The influence of instrumentation, siting, exposure height, and temporal averaging methodology on meteorological measurements from SJVAQS/AUSPEX

Abstract

It is important to be aware of the influence that instrumentation, siting, data processing, and sensor exposure have upon the measurements. A unique opportunity arose to study this influence when in summer 1990, a vast meteorological measurement network was established for the central one-third of the state of California. To characterize and quantify measurement influences, comparisons were made of data associated with different instrument types, sites, measurement heights, and temporal averaging methodologies. Comparative statistics were then developed and summarized. Little variability existed among the characteristics of surface instrumentation, but sounding instrumentation varied greatly in the degree to which atmospheric vertical structure was resolved. -from Author