Temperature, Pressure, and Humidity (Tempredity) Quantifications

Quantification of atmospheric parameters has played a vital role in weather and climate research which has contributed to an extensive data network used for modeling. For data model input on climate and weather research, a large number of measurements are needed. The purpose of this study is to find inexpensive sensors that can used as alternatives to the standard temperature, pressure and humidity sensors. The preliminary results of this study show that such inexpensive sensors can provide precise data for atmospheric parameters.

This research focused on the comparison of standard temperature, pressure and humidity sensors with inexpensive sensors. The goal of the study was to find and compare affordable atmospheric parameter sensors that will serve as alternative for the standard sensors used for National Weather Service (NWS) soundings. The hypothesis is that the inexpensive sensors (DHT22 Temperature-Humidity and the BMP180 Barometric Pressure/Temperature/Altitude sensors) will provide data with accuracy close to the accuracy of the standard sensors (Serta Model 278 Barometric Pressure Transducer and Model 41382VC Relative Humidity / Temperature Probe) for atmospheric parameters.

It is important to consider the accuracy and precision simultaneously for the quantification of TEMPREDITY measurements. Tempredity is an acronym formed from the words temperature, pressure, and humidity. It is crucial to differentiate between the terms accuracy and precision in any measuring experiment. The accuracy of an experiment shows how close the experiment is to the true or accepted value. Therefore, it is the measure of correctness to the accepted value. The precision of an experiment is a measure of how well the result has been determined, without reference to its agreement to the true value. Precise results can often be corrected or calibrated to give accurate results. Precision is usually reported as absolute precision or relative precision. Absolute precision indicates the magnitudes of the uncertainty in the result. While relative precision indicates the uncertainty in terms of a fraction of the value of the result.