Tower Data Display
The Tower Data provides numerical data on the winds, temperatures, and other parameters measured on instrumented towers. Surface observations made by meteorologists at local meteorological monitoring stations can also be reported. At the Hanford Site, meteorological measurements are made on a 410-ft and three 200-ft instrumented towers. Each tall tower on the Hanford Site reports:
- Temperature, wind direction, and wind speed at multiple monitoring levels on the tower. Note that not all parameters are measured at every level.
- Delta T - This is the difference in the temperatures measured at the 200 ft and 30 ft monitoring levels on the tower. This value is the average of the differences measured at 5-second intervals over the 15-minute monitoring period. It may be a slightly different value than the difference in the 15 minute average temperature at the two height.
- Atmospheric stability computed using the EPA Solar Radiation Delta T methodology.
At the lowest monitoring level at the tower, dew point temperature and relative humidity are also reported.
At the Hanford Meteorology Station, the duty meteorologist records selected observations that are read and reported by MetView. These include:
- Cloud ceiling (in hundreds of feet).
- Observed sky cover (tenths).
- Incoming solar radiation.
- The height of the top of the atmospheric mixing layer.