A mystery for you.
This weekend (weather permitting) Willis and I will be visiting the location of this weather station in the USA. Can you guess where it is? I can assure you it is not the schoolhouse at Bodega nor is it Alfred Hitchcock’s summer house.
Note the Stevenson screen housing the thermometer to the left of the path. Click for a much larger image.
The interest for this station is that this particular station might have a very pristine record unblemished by UHI and other man-made encroachments. What we don’t know yet is if it is continuous record since the station was installed.
Here’s another view of it – (the house to the right):
http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=19&with_photo_id=16603128&order=date_desc&user=2537316
Looks like fun!!
Next stop, North Sentinel Island? – (beware of the natives – the Sentinelese)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/North_Sentinel_Island.jpg
Don’t slip on the path to knowledge!
It’s on the island of Myst. Obvious to anyone who’s played it.
I’ll bet the paint is not “pristine”.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/29/aging-weather-stations-contribute-to-high-temperature-records/
Interesting thread, the one on Stevenson screens. It’s not difficult to keep them painted, it’s not as if they have to be redone all that often if quality paint is used, and usually it’s touch-ups, not complete repainting. They’d certainly misread if NOT painted, but it’s equally important to keep them clean- they get covered in dust, urban pollution and bird droppings. Of more concern to me is changes in instrumentation over the years (from glass thermometers to electronic probes) and changes from large Stevenson screens to small ones. The old ones had room for clockwork autographic instruments such as thermograph and hair hygrograph. There are also practices such as leaving the bottle of water (for refilling the wet bulb muslins, especially in dry climates) inside the screen which might affect readings. There is also the “accuracy” or tolerance of the thermometers, which might be 0.3 degrees C with a smaller tolerance on the travelling instrument used to check that tolerance (hopefully twice annually). Given all the above it does make one wonder about the temperature record, but what else is there to rely on? Before the commencement of the satellite record, very little. Satellites need to be calibrated against ground instruments, too.
Well, it’s nice to know that screen is continuously whitewashed.
Please get Tippi Hedren’s autograph. She has always been one of my favorites! 😉
If the seagulls are as aggressive as those in Brighton & Hove at this time of year you’ll need to wear hard hats to avoid serious scalp injuries.
http://www.thisbrighton.co.uk/culture-wildlife3.htm
Google Earth says:
37°41’53.23″N
123° 0’11.26″W
Be sure to look into the function of those pipes along the sidewalk. I’m guessing probably for rain gutter runoff, but who knows. Looks like a really pleasant setting in any event.
Must be on Planet X, home of Monster Zero:
http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/godzilla-vs-monster-zero.html
If you look closely, there’s a seagull (AKA sea rat) standing on top of the Stevensen screen. So not only do you have to consider the effect that seagull poop has on the radiative heat transfer characteristics of the screen (maybe a new category to consider under the Surface Stations project 🙂 ) but you also have to consider radiative heating from sea rats perched on the screen.
I think it would be a crappy job surveying this site. Call Mike Rowe for help. He lives in San Fran.
I am in agreement with those who recommend you wear hats.
“There are three kinds of people in the world:
those that poop on people, those that are pooped on,
and those that say, “Oh, look at all that poop!”
🙂
“From 1902 to 1913, the former U.S. Weather Bureau maintained a weather station on the southeast island, which was connected with the mainland by cable. The results of the meteorological study were later published in a book on California’s climate. Temperatures during those years never exceeded 90 °F (32 °C) or dropped to 32 °F (0 °C).[15] Years later, the National Weather Service provided some weather observations from the lighthouse on its local radio station.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farallon_Islands
You might get to see some Great Whites leaping out of the water while attacking sea lions.
Note: I sailed out of Alameda under the Golden Gate and out around the Farallon Islands in my Pacific Seacraft 37 in 1999/2000. It is expected to usually be a hull down bouncy sail.
John
Looks to me like it’s measuring the body temperature of an unladen seagull.
Bird Albedo to counteract the Bird Waste Heat?
Hmm. It seems a bad idea, to me, to put two such important people in a small craft travelling over the horizon, where the only witnesses would be; the CIA, the FBI, LAPD,
the Secret Service, Homeland Security, US Coast Gaurd, US Border Service, US Navy, US Airforce, …. Are you travelling on US Weapons-Testing Day?
Joel O’Bryan says:
May 23, 2014 at 12:59 am
IMO for humiliating Mann, McIntyre & McKitrick occupy lower circles of CACA hell than some on your ranked list.
Sleepalot says:
May 23, 2014 at 8:42 am
SFPD or SF County Sheriffs.
LAPD would be nearer Channel Islands.
BTW, we commenters all expect picture postcards!
Isn’t this likely to simply have a sea-surface temperature? Virtually all the air around the screen will be directly from the sea. I guess this would still record the status of global warmiing.
Okay, Anthony,
Google Earth is a little fuzzy, but, if including the photo, adequate to the task. You’ve got a half-meter paved path ~6 m away. That comes to ~8 m.^2 or so. Then you have the house, ~155m^2, within 30 m. I noticed an odd stepping stone, but so long as that doesn’t add up to ~1 m^2 within 5 m., we are okay.
So It’s a Class 2, Leroy (2010).
I give you my official blessing.
Using Leroy (1999), it’s Class 4 if including the path (“strict”), Class 3 if counting only the house. This is just like those stations I was joking about when we were saying “all Class 4 stations are created equal but some Class 4 stations are more equal than others”. Using Leroy (1999), it is Class 4. But using Leroy (2010), which actually measures the size of the heat sink, it is Class 2.
I’m flummoxed… but I think it’s somewhere in the Turd-world.
“On the news tonight, we investigate the mysterious destruction of a weather station located in a remote nature preserve in California. All evidence points to a drone strike, but authorities have no idea who would have targeted the station or why. Watch more tonight at 11 on W.A.R.M. tv.”
Thanks to everyone for the comments, it is indeed the South Farrallone Island weather station. I’m truly surprised that such a remote place was so quickly recognized.
Unfortunately, it is not looking good for this trip:
====================================================
URGENT – MARINE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
910 AM PDT FRI MAY 23 2014
PZZ575-240015-
/O.CON.KMTR.SC.Y.0066.140524T0000Z-140527T0000Z/
PIGEON POINT TO POINT PINOS 10 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE-
910 AM PDT FRI MAY 23 2014
…SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS
AFTERNOON TO 5 PM PDT MONDAY…
A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON
TO 5 PM PDT MONDAY.
* WINDS: NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 KT THIS
AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST MONDAY EVENING.
* SEAS: STEEP SHORT PERIOD SQUARED SEAS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT
LEAST MONDAY EVENING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND SPEEDS OF 21 TO 33 KNOTS
ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HAZARDOUS WAVE CONDITIONS TO SMALL CRAFT.
INEXPERIENCED MARINERS… ESPECIALLY THOSE OPERATING SMALLER
VESSELS SHOULD AVOID NAVIGATING IN THESE CONDITIONS.
====================================================
Also:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-122.97451&lat=37.70881
Willis is a seasoned mariner, me, not so much. But in a 25′ boat, no point in risking our lives for a weekend joyride. Earlier in the week, the forecast looked promising, now it worsens by the hour.
But that’s the nature of forecasts, the closer you get to the target time, the more accurate they become.