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Weather partnership
Unique group comes together to improve climatological services for
Iowa.
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Until very recently, weather data were taken by numerous public agencies
and private firms throughout Iowa on a daily basis.
For the most part that information was not shared among the various agencies
and firms.
That is until the Iowa Environmental Mesonet (IEM) was formed. That organization
gathers, collects, disseminates and archives weather observations in Iowa.
The partnership between Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of
Transportation (IaDOT), KCCI-TV8 in Des Moines, and the National Weather
Service (NWS) is unlike other mesonet projects across the country in that
the IEM does not own or operate any of the automated stations.
"The IEM collects data from existing resources in the state,"
said Gene Takle, professor of geological and atmospheric sciences and
professor of agronomy. "The result is a low cost, high resolution
mesonet (spatially and temporally dense set of observing stations) for
use in a wide range of disciplines."
Takle also says there’s something else that makes IEM unique.
"I'm amazed at the collegiality of the organizations involved,"
he said. "Everybody has come to the table wanting to know how we
could do this and how we can make it better."
So far so good for IEM. The group recently was given the prestigious NWA
Larry R. Johnson Award by the National Weather Association for "development
and implementation of a real-time data collection and dissemination, weather
observing, network partnership to improve educational resources, warnings
and climatological services for the citizens of Iowa."
The IEM is currently gathering information from eight permanent observing
networks throughout Iowa. These networks include river gauges, cooperative
observer programs, roadway weather information system, soil climate analysis
and KCCI’s School Network (SNET).
The SNET draws data from small weather stations located in schools across
the state at five-second intervals. The NWS on the other hand only has
stations located at major state airports and records its weather data
at much larger intervals.
"This type of information that SNET provides was very appealing
to the National Weather Service," Takle said.
NWS wants data from all available sources, but does not have the resources
to perform the quality control and archive functions for data coming from
many different sources. That's where Iowa State and faculty members in
the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences and the Department
of Agronomy come in.
"We're acting as kind of a broker between a private firm and the
government," Takle said. "The National Weather Service is delighted
to have this detailed information from all around the state."
Takle cites a case last summer when a 92 mph wind gust briefly hit a small
Iowa town.
"Since there was no airport nearby and the NWS radar was offline,
this information would not have been available to NWS forecasters,"
he said.
IEM is coordinated by Daryl Herzmann, program assistant in the Department
of Agronomy. While the program is based in the Department of Agronomy,
Takle says faculty in the meteorology program within the Department of
Geological and Atmospheric Sciences have taken an active role.
"All of the meteorology faculty are using the data in their classes
and in their research, and many students are using it for their senior
research projects," he said. "It's getting very wide use in
both the classroom and for research.
"This is a great example of a collaboration between federal, private
and state organizations," Takle continued. "Everybody wins with
the IEM. We all get better information, which is disseminated out to the
public at no additional cost."
Around LAS
January 13-26, 2003
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