III-4. 2000 WEATHER DATA
71
III-4. 2000 WEATHER DATA FOR
EAGLE RIVER FLATS
Charles M. Collins
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
meteorological station and then retransmitted
INTRODUCTION
daily by the cell phone along with the meteo-
Weather is one the three major parameters
rological data to Hanover. The daily meteo-
affecting the success of the remediation pro-
rological data and the pond data were dis-
cess in Eagle River Flats. It is also the one pa-
played on the Eagle River Flats Web Page,
rameter that we cannot control. The other
linked to the CRREL Public Web Site (Collins
parameters are the water levels in the ponds,
1999).
which we can control with the automated
In 1999, unreliable cell phone connections
pump systems, and flooding from the tides,
prevented the meteorological data from be-
which we are partially able to control with the
ing posting to the Web site on a daily basis as
tide gates that we have installed at the heads
we had planned. All the data were stored and
of a number of the tidal gullies.
preserved in the datalogger and downloaded
To quantify local weather conditions in
later, but the concept of data being posted to
Eagle River Flats, a meteorological data sta-
the Web site on a daily basis and accessible to
tion was installed at the edge of the EOD pad
researchers was not successful (Collins 2000).
in May 1994 (Haugen 1995), and air tempera-
This year, to overcome that problem, the cell
ture, radiation, precipitation, and evaporation
phone link was eliminated. Instead, a base
data have been collected every summer since
station was set up at Route Bravo Bridge and
then. In 1998 the meteorological station was
wired into a hardwire telephone line. The base
revamped with a new, higher 4-m tower and
station would poll the meteorological station
updated sensors and data collection proce-
and the four dataloggers in turn by radio and
dures (Collins 1999). A cell phone connection
download the daily data. The data would then
was used to download the meteorological
be transmitted by a modem through the
data automatically on a daily basis to a com-
phone line to Hanover, resulting in a much
puter in CRREL-Hanover. Additionally, four
more reliable and timely posting of the me-
dataloggers installed in several of the treated
teorological data on the Web page. This base
ponds were linked to the meteorological sta-
station at Route Bravo Bridge also supported
tion by radio telemetry so that soil moisture
the Web camera system described elsewhere
conditions could also be transmitted to the
(Williams, this volume).
Previous Page
