| | 1: | | Title: | | | | | Volume/Number: | 1994 | | | | Issuing Agency: | | | | | Description: | The Illinois Climate Network (ICN) consists of 19 automated weather stations operated by the Illinois State Water Survey. Stations are located on the University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station Farms, the Southern Illinois University Agronomy Experiment Farms, and on community college campuses around the state. The ICN is part of the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) Network, which also collects information on soil moisture, groundwater, surface water, and suspended stream sediments. The ICN data have been used for agricultural purposes, such as for irrigation scheduling and to evaluate the progress of insect and crop development during spring and summer. The Illinois Department of Agriculture frequently requests the wind data when evaluating spray drift complaints. The ICN data are also used to assess the potential for using solar radiation and wind as alternative energy sources in Illinois. At each station a 10 meter tower equipped with weather instruments records hourly average air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, and soil temperatures at 10 and 20 centimeters. Detailed descriptions of station sites are presented, including areal photographs of a 1,000 meter radius of each station. Hourly wind speed mean and variances were used to estimate the effect of obstructions around the weather towers on wind flow at each tower. Total hourly precipitation and hourly standard deviations of each weather variable are also recorded. The barometric pressure, including hourly maximum and minimum pressures and the time of the maxima and minima, have been recorded since early 1992. Daily data that are saved include maximum and minimum air temperature, maximum and minimum relative humidity, maximum and minimum soil temperatures, maximum wind gusts and direction, and their times of occurrence. The data are automatically retrieved from the stations once each day between midnight and 4:00 a.m. At least three times a week, a database management technician checks the data for quality control, and then the data are made available to the public on the Midwestern Climate Center's Midwestern Climate Information System. | | | | Date Created: | 9 24 2004 | | | | Agency ID: | C-178 | | | | ISL ID: | 000000000765 Original UID: 999999993838 FIRST WORD: Illinois | |
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