Toward a Standardized Metadata Protocol for Urban Meteorological Networks (original) (raw)

Sensors and The City: A Review of Urban Meteorological Networks

The heterogeneous nature of urban environments means that atmospheric research ideally requires a dense network of sensors to adequately resolve the local climate. With recent advances in sensor technology, a number of urban meteorological networks now exist with a range of research or operational objectives. This paper reviews and assesses the current status of urban meteorological networks, by examining the fundamental scientific and logistical issues related to these networks. The paper concludes by making recommendations for future deployments based on the challenges encountered by existing networks, including the need for better reporting and documentation of network characteristics, standardised approaches and guidelines, along with the need to overcome financial barriers via collaborative relationships in order to establish the long-term urban networks essential for advancing urban climate research.

The value of weather station metadata

15th Conference on …, 2005

15th Conference on Applied Climatology 13th Symposium on Meteorological Observations and Instrumentation J3.1. The Value of Weather Station Metadata. Janet E. Martinez, Oklahoma Climatological Survey, Norman, OK; and CA Fiebrich and RA McPherson. ...

Data formats and standards for opportunistic rainfall sensors

Open Research Europe

Opportunistic sensors are increasingly used for rainfall measurement. However, their raw data are collected by a variety of systems that are often not primarily intended for rainfall monitoring, resulting in a plethora of different data formats and a lack of common standards. This hinders the sharing of opportunistic sensing (OS) data, their automated processing, and, at the end, their practical usage and integration into standard observation systems. This paper summarises the experiences of the more than 100 members of the OpenSense Cost Action involved in the OS of rainfall. We review the current practice of collecting and storing precipitation OS data and corresponding metadata, and propose new common guidelines describing the requirements on data and metadata collection, harmonising naming conventions, and defining human-readable and machine readable file formats for data and metadata storage. We focus on three sensors identified by the OpenSense community as prominent represent...

The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory: An open meteorological testbed and challenges of the smart city

Existing Urban Meteorological Networks have an important role to play as testbeds for inexpensive and more sustainable measurement techniques which are now becoming possible in our increasingly smart cities. The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory (BUCL) is a near real-time, high-resolution urban meteorological network (UMN) of automatic weather stations and inexpensive, non-standard air temperature sensors. The network has recently been implemented with an initial focus on monitoring urban heat, infrastructure and health applications. A number of UMNs exist worldwide; however BUCL is novel in its density, the low-cost nature of the sensors and the use of proprietary Wi-Fi networks. This paper provides an overview the logistical aspects of implementing an UMN testbed at such a density, including selecting appropriate urban sites, testing and calibrating low-cost, non-standard equipment, implementing strict quality assurance/quality control mechanisms (including metadata), and utilising pre-existing Wi-Fi networks to transmit data. Also included are visualisations of data collected by the network, including data from the July 2013 UK heatwave as well as highlighting potential applications. The paper is an open invitation to use the facility as a testbed for evaluating models and/or other non-standard observation techniques such as those generated via crowdsourcing techniques.

High-Resolution Urban Observation Network for a User-Specific Meteorological Information Service in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 2016

To improve our knowledge of urban meteorology, including those processes applicable to high-resolution meteorological models in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, a Weather Information Service Engine urban meteorological observation system network (UMS-Seoul) has been designed and installed. The network incorporates 14 surface energy balance (EB) systems, 7 surface-based 3-dimensional meteorological observation (3D) systems, and applied meteorological observation (AP) systems, as well as the existing surface-based meteorological observation network. The EB system consists of a radiation balance system, sonic anemometers, infrared CO<sub>2</sub>/H<sub>2</sub>O gas analyzers, and many sensors to measure wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, precipitation, and air pressure, etc. The EB-produced radiation, meteorological, and turbulence data will be used to quantify the surface energy balance according to land use, and improve the boundary layer and surfa...