September 26, 2008
Bowling
Green, Ky. - With its 12th station ready for operation and installation planned at 13 more sites, the Kentucky Mesonet is continuing to grow toward its goal of a statewide automated environmental monitoring network of approximately 100 stations.
The Mesonet’s 11th data collected station went online earlier this month in Allen County with the 12th station expected to be operational soon in Caldwell County, according to Dr. Stuart Foster, director of the Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University.
Mesonet stations in Adair, Bullitt, Calloway, Casey, Fayette, Grayson, Logan, Ohio, Rowan and Warren counties are in operation and provide data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction. Data is available online at http://www.kymesonet.org/.
The Mesonet recently received confirmation of its 25th site license agreement, is negotiating for sites at eight other locations and has made initial contacts in about 20 other counties, Dr. Foster said.
Installation of equipment has started at seven sites – Barren, Breathitt, Christian, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln and Knox counties – with installation planned at six more sites -- Breckinridge, Carroll, Crittenden, Hopkins, Owen and Pike counties.
“We’re seeing what we anticipated as we grow the Mesonet and become a presence statewide,” he said. “The number of sites should grow significantly over the next year.”
The Allen County station is located on property owned by the Allen County Board of Education while the Caldwell site is at the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center in Princeton.
“The Allen County location is one of a growing number of sites associated with school districts,” Dr. Foster said. “We’re excited about those types of locations and the opportunities they provide for educators.”
The Caldwell County site is an example of the partnerships within the Kentucky Mesonet Consortium, he said. “All the public universities in Kentucky are sharing the data collected from the Mesonet to promote education and research opportunities,” Dr. Foster said.
Initial funding for the project was secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell through a $1.5 million federal earmark for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering.
Mesonet workshop Oct. 7-8
To continue the efforts to develop the network statewide, the Kentucky Mesonet Consortium and the Kentucky Climate Center will host the Kentucky Mesonet Workshop Oct. 7-8 at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green.
“Our goal is to develop a dialogue with users of Mesonet data and to develop lists of action items that will help make Mesonet data more valuable for people in agriculture, energy, emergency management, transportation, education and water supply management,” Dr. Foster said.
A series of presentations by service providers and weather data consumers will highlight current uses of and needs for weather and climate data. Information about the workshop is available online at www.kymesonet.org/workshop or by contacting the Mesonet office at (270) 745-4567 or email kymesonet@wku.edu.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. 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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