at the weather stations in England and Wales used by GISS to see if the temperature trends might be contaminated by the ‘Airport Heat Island’ effect. Post 1995, all of the temperature data for England and Wales used by GISS comes from stations located at international airports (5) or large RAF airbases (3). By comparison, of the 26 weather stations used for 1965, 14 are classified as airports, and only 7 of these could be considered large (the others being small airfields). GISS appear to have a selection bias towards the largest airports and airbases in England and Wales, increasing over time. Besides this, all five international airports now used have undergone expansion over the last 20 years.
This is only a casual observation and I’m no climatologist- perhaps there are good reasons why GISS would only use data from these locations to help demonstrate the late 20th century ‘warming’ period, and I don’t know if they make any adjustments to data coming from stations located next to or on top of asphalt runways, but it might be an interesting starting point for further investigation..
amicus curiae says:
September 29, 2010 at 7:18 am
and now I am going to have to see if? I can get into the local airfield where they have OUR weather station:-) I suspect its locked unless planes are using it, but fences were made to be jumped:-) and its for science after all..
REPLY: Do NOT jump fences at airports, it’s an immediate recipe for arrest. Try this new invention: telephoto lens – Anthony
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Or ask for an invitation !!
JJB MKI says:
September 29, 2010 at 9:04 am
“Out of interest I thought I’d take a look at the weather stations in England and Wales used by GISS to see if the temperature trends might be contaminated by the ‘Airport Heat Island’ effect.”
Why are you demonstrating a bias in this way. Is airport concrete and tarmac warmer than the same material in motorways, car parks and buildings. The absence of urban weather stations means that in most cases the UHI affect is only measured at airports. I recall a post here where an airport weather station was moved from the end nearest the local city to the end furthest away, because the city was affecting the temp readings.
“Post 1995, all of the temperature data for England and Wales used by GISS comes from stations located at international airports (5) or large RAF airbases (3). By comparison, of the 26 weather stations used for 1965, 14 are classified as airports, and only 7 of these could be considered large (the others being small airfields). GISS appear to have a selection bias towards the largest airports and airbases in England and Wales, increasing over time.”
Nothing suspicious here as pilot weather briefings are only from larger airports. If GISS take their information from the same source its probably because its easy and consistent in format and there isn’t any other. One can of course argue about what is inferred from that information.
“Besides this, all five international airports now used have undergone expansion over the last 20 years.”
Airports are not the only type of expansion in the UK. The amount of runway in the UK is significantly less than 1945 and many airfields have disappeared under housing and industrial development. Heathrow used to have 6 runways and now has 2. Those 2 are the same length they’ve been for at least 30 years. Manchester got a new runway some years back. For those 5 airports total runway length is around 15 miles. Meanwhile we have over 1700 miles of road. Yes, there has been expansion but mostly to cater for larger planes and more passengers. The 1st flight out of Heathrow was 1 pilot and 1 passenger. That ratio has changed dramatically and continues to change in favour of more passengers. There are about 18,000 airliners in the world and over 30 million road vehicles in the UK. Unless there is something magical in the jet engine I can’t see how it can extract more heat from burning a litre of fuel than other forms fuel burning. Compared to the 18,000 airliners, there are over 800,000,000 road vehicles, projected to increase to 2.5 billion. And I can’t see how the limited amount of airport runway can put out more heat than all the rapidly expanding urban areas.