Davis Instruments Weather Club
July 1999.
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Here's a quick preview of this month's contents:
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Davis unleashes a new NIST Traceability Program... Jason, our resident meteorologist, highlights some ways to calculate complex stats in Excel... Our stations join high school students around the world and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in pursuit of the origins of the universe...And a call for K-12 lesson plans.... Enjoy!
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Davis: Introducing NIST Traceable Sensors
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Over the past year we've showcased some of the bedazzling ways folks are using our stations. Some, like those perched atop glaciers in Patagonia, or standing guard over a Bison boneyard, or coughing up dust in the Valley of the Kings, rely on our stations for their amazing accuracy and constancy of measurement. It is for these users, and for others doing scientific research or precise industrial calibrations, that we've put together a NIST Traceability Program for our sensors.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) develops and maintains the standards of measurement to which all others, here in the States, are ultimately traced. Certification means that our sensors will be tested and calibrated using NIST traceable instruments. We can also then re-certify those sensors a year or more later to guarantee that they're still performing with the highest level of precision.
Currently, we're prepared to certify all Davis' temperature, humidity, barometer, rain, and wind sensors, both new and used. If you'd like more info about our newly launched NIST Traceability Program, email us at sales@davisnet.com.
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How-To: Calculate Weather Stats Using Excel
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In last month's e-newsletter, we posted a question sent in by Bill Krause of Washington State about how to determine growing season and precipitation probability in Microsoft Excel. Jason, our resident meteorologist, whipped back a few suggestions:
There's a set of predefined statistical formulas that exist within Excel. You can get to these by clicking on the equal sign and selecting "More functions" in the drop down box that appears. A dialog box will appear with all the functions listed by category. Also, there are tools within Excel that will automatically generate several statistical parameters from a selected data set. This is under "Data Analysis" in the "Tools" menu. (If "Data Analysis" does not appear in your version, you will need to select "Add-Ins" from the Tools menu and click on "Analysis ToolPak.")
However, the more serious statisticians amongst us might want to purchase a program like StatMost or Statistica that has more powerful data analysis tools. Excel's tools, though fairly robust, are still somewhat limited. Typically, these programs allow you to import data from Excel (or a text file) for easy analysis.
As for the second part of Bill's question, I recommend "Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences" by Daniel S. Wilks for a good overview of the statistical methods available and which to use for which types of questions and why. For "official" meteorological methods such as how NOAA and the WMO calculate data parameters, check out the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) web site (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov). You can also compare their nationwide (and worldwide) climactic data with that of your own Davis station.
For specific information, try:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/normals/us/us_normals.html for an overview of the products available.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/normals/us/normals_clim84.html for a description of how daily normals are computed. (This is very different than the monthly or yearly arithmetic mean values.)
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/normals/us/normals_clim20.html for a description on how growing season and precipitation probabilities (among other things such as extremes) are computed.
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Cool Application: Project Sun
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Earlier this summer the news staff had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Gil Yanow, physicist and outreach coordinator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Gil is the luminous force behind Project Sun - a JPL program that enlists student research teams at schools around the world and trains them to collect, graph, and analyze solar and ultraviolet (UV) radiation readings. The goal is to have worldwide, ongoing investigations into visible and UV surface radiation, while giving students the chance to do real science. Project Sun's findings will play a role in determining the actual condition of the ozone layer.
Gil has spent a lot of time visiting schools and firing up the Project. Schools are asked to purchase the project equipment, which includes Davis' UV and solar radiation sensors, and to get it set up. Gil suggests that schools adopt a "research team" model, sort of on the model of athletic teams, that would continue year after year with new and returning student-researchers. The data collected by these research teams are then published on Project Sun's web site and processed by JPL for further analysis.
Gil told us that the project requires a commitment of two days of data per school per week. That leaves three school days when the equipment is "free". The students often carry out their own research, on top of the data collection they do for Project Sun, and share their observations with Gil. One team at Alta Loma High School in California observed a relationship between certain cloud formations (stratocumulus and altostratus) and surface radiation that Gil believes has never before been identified. The team found that a clearing of these cloud types is associated with a dangerous spike in the amount of UV radiation to levels well above those found on clear days. JPL is investigating this finding further.
If your school is interested in joining Project Sun, or if you're simply looking for a brilliant resource on UV and solar radiation, see the web site at http://sunshine.jpl.nasa.gov. Gil is dedicated to this project and his enthusiasm is dazzling. We were ready to sign Davis up!
Project Sun is sponsored by JPL's Genesis Mission. In January 2001, the
Genesis Mission intends to launch a spacecraft to collect pieces of the sun, called solar wind, and - what's even more incredible in terms of current technology - bring them back to Earth for analysis! The goal is that, by analyzing these particles, we will be able to establish the common building blocks of our solar system, and thereby gain some clues as to the origins of our universe.
For more info about the Genesis Mission and the "Search for Origins," check out http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/.
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Miscellany of the Moment: Call to Schoolteachers!
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Once again we're inviting you to partner with us in our efforts to make our products more useful, user-friendly and usable. The long, dreary days of summer are flying by (at least here in the Northern Hemi) and school will no doubt be here before we know it! We thought now would be a good time to check in with the teachers who are using our stations in hundreds of schools around the world and ask them if they have lesson plans they'd like to share. We're hoping to collect a set of K-12 weather lesson plans, which we could offer to schools as a companion to our weather station packages. Any teacher (or school) who submits lessons that are used in our collection will receive a grateful acknowledgment in the booklet and a $100 gift certificate towards Davis products!
If you have lesson plans you'd like to share, please email them to news@davisnet.com or send them to:
Susan Foxall
Marketing Manager
Davis Instruments
3465 Diablo Ave
Hayward CA 94545-2778
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Editor's note: For the past year, the e-news team has been having a ball putting together this e-newsletter and receiving all your lovely, informative and, yes, bizarre emails. We thought you should know that, sadly, one of us (half our editorial team!) is heading off to grad school at the end of this month. We extend our best wishes for her future happiness and success.
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That's it for July's E-news. See you next month! To subscribe to this e-newsletter go to: http://davisnet.com/news/e_club_signup.asp
