Colorado Hydrometeorological Networks

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Regional Surface Meteorological Networks

High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) - The HPRCC oversees and ingests data from various state agricultural networks and makes it available as the AWDN. The AWDN is comprised of 167 stations located primarily in High Plains region (4 in Colorado). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. For further information visit the HPRCC AWDN home page.

Desert Research Institute Network - The Desert Research Institute operates this network of 10 stations located primarily in the area around Reno, Nevada (there is also one station near Steamboat Springs, Colorado). The network provides 10-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and precipitation. For further information visit the DRI network home page at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/. .

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (84 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KMAS network page. No map yet.

KUTV2 WeatherNet - KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah operates this network of 75 stations located at schools throughout Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming (1 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KUTV2 network page.

KOB WeatherNet - KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico operates this network of 53 stations located primarily at schools throughout New Mexico (3 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KOB network page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network (COAGMET) - The Colorado Climate Center oversees this network of 36 stations located in irrigated agricultural region across the state of Colorado. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, soil temperature at 5 and 15 cm, and leaf wetness. Further information at: http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~coagmet/.

Colorado Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Networks The Colorado DOT operates this network of 109 stations located along roadways throughout the state of Colorado. The network provides 15-min observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, precipitation type and intensity. Some stations also provided precipitation accumulation and visibility measurements. For further information visit the CDOT Traveler Information web page. This network is also included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Colorado E-470 Public Highway Authority Networks The Colorado E-470 Public Highway Authority operates this network of 8 stations located along E-470 around the Denver Metro Area. The resolution and parameters are not currently known. This network is included in the NOAA/ESRL/GSD MADIS data set. No map.

Air Force Academy Weather Station Networks The US Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, CO operates this network of 12 stations. The resolution and parameters are not currently known. This network is included in the NOAA/ESRL/GSD MADIS data set. No map.

Urban Drainage Flood Control District (UDFCD) ALERT Weather Station Network - The UDFCD (located in the Denver, CO area) operates an ALERT network that includes 16 weather stations, 122 precipitation gages, and 70 streamflow gages. Further information at: http://alert.udfcd.org/.

Fort Collins Utilities Department ALERT Network - The Fort Collins, CO Utilities Department operates and ALERT network that includes 5 weather stations, 38 rain gages, and 35 water level gages. For further information visit the Fort Collins Flood Warning System web page. This network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set. No map.

Colorado Springs Utilities Department Network - The Colorado Springs, CO Utilities Department operates this network of 9 stations in and around Colorado Springs. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the Colorado Springs Utilities page. No map.

Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology Network - CAVE web site. No map.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Air Monitoring Network - The CDPHE operates a network of 8 weather stations that provide hourly observations of air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Further information at: http://apcd.state.co.us/psi/main.html. No map.

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Network - The NCWCD operates a network of 21 weather stations across northeastern CO. The network provides hourly values of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, solar radiation, and soil temperature (depth unknown). Further information at: http://www.ncwcd.org/ims/ims_weather.asp. No map.

Denver Water Network - Denver Water operates a network of 6 weather stations in the Denver, CO metro area. The network provides at least daily values of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind run, and precipitation. Further information at: http://www.water.denver.co.gov/factsfigures/fact_figsframe.html. No map.

KOAA SchoolNet - KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs, Colorado operates this network of 51 stations located at schools throughout southeastern Colorado. The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KOAA network page. No map yet.

Precipitation and Radar Networks

NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Hourly Precipitation Data - NOAA/NCEP routinely develops a National Multi-sensor Hourly Precipitation Analysis (Stage II) data set from hourly radar precipitation estimates and from hourly gage reports. The gage data includes hourly observations from ~4000 gages across the US (164 in Colorado) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. Further information on these data is available at: http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/mmb/ylin/pcpanl/.

NOAA/NWS Cooperative Observer 15-minute Precipitation Network - The NOAA/NWS routinely collects 15-minute observations of precipitation from Fisher-Porter and Universal rain gages operated by 2777 cooperative observers located throughout the US (101 in Colorado). These data are archived at NOAA/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page at: http://ols.nndc.noaa.gov/plolstore/plsql/olstore.prodspecific?prodnum=C00505-TAP-A0001

Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) Network - The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) operates this network of 754 stations with locations throughout the mountainous areas of the western US (97 in Colorado). The temporal resolution and parameters measured vary by station. Up to hourly observations of air temperature, precipitation, snow depth, and snow water content are typically provided. Other parameters that may be available include relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, soil moisture, and soil temperature. These data are archived by the NRCS, Western Regional Climate Center, and other. For further information visit the NRCS SNOTEL Data Network home page or the Western Regional Climate Center SNOTEL data page or the US Bureau of Reclamation SNOTEL page.

USDA/NRCS Snow Survey Program - The USDA/NRCS Snow Survey Program provides mountain snow course data at approximately 800 locations throughout the western US. For further information visit the USDA/NRCS Snow Course Data Network page and the Colorado Snow Survey Program. No Map.

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout northeastern Colorado. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the CoCoRaHS home page. No map.

Rain Check Precipitation Network - This joint project among the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Project Impact, El Paso County, and Technology Service Corporation (TSC) initially supports drought decision making and will eventually be integrated with a state-wide Water Resources Web interface to a centralized database containing field data. Rain-Check collects, displays, and archives precipitation data within El Paso County in order to better understand the precipitation patterns of the region, provide information to city/county planners, improve on hydrological/drought forecasts, and raise general public knowledge of the variety of weather patterns throughout the region. Currently, more than 90 volunteers submit their precipitation data (rain, snow, and hail) daily to the Web site. The data is then collected and analyzed by TSC. Once entered, anyone with Internet access is able to access the information at the Rain-Check home page, where they can utilize the latest GIS mapping technologies via maps and reports to best fit their requirements. Maps at Web Site.

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defence operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the continguous US (3 in Colorado). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivitiy, mean radial velocity, and spectrum width) and are recorded at all NWS and most DOD sites. Level II data are then processed in order to create a number of meteorological analysis products known as Level III data. Level III data are recorded at the NWS sites. The Level III products included base reflectivity, base spectrum width, base velocity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, velocity azimuth display (VAD) wind profile, vertically integrated liquid (VIL), 1-hour precipitation, storm total precipitation, hail index overlay, mesocyclone overlay, severe weather probability overlay, storm structure, storm tracking information overlay, and tornadic vortex signature overlay. All Level II and III data are archived at NOAA/NCDC. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radarresources.html or the NOAA Radar Operations Center at: http://www.roc.noaa.gov/.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Budget Network - The SURFRAD network is operated by the NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory (ARL)/Surface Radiation Research Branch (SRRB). The primary parameters measured by each station include upwelling and downwelling solar and infrared radiation. Ancillary observations include direct and diffuse solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, UVB, spectral solar, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and barometric pressure. The temporal resolution of all observations is 3 minutes. There are 6 SURFRAD sites currently located across the US (1 in Colorado), with 2 additional sites planned (Sioux Falls, SD and Canaan Valley, WV). For further information visit the SURFRAD home page at: http://www.srrb.noaa.gov/surfrad/.

Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) - The BSRN is a project of the World Climate Research Programme. The primary parameters measured by each station include global radiation, direct and diffuse radiation, downward longwave radiation, and meteorological observations. The networks includes 12 stations within the United States (2 in Colorado). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

Measurement and Information Data Center (MIDC) Network - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) MIDC operates this network of 6 radiation and meteorological stations at locations throughout the US (3 in Colorado). The parameters vary by station. For further information visit the MIDC home page at: http://www.nrel.gov/midc/.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ultraviolet Monitoring Program (UV-Net) - The EPA operates this network of 20 Brewer spectrophotometers throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The network provides observations of full-sky spectrally resolved solar radiation in the UV-B and UV-A bands. The irradiance and total column ozone concentrations are derived from these data. For further information visit the EPA UV-Net page.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) UV-B Monitoring Network - The USDA operates this network of 29 stations with locations throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The network provides 3-minute observations of spectral total/direct/diffuse radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, barometric pressure, and photosynthetically active radiation. For further information visit the USDA UV-B Monitoring page.

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The typical observational frequency is 30 minutes. The parameters measured at each site vary, but Ameriflux has defined a core set of parameters that most sites collect, including fluxes of CO2, energy and water, basic meteorological and radiation parameters, and soil temperature and moisture. For further information visit the Ameriflux home page at: http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm.

Soil Networks

Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) - The SCAN is operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, precipitation, barometric pressure, snow water content, snow depth, soil temperature (at 2, 4, 8, 20, and 40 cm depths), and soil moisture (at 2, 4, 8, 20 and 40 cm depths). The 80 SCAN stations are located across the US in primarily agricultural regions (1 in Colorado). For further information visit the SCAN home page.

Hydrology Networks

United States Geological Survey (USGS) Streamflow Network - The USGS (part of the US Department of the Interior) operates this network of 7237 streamflow gages (298 in Colorado) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is comuputed using a stage-discharge rating relation. The rating is defined by occasional direct current-meter measurements of discharge. All data are available through the USGS and the district offices in each state. Many of these gages provide realtime data relayed via the GOES satellite data collection system. The realtime data are provisional data that have not been reviewed or edited. These realtime data may be subject to significant change and are not citeable until reviewed and approved by the USGS. Realtime data may be changed after review because the stage-discharge relationship may have been affected by: 1) backwater from ice or debris; 2) algal and aquatic growth in the stream; 3) sediment movement; and 4) malfunction of recording equipment. Each station record is considered provisional until the data are published. The data are usually published with 6 months of the end of the water year (1 October to 30 September). Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it. For further information on the USGS stremflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page at: http://water.usgs.gov/ or the USGS Colorado District Office.

Upper Air Networks

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network Low Vertical Resolution Data - The NOAA/NWS typically releases radiosondes twice per day at 0000 and 1200 UTC at 69 locations throughout the US (2 in Colorado). During special weather situations the NWS can request to release additional radiosondes at off-times (e.g. 1800 UTC). The low resolution data is sent out over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and provides mandatory and significant level observations of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction. There are 3 types of radiosondes utilized within the US network, Vaisala, VIZ (or Sippican), and Microsonde. These data are archived by NOAA/NCDC and other organizations. For further information on the NWS Radiosonde network visit the NWS Upper-air Observations Program home page. A several year archive of GTS upper air data is available at the NOAA/FSL Radiosonde Database.

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network High Vertical Resolution Data - The same radiosonde locations mentioned in the previous data set also provide a 6-second vertical resolution data set that provides observations of pressure, temperature, altitude, relative humidity, and azimuth and elevation angles. UCAR/JOSS has developed software to derive 6-second vertical resolution winds from the angle data. These data are archived by NCDC and UCAR/JOSS.

NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) - The NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) operates this network of 32 404 MHz wind profilers primarily across the central portion of the United States (2 in Colorado). Each site provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of wind speed and wind direction. Additionally, 11 of the NPN sites have a collocated Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) that provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of virtual temperature (1 in Colorado). For further information visit the NPN home page. An archive of the hourly wind profiles is available from NCAR/SCD.

Ground Based Global Positioning System (GPS) Meteorology Demonstration Network (GPS-MET) - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from 323 GPS locations around the US operated by many different agencies (11 in Colorado). Typically each location provides 30-minute observations of integrated precipitatable water along with a number of surface meteorology parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, etc). For further information visit the GPS-MET home page.

Other Networks

Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) - AERONET is an optical ground-based aerosol monitoring network and data archive supported by NASA's Earth Observing System. The network hardware consists of identical automatic sun-sky scanning spectral radiometers owned by national agencies and universities. Data from this collaboration provides globally distributed (1 in Colorado) near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions and precipitable water. For further information visit the AERONET home page.

Regional Surface Meteorological Networks
	Click on the maps for larger image


High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) - The HPRCC oversees and ingests data from various state agricultural networks and makes it available as the AWDN. The AWDN is comprised of 167 stations located primarily in High Plains region (4 in Colorado). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. For further information visit the HPRCC AWDN home page.

Desert Research Institute Network - The Desert Research Institute operates this network of 10 stations located primarily in the area around Reno, Nevada (there is also one station near Steamboat Springs, Colorado). The network provides 10-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and precipitation. For further information visit the DRI network home page at: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/weather/.	.

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (84 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KMAS network page.	No map yet.

KUTV2 WeatherNet - KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah operates this network of 75 stations located at schools throughout Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming (1 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KUTV2 network page.

KOB WeatherNet - KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico operates this network of 53 stations located primarily at schools throughout New Mexico (3 in Colorado). The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KOB network page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network (COAGMET) - The Colorado Climate Center oversees this network of 36 stations located in irrigated agricultural region across the state of Colorado. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, soil temperature at 5 and 15 cm, and leaf wetness. Further information at: http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~coagmet/.

Colorado Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Networks The Colorado DOT operates this network of 109 stations located along roadways throughout the state of Colorado. The network provides 15-min observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, precipitation type and intensity. Some stations also provided precipitation accumulation and visibility measurements. For further information visit the CDOT Traveler Information web page. This network is also included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Colorado E-470 Public Highway Authority Networks The Colorado E-470 Public Highway Authority operates this network of 8 stations located along E-470 around the Denver Metro Area. The resolution and parameters are not currently known. This network is included in the NOAA/ESRL/GSD MADIS data set.	No map.

Air Force Academy Weather Station Networks The US Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, CO operates this network of 12 stations. The resolution and parameters are not currently known. This network is included in the NOAA/ESRL/GSD MADIS data set.	No map.

Urban Drainage Flood Control District (UDFCD) ALERT Weather Station Network - The UDFCD (located in the Denver, CO area) operates an ALERT network that includes 16 weather stations, 122 precipitation gages, and 70 streamflow gages. Further information at: http://alert.udfcd.org/.

Fort Collins Utilities Department ALERT Network - The Fort Collins, CO Utilities Department operates and ALERT network that includes 5 weather stations, 38 rain gages, and 35 water level gages. For further information visit the Fort Collins Flood Warning System web page. This network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.	No map.

Colorado Springs Utilities Department Network - The Colorado Springs, CO Utilities Department operates this network of 9 stations in and around Colorado Springs. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the Colorado Springs Utilities page.	No map.

Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology Network - CAVE web site.	No map.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Air Monitoring Network - The CDPHE operates a network of 8 weather stations that provide hourly observations of air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Further information at: http://apcd.state.co.us/psi/main.html.	No map.

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Network - The NCWCD operates a network of 21 weather stations across northeastern CO. The network provides hourly values of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, solar radiation, and soil temperature (depth unknown). Further information at: http://www.ncwcd.org/ims/ims_weather.asp.	No map.

Denver Water Network - Denver Water operates a network of 6 weather stations in the Denver, CO metro area. The network provides at least daily values of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind run, and precipitation. Further information at: http://www.water.denver.co.gov/factsfigures/fact_figsframe.html.	No map.

KOAA SchoolNet - KOAA-TV in Colorado Springs, Colorado operates this network of 51 stations located at schools throughout southeastern Colorado. The network provides up to 1-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and barometric pressure. For further information visit the KOAA network page.	No map yet.

Precipitation and Radar Networks

NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Hourly Precipitation Data - NOAA/NCEP routinely develops a National Multi-sensor Hourly Precipitation Analysis (Stage II) data set from hourly radar precipitation estimates and from hourly gage reports. The gage data includes hourly observations from ~4000 gages across the US (164 in Colorado) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. Further information on these data is available at: http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/mmb/ylin/pcpanl/.

NOAA/NWS Cooperative Observer 15-minute Precipitation Network - The NOAA/NWS routinely collects 15-minute observations of precipitation from Fisher-Porter and Universal rain gages operated by 2777 cooperative observers located throughout the US (101 in Colorado). These data are archived at NOAA/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page at: http://ols.nndc.noaa.gov/plolstore/plsql/olstore.prodspecific?prodnum=C00505-TAP-A0001

Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) Network - The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) operates this network of 754 stations with locations throughout the mountainous areas of the western US (97 in Colorado). The temporal resolution and parameters measured vary by station. Up to hourly observations of air temperature, precipitation, snow depth, and snow water content are typically provided. Other parameters that may be available include relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, soil moisture, and soil temperature. These data are archived by the NRCS, Western Regional Climate Center, and other. For further information visit the NRCS SNOTEL Data Network home page or the Western Regional Climate Center SNOTEL data page or the US Bureau of Reclamation SNOTEL page.

USDA/NRCS Snow Survey Program - The USDA/NRCS Snow Survey Program provides mountain snow course data at approximately 800 locations throughout the western US. For further information visit the USDA/NRCS Snow Course Data Network page and the Colorado Snow Survey Program.	No Map.

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout northeastern Colorado. The network provides daily observations of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth. Hailpad observations are also made at many locations. For further information visit the CoCoRaHS home page.	No map.

Rain Check Precipitation Network - This joint project among the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Project Impact, El Paso County, and Technology Service Corporation (TSC) initially supports drought decision making and will eventually be integrated with a state-wide Water Resources Web interface to a centralized database containing field data. Rain-Check collects, displays, and archives precipitation data within El Paso County in order to better understand the precipitation patterns of the region, provide information to city/county planners, improve on hydrological/drought forecasts, and raise general public knowledge of the variety of weather patterns throughout the region. Currently, more than 90 volunteers submit their precipitation data (rain, snow, and hail) daily to the Web site. The data is then collected and analyzed by TSC. Once entered, anyone with Internet access is able to access the information at the Rain-Check home page, where they can utilize the latest GIS mapping technologies via maps and reports to best fit their requirements.	Maps at Web Site.

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defence operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the continguous US (3 in Colorado). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivitiy, mean radial velocity, and spectrum width) and are recorded at all NWS and most DOD sites. Level II data are then processed in order to create a number of meteorological analysis products known as Level III data. Level III data are recorded at the NWS sites. The Level III products included base reflectivity, base spectrum width, base velocity, composite reflectivity, echo tops, velocity azimuth display (VAD) wind profile, vertically integrated liquid (VIL), 1-hour precipitation, storm total precipitation, hail index overlay, mesocyclone overlay, severe weather probability overlay, storm structure, storm tracking information overlay, and tornadic vortex signature overlay. All Level II and III data are archived at NOAA/NCDC. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/radar/radarresources.html or the NOAA Radar Operations Center at: http://www.roc.noaa.gov/.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Budget Network - The SURFRAD network is operated by the NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory (ARL)/Surface Radiation Research Branch (SRRB). The primary parameters measured by each station include upwelling and downwelling solar and infrared radiation. Ancillary observations include direct and diffuse solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, UVB, spectral solar, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and barometric pressure. The temporal resolution of all observations is 3 minutes. There are 6 SURFRAD sites currently located across the US (1 in Colorado), with 2 additional sites planned (Sioux Falls, SD and Canaan Valley, WV). For further information visit the SURFRAD home page at: http://www.srrb.noaa.gov/surfrad/.

Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) - The BSRN is a project of the World Climate Research Programme. The primary parameters measured by each station include global radiation, direct and diffuse radiation, downward longwave radiation, and meteorological observations. The networks includes 12 stations within the United States (2 in Colorado). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

Measurement and Information Data Center (MIDC) Network - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) MIDC operates this network of 6 radiation and meteorological stations at locations throughout the US (3 in Colorado). The parameters vary by station. For further information visit the MIDC home page at: http://www.nrel.gov/midc/.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ultraviolet Monitoring Program (UV-Net) - The EPA operates this network of 20 Brewer spectrophotometers throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The network provides observations of full-sky spectrally resolved solar radiation in the UV-B and UV-A bands. The irradiance and total column ozone concentrations are derived from these data. For further information visit the EPA UV-Net page.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) UV-B Monitoring Network - The USDA operates this network of 29 stations with locations throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The network provides 3-minute observations of spectral total/direct/diffuse radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, barometric pressure, and photosynthetically active radiation. For further information visit the USDA UV-B Monitoring page.

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (2 in Colorado). The typical observational frequency is 30 minutes. The parameters measured at each site vary, but Ameriflux has defined a core set of parameters that most sites collect, including fluxes of CO2, energy and water, basic meteorological and radiation parameters, and soil temperature and moisture. For further information visit the Ameriflux home page at: http://public.ornl.gov/ameriflux/Participants/Sites/Map/index.cfm.

Soil Networks

Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) - The SCAN is operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, precipitation, barometric pressure, snow water content, snow depth, soil temperature (at 2, 4, 8, 20, and 40 cm depths), and soil moisture (at 2, 4, 8, 20 and 40 cm depths). The 80 SCAN stations are located across the US in primarily agricultural regions (1 in Colorado). For further information visit the SCAN home page.

Hydrology Networks

United States Geological Survey (USGS) Streamflow Network - The USGS (part of the US Department of the Interior) operates this network of 7237 streamflow gages (298 in Colorado) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is comuputed using a stage-discharge rating relation. The rating is defined by occasional direct current-meter measurements of discharge. All data are available through the USGS and the district offices in each state. Many of these gages provide realtime data relayed via the GOES satellite data collection system. The realtime data are provisional data that have not been reviewed or edited. These realtime data may be subject to significant change and are not citeable until reviewed and approved by the USGS. Realtime data may be changed after review because the stage-discharge relationship may have been affected by: 1) backwater from ice or debris; 2) algal and aquatic growth in the stream; 3) sediment movement; and 4) malfunction of recording equipment. Each station record is considered provisional until the data are published. The data are usually published with 6 months of the end of the water year (1 October to 30 September). Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it. For further information on the USGS stremflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page at: http://water.usgs.gov/ or the USGS Colorado District Office.

Upper Air Networks

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network Low Vertical Resolution Data - The NOAA/NWS typically releases radiosondes twice per day at 0000 and 1200 UTC at 69 locations throughout the US (2 in Colorado). During special weather situations the NWS can request to release additional radiosondes at off-times (e.g. 1800 UTC). The low resolution data is sent out over the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) and provides mandatory and significant level observations of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction. There are 3 types of radiosondes utilized within the US network, Vaisala, VIZ (or Sippican), and Microsonde. These data are archived by NOAA/NCDC and other organizations. For further information on the NWS Radiosonde network visit the NWS Upper-air Observations Program home page. A several year archive of GTS upper air data is available at the NOAA/FSL Radiosonde Database.

NOAA/NWS Radiosonde Network High Vertical Resolution Data - The same radiosonde locations mentioned in the previous data set also provide a 6-second vertical resolution data set that provides observations of pressure, temperature, altitude, relative humidity, and azimuth and elevation angles. UCAR/JOSS has developed software to derive 6-second vertical resolution winds from the angle data. These data are archived by NCDC and UCAR/JOSS.

NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) - The NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) operates this network of 32 404 MHz wind profilers primarily across the central portion of the United States (2 in Colorado). Each site provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of wind speed and wind direction. Additionally, 11 of the NPN sites have a collocated Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) that provides 6-minute and hourly vertical profiles of virtual temperature (1 in Colorado). For further information visit the NPN home page. An archive of the hourly wind profiles is available from NCAR/SCD.

Ground Based Global Positioning System (GPS) Meteorology Demonstration Network (GPS-MET) - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from 323 GPS locations around the US operated by many different agencies (11 in Colorado). Typically each location provides 30-minute observations of integrated precipitatable water along with a number of surface meteorology parameters (air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, etc). For further information visit the GPS-MET home page.

Other Networks

Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) - AERONET is an optical ground-based aerosol monitoring network and data archive supported by NASA's Earth Observing System. The network hardware consists of identical automatic sun-sky scanning spectral radiometers owned by national agencies and universities. Data from this collaboration provides globally distributed (1 in Colorado) near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions and precipitable water. For further information visit the AERONET home page.