A reference meteorological station for urban Long-Term Ecological Research, Baltimore Ecosystem Study

The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) is a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary study of the Baltimore, Maryland ecosystem that is part of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. BES includes active and planned research on hydrology, vegetation, relationships between social factors and urban environment, climatology, air quality, and wildlife. Modeling is carried out at scales ranging from small watersheds and local scale to regionally. Educational and public-interaction activities translate findings for area citizens and bring their needs and interests to researchers. Urban impacts on water quantity and quality are particularly important in the research, and much of the research and public interaction either relates to water issues or uses watershed scale analysis. The focal point of much of the research is the 30-km long Gwynns Falls Watershed. Most aspects of BES research and educational activities relate in some way to meteorology, and meteorology is an important part of research at most of the other 20 LTER sites currently operating. This paper will describe the BES reference meteorological station located near the center of the Gwynns Falls watershed. Hourly measurements include those recommended for Level 3 meteorology by the LTER Climate Committee: air temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, total global solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and absorbed PAR (APAR), atmospheric pressure, soil temperature, and soil moisture. The station also measures net all-wave radiation, soil heat flux, and leaf wetness. Considerations in the selection of instrumentation and planned applications of data are summarized.