Weather Monitoring: What is it for?
Meteorological measurements have multiple uses that make them of primary importance for monitoring areas of different sizes and for managing extreme situations, such as floods, exceptional snowfalls, strong winds, or harmful solar radiation.
Professional weather stations are used to monitor the parameters that form the basis of the complex algorithms of forecasting models. Long time series of reliable and quality weather data make a valuable contribution to climate change research both locally and at the mesoscale.
What is a weather station made of?
A weather station is typically composed of a series of sensors for measuring various parameters: solar radiation, wind direction and speed, air temperature and humidity, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, and others.
All the data are stored in a data logger, which is responsible for archiving them, processing initial calculated quantities, and managing the communication of the data to web-based software or a traditional server.
The weather station is installed on one or more physical structures such as poles and towers, depending on the installation site. There are clear guidelines from the W.M.O. (World Meteorological Organization) on the proper installation of weather stations to obtain quality data that are representative of the climatic zone.
The continuous operation of all equipment is guaranteed by the power supply, either from the power grid or solar panels. In the latter case, the size of the panel is calculated based on the number of sensors, the rate of data acquisition and transmission, and the availability of solar radiation (latitude, frequent or long-lasting cloud cover).
The station is completed by the data transmission system, which can use a modem, radio, or, more rarely, cables.