AMS Short Course on Meteorological Measurements and Instrumentation (CANCELLED)

The AMS Short Course on Meteorological Measurements and Instrumentation will be held 10 January 2016 preceding the Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

Meteorological measurements are the driving force for forecast and climate models worldwide.  Long term, quality measurements serve as the backbone of climate and drought monitoring by allowing current conditions to be put into a historical context.  The goal of this short course is to introduce, explain and demonstrate how various meteorological measurements are taken, recorded and quality controlled.  The course will focus on in-situ and remotely sensed measurements including: Ground based measurements and towers, solid precipitation measurements, remote sensing using radar, sodar and lidar and quality control and assurance methods.    

This course is targeted for meteorologists, hydrologists, climatologists, current and graduating students, government, private and academic meteorologists interested in learning about how meteorological measurements are taken.  This course is meant to fill the knowledge gap that sometimes exists between data providers and data users who may not be familiar with data collection methods and the errors and other caveats that are associated with various datasets.

The course will provide the background and technical aspects of the various measurements.  Sensors will be described and demonstrated with some hands-on experience.  Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop computer for their personal use.  Class materials will be provided on USB flash drives in order to reduce paper use.   Hands-on classroom exercises will allow students to see how sensors work, are operated and quality controlled. 

The lectures will be: Sebastian Hoch (University of Utah), Bruce Baker (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division), Craig Smith (Environment Canada), Ken Underwood (Atmospheric Systems Corp), Chris Fiebrich (Oklahoma Mesonet), and Jeff Taylor (National Ecological Observatory Network).

Lunch will not be provided.

Laptops/notebooks are encouraged to reduce the printing needs for this short course.  All course materials will be provided on USB flash drives. 

For more information, please contact Steven Oncley at NCAR/EOL, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO  80307-3000.  (tel: 303-497-8757; email: [email protected])