Bowling Green, Ky. - From the grassroots level to the business and university level, interest in the Kentucky Mesonet is growing.

State Climatologist Stuart Foster and Rezaul Mahmood of the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University have been traveling the Commonwealth in recent months to talk about the Mesonet project and to seek input on possible sites for data-collection stations.

The statewide automated environmental monitoring network of approximately 100 stations will collect real-time weather and climate observations and will support a variety of products to serve needs across Kentucky.
“Overall, we’re really pleased at this point with the level of interest in the project and the level of support we’ve been able to build,” Dr. Foster said.

The site selection process for Mesonet network stations is under way as Dr. Foster and Dr. Mahmood continue their efforts to develop collaborations and partnerships with universities and other groups.

Last week, Dr. Foster spoke at a workshop in Paintsville hosted by the National Weather Service’s Jackson office, while Dr. Mahmood made a presentation in Murray at a meeting of the Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education.

On Nov. 10, they will conduct a Kentucky Mesonet Symposium as part of the 92nd Kentucky Academy of Science Annual Meeting in Morehead. “At this symposium, we will invite representatives of Kentucky’s public universities to participate in the creation of the Kentucky Mesonet Consortium,” Dr. Foster said. “Our rationale is that while U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has secured funding for the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU, the Kentucky Mesonet is a project to serves people throughout the Commonwealth. It is our belief that the best way to do this is to engage faculty and researchers at all of our universities.”

Other upcoming meetings include a workshop on land-use planning at the Barren River Area Development District to discuss the Mesonet’s environmental monitoring capabilities and a visit to the University of Kentucky to address opportunities there to work with faculty researchers.

Data from the Mesonet will have wide-ranging applications in agriculture, education, emergency management, engineering and construction, water supply management, weather forecasting, and other areas.

Instruments will measure precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, soil moisture and soil temperature. Data will be packaged into observations every five minutes and transmitted to the Kentucky Climate Center every 15 minutes, 24 hours per day, throughout the year.

The project was funded by a $1.5 million federal earmark secured by Sen. McConnell for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

Four staff members have been hired and will be trained to install the network stations. Additional staff members will be hired before the network’s first stations become operational in 2007.

The Mesonet also will attract more undergraduate and graduate students to conduct applied research at WKU, according to Dr. David Keeling, head of the Department of Geography and Geology.

“The data obtained through the Mesonet will open a whole world of possibilities academically, economically, socially and politically on issues across the spectrum, including agriculture, tourism, new business initiatives, water quality, and storm water management,” Dr. Keeling said.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly recognized the project’s value by unanimously approving a resolution recognizing the Kentucky Mesonet as the official source of climatological observations for the state.
“The Kentucky Mesonet is a great example of university, government, and business partnering on an issue that will affect all Kentuckians in the future,” Dr. Keeling said.

The Mesonet’s impact won’t be limited to Kentucky, Dr. Mahmood said. The consortium that met recently in Murray includes universities and other groups from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. “We expect to talk with more out-of-state groups on how we can collaborate and how we can make this network part of other networks,” he said.

More information about the Kentucky Mesonet is available online at http://kyclim.wku.edu/kymesonet/ or by contacting the Kentucky Climate Center at (270) 745-5983.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Stuart Foster at (270) 745-5983.

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