Automatic Weather Stations

AWS were developed by the Radio Science Laboratory at Stanford University. The basic AWS units measure air temperature, wind speed and wind direction at a nominal height of three meters above the surface, and air pressure at the electronic enclosure at about 1.75 meters above the surface. The height is only nominal, due to possible snow accumulation. Some AWS units can also measure humidity and vertical air temperature difference, but these sensors are not available at either DC or SP stations. Data are transmitted to a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellite and then stored at the University of Wisconsin (Keller et al. 1997). More details on the AWS program are available at http://uwamrc.ssec.wisc.edu/aws/.

á© Copyright Astronomical Society of Australia 1997