Extended Abstract (1000K)J1.1
An Overview of the Oklahoma City Micronet
Jeffrey B. Basara, Oklahoma Climatological Survey and University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; and B. G. Illston, C. Fiebrich, R. McPherson, J. P. Bostic, P. Browder, D. Demko, C. Morgan, and K. Kessler
The Oklahoma City Micronet (OKCNET) is an operational network designed to improve atmospheric monitoring across the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The 40-station network consists of four Oklahoma Mesonet Stations and 36 stations mounted on traffic signals at an average height of 10 m and station spacing of approximately 3 km. Due to a series of technical innovations and existing infrastructure in Oklahoma City, data sets are collected at one-minute intervals and quality assured in near real-time. As of 1 June 2008, all stations have been deployed.
The concept of the Oklahoma City Micronet began during the Joint Urban 2003 field experiment and was made possible, in large part, due to the assistance of various departments associated with the City of Oklahoma City. Over a five-year period of planning, development, testing and deployment, OKCNET was designed to serve the needs of a wide range of users including the scientific community, public works, first responders and K-12 school children.
The spatial and temporal density of observations collected by OKCNET have already shed new insights regarding atmospheric processes across the metropolitan area. Because it spans terrain ranging from quasi-rural to urban, the Micronet has consistently detected an urban heat island (UHI) and the associated gradient of air temperature with UHI intensity as great as 6oC. The network has also captured the impacts of severe weather across Oklahoma City including the occurrence of hail, squall lines, and bow echoes with wind gusts exceeding 30 m/s.
Joint Session 1, Measurements in the Urban Environment
Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 8:30 AM-9:45 AM, Room 124A
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