Data Set Citation
Fountain A.Lake Brownworth Meteorological Station Measurements.
knb-lter-mcm.7005.5 (http://metacat.lternet.edu:8080/knb/metacat/knb-lter-mcm.7005.5/mcm).
Data Tables, Images, and Other Entities:
Metadata download:Ecological Metadata Language (EML) File
Data Table:Air_Temperature_Units
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Data Table:File_and_Record_Numbers
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Data Table:Solar_Radiation_Units
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Data Table:Relative_Humidity_Units
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Data Table:Soil_Temperature_Units
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Data Table:Wind_Measurement_Units
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Data Table:SnowHeight_SurfChange_Units
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Data Table:Water_Vapor_Density_Units
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Short Name:brownworth_met
Online Distribution Info:
Schema Name:http://www.mcmlter.org/queries/met_results.jsp
Description:
You can build your own query for all the data in this station using the URL http://www.mcmlter.org/queries/met_results.jsp and the described parameters, or you can just visit the URL http://www.mcmlter.org/queries/met_queries.jsp and simply use the form to build your own metereology query from any McMurdo Dry Valleys Metereological station
Here is an example to query for the barometric pressure from March 1998 to April 2000 at Lake Hoare: http://www.mcmlter.org/queries/met_results.jsp?begDate=03/01/1998&endDate=04/01/2000&mask=MM/DD/YYYY%20HH24:Mi&metStation=HOEM&dataType=PRESSTA
variable (dataType) abbreviations list for Lake Brownsworth Station - BRHM
RH (relative humidity)
AIRT (air temperature)
WIND (wind speed, direction, etc)
SOILT (soil temperature)
RADN (radiation)
SURFCHANGE (soil surface change, snow depth, etc)
WVAPD (Water Vapor Density)
FLINE (file and record numbers)
     begDate:
  Desired begin date for the data, use format MM/DD/YYYY
     endDate:
  Desired End Date for the data query
     mask:
  Associated Date format for the data record. (I.e, a mask value that works here is MM/DD/YYYY HH24:Mi or - decimal - for a decimal year)
     metStation:
  Code Name for the metereological station from which the data is asked, for this station is brownsworth - BRHM
     dataType:
  variable abbreviation for the parameter of interest, such as wind speed or air temperature. For a list of the used abbreviations, see the description section above
Data Set Owner(s):
Individual: Andrew G. Fountain
Address:
Department of Geology,
17 Cramer Hall,
1721 SW Broadway,
Portland State University ,
Portland, OR 97207-0751 USA
Phone:
(503)725-3022 (voice)
Email Address:
fountaina@pdx.edu
Metadata Provider(s):
Organization:McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER
Address:
Byrd Polar Research Center ,
108 Scott Hall,
1090 Carmack Rd,
Columbus, OH 43210-1002 USA
Phone:
614-292-3229 (voice)
Phone:
(614) 292-4697 (fax)
Email Address:
mcmlter@bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu
Associated Party:
Individual: Hassan Basagic
Address:
Department of Geology,
Portland State University ,
Portland, OR 97207-0751 USA
Email Address:
basagic@pdx.edu
Role:
Associated Researcher
Abstract:
 
As part of the Long Term Ecological Research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, meteorological data was collected from various locations throughout Taylor, Wright and Victoria Valleys. These files contain data for the Lake Brownworth meteorology station (in Wright Valley).
Keywords:
 
  • meteorology (theme)
  • temperature (theme)
  • air temperature (theme)
  • soil temperature (theme)
  • wind (theme)
  • relative humidity (theme)
  • radiation (theme)
  • snow height (theme)
Additional Information:
 
Comments
Meteorological data is collected year-round at each of the stations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. After retrieving this data (usually every January), the parameters that are recorded are processed from level 0 (raw) to level 1 (processed, provided on the web). The raw data file descriptions and task lists summarize what was done to get from level 0 to level 1 for all station found at the following address: http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/tasks/task_lists.htm
Citations
Doran, Peter T., Gayle L. Dana, Jordan T. Hastings and Robert A. Wharton, Jr. 1995. McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER): LTER automatic weather network (LAWN). Antarctic Journal of the U.S. 30(5): 276-280.
Notes
Data contained in these files has been subjected to quality control standards imposed by the investigator. The user of this data should be aware that, while efforts have been taken to ensure that these data are of the highest quality, there is no guarantee of perfection for the data contained herein and the possibility of errors exists. If you encounter questionable data, please contact the MCM LTER data manager so that the data can be corrected or qualified. Thus, these data may be modified and future data will be appended.
License and Usage Rights:
 
MCM LTER data may be used freely with the following restrictions:
The Principal Investigator be sent a notice stating reasons for acquiring any data and a description of the publication intentions. The Principal Investigator of the data set be sent a copy of the report or manuscript prior to submission and be adequately cited in any resultant publications. A copy of any resultant publications should be sent to the McMurdo data manager and principal investigator. The end-user follow the guidelines set forth in the LTER Network Data Access Policy, Data Access Requirements, and General Data Use Agreement found at http://www.mcmlter.org/data_guidelines.htm
Geographic Coverage:
Geographic Description: The Lake Brownworth meteorology station is located at a latitude of -77.433468, a longitude of 162.703627 E, and an elevation of 279.07546 meters above sea level. Descriptions of this and other McMurdo Dry Valley meteorology stations can be found at http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/locations/metlocs.html
Bounding Coordinates:
West:   162.70363  degrees
East:  162.70362  degrees
North:  -77.433468  degrees
South:  -77.433468  degrees
Mimimum Altitude:279  meter
Maximum Altitude:280  meter
Temporal Coverage:
Begin:
1994
End:
2006
Maintenance:
Description:
The first 96 records found in the 978/brh/brh97f01 file contained the same dates/times as the latter portion of the 967/brh/brh96702 file (overlap of records in the 1996/97 and 1997/98 files). Although the values in these files did not contain exact matches, a choice had to be made on which records to use. The data manager subjectively decided to use the 1996/97 records. This explains why the first record number (fline#) from the 978/brh/brh97f01 file is '978/brh/brh97f01.96', rather than 978/brh/brh97f01.0. If you have any questions, please contact the data manager. On August 17, 1999, the data manager added the 1998-1999 data to this dataset. In the process, she did some fine-tuning of the data, which included: 1. removal of the relative humidity data from November 1995 through April 1996, as requested by Peter Doran. The values during this period were unquestionably low, so it was recommended that the values be marked as bad and not included in the data files. 2. making the file layout consistent from year to year. This results in many null values being present for periods when certain values were not collected. However, it simplifies combining data from different years. 3. making corrections so that the files containing data for a given year started on January 1 at 0:00 and ended on December 31 at 23:45. Up to this point, records for January 1 between 0:00 and 12:45 were appearing in the previous year's file. 4. Fine-tuning of the comments fields so they were more concise and/or explanatory. For example, radiation comments were updated from "SwRadIn flagged with an 'S'" to "Negative value for SwRadIn zeroed out". The 'WDir Comments' field was renamed to 'Wind Comments'. With the exception of removal of the relative humidity values described above, data values were not changed. On August 27, more fine-tuning of the data occurred. This included: 1. addition of NetRad from Nov 24, 1995 @ 16:45 to Jan 23, 1996 @ 11:00. 2. addition of SwRadOut and PAR from Nov 13, 1996 @ 15:15 to Jan 25, 1997 @ 10:15. On July 3, 2001, Thomas Nylen adjusted the data. This included: 1. Added 37 degrees (clockwise) to WDir results between 11/20/1995 16:00 and 11/27/1998 11:15 2. Subjectively voided WDir and WDirStD between 3/1/1996 00:15: and 04/19/96 23:30 In May 2000, the 1999-2000 data was posted. In the process, Denise Steigerwald changed the layout of the files so that they were sorted by category (air temperatures, humidity, radiation, wind etc.) rather than by year. Files containing monthly and daily averages were generated and minor adjustments were made to the metadata. On May 16, 2000, relative humidity (RH) values were corrected for a systematic error in the measurement created by an instrument manufacturer error. All RH data with air temperatures below freezing were corrected using the vapor pressure over ice (rather than over water which was used initially). The error became quite large for very cold temperatures (the correction could grow to around 30%). The formula used for the correction was: RH_corr=RH_orig/((A*temp*temp)+(B*temp)+C) where RH_corr = corrected relative humidity RH_orig = original relative humidity temp = air temperature A = 4.165E-5 B = 9.7E-3 C = 1.0 For example, with an air temperature of -2.3 and RH_orig of 50.6, the RH_corr will be 51.7. Records that showed corrected RH values greater than or equal to 100 were changed to 99.99 and flagged. In June 2000, summary files were added to the web containing daily and monthly statistics. These were generated by creating "views" of daily and monthly means, minimums, maximums and counts of the records represented in the Oracle database's meteorology tables. In May 2003, SwRadIn values between 12/30/1994 10:00:00 PM and 4/19/1996 11:30:00 PM were changed because it was determined the wrong multiplier was used. The values were corrected by dividing by 88.4 (mAmps m-2) and multiplying by 113.12 (W m-2). On June 4, 2004, the relative humidity (RH) values after January 26, 2000 @ 1545 were corrected for a systematic error in the measurement created by an instrument manufacturer error. All RH data with air temperatures below freezing were corrected using the vapor pressure over ice (rather than over water which was used initially). The error became quite large for very cold temperatures (the correction could grow to around 30%). The polynomials used for the correction is based on Lowe (1977). The original RH value is multiplied by the saturation vapor pressure over water and divided by the the saturation vapor pressure over ice RH3m_corr=[RH3m]*(6.107799961 + [AirT3m] * (0.4436518521 + [AirT3m] * (0.01428945805 + [AirT3m] * (0.0002650648471 + [AirT3m] *(0.000003031240396 + [AirT3m] * (0.00000002034080948 + 0.00000000006136820929 * [AirT3 m])))))) / (6.109177956 + [AirT3m] * (0.503469897 + [AirT3m] * (0.01886013408 + [AirT3m] * (0.0004176223716 + [AirT3m] * (0.00000582472028 + [AirT3m] * (0.00000004838803174 + 0.0000000001838826904 * [AirT3m]))))))) Records that showed corrected RH values greater than or equal to 100 were changed to 99.99 and flagged.
In 2007, it was realized that the RH error was still present in parts of the dataset. Hasan Basagic made the above corrections to the BRHM dataset for the date range 1/7/2004 16:30 - 9/28/2006 22:30 (82,389 records). In September, 2007 the information manager (Chris Gardner) removed all old RH data and re-inserted then newly calculated values and associated comments. The original files are archive in the 'submitted data' section of the mcmlter server.
Frequency:
Contact:
Organization:McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER
Position:Data Manager
Address:
Byrd Polar Research Center ,
108 Scott Hall,
1090 Carmack Rd,
Columbus, OH 43210-1002 USA
Phone:
614-292-3229 (voice)
Email Address:
mcmlter@bprc.mps.ohio-state.edu
Publisher:
Organization:McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER
Address:
Byrd Polar Research Center ,
108 Scott Hall,
1090 Carmack Rd,
Columbus, OH 43210-1002 USA
Phone:
(614) 292-4697 (fax)
Methods Info:
Step 1:  
Description:
During the 1994-1995 field season, the McMurdo LTER, in collaboration with NZARP (New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme), established a meteorology station at Lake Brownworth in Lower Wright Valley at the head of the Onyx River. The station was set up to sample sensors every 30 seconds and send summary statistics (for example, averages and maximums) to solid-state storage modules every hour between December 30, 1994 and November 24, 1995, and every 15 minutes thereafter. This has resulted in approximately 20 values being recorded for final storage in every output interval.
Sampling Coverage:
Geographic Coverage:
Geographic Description: The Lake Brownworth meteorology station is located at a latitude of 77 13.05647 S, a longitude of 162 42.21760783 E, and an elevation of 279.07546 meters above sea level. Descriptions of this and other McMurdo Dry Valley meteorology stations can be found at http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/locations/metlocs.html
Bounding Coordinates:
West:   162.70363  degrees
East:  162.70362  degrees
North:  -77.433468  degrees
South:  -77.433468  degrees
Mimimum Altitude:279  meter
Maximum Altitude:280  meter
Sampling Description:
Sampling and Averaging Intervals
For Sampling frequency and Data Logger output and averaging intervals please visit: http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/methods/Interval_Dates.pdf
Seasonal Task Summary
To view the data post-processing steps for each season please visit: http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/tasks/task_lists.htm
Additional Metadata
Additional Metadata:Item 1 (View)