Diamond, Howard J. and Karl, Thomas R. and Palecki, Michael A. and Baker, C. Bruce and Bell, Jesse E. and Leeper, Ronald D. and Easterling, David R. and Lawrimore, Jay and Meyers, Tilden P. and Helfert, Michael R. and Goodge, Grant and Thorne, Peter (2013) U.S. Climate Reference Network after One Decade of Operations: Status and Assessment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94 (4). pp. 485-498. ISSN 1520-0477

Preview

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

The year 2012 marks a decade of observations undertaken by the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) under the auspices of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division. The network consists of 114 sites across the conterminous 48 states, with additional sites in Alaska and Hawaii. Stations are installed in open (where possible), rural sites very likely to have stable land-cover/use conditions for several decades to come. At each site a suite of meteorological parameters are monitored, including triple redundancy for the primary air temperature and precipitation variables and for soil moisture/temperature. Instrumentation is regularly calibrated to National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and maintained by a staff of expert engineers. This attention to detail in USCRN is intended to ensure the creation of an unimpeachable record of changes in surface climate over the United States for decades to come. Data are made available without restriction for all public, private, and government use. This article describes the rationale for the USCRN, its implementation, and some of the highlights of the first decade of operations. One critical use of these observations is as an independent data source to verify the existing U.S. temperature record derived from networks corrected for nonhomogenous histories. Future directions for the network are also discussed, including the applicability of USCRN approaches for networks monitoring climate at scales from regional to global. Constructive feedback from end users will allow for continued improvement of USCRN in the future and ensure that it continues to meet stakeholder requirements for precise climate measurements.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	U.S. Climate Reference Network; One Decade; Operation; Status; Assessment;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS
Item ID:	6481
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00170.1
Depositing User:	Peter Thorne
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2015 09:49
Journal or Publication Title:	Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Publisher:	American Meteorological Society
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads