Maryland Hydrometeorological Networks

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Regional Surface Meteorological Networks

WMAR WeatherNet - WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Maryland operates this network of 131 stations located primarily at schools throughout Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware (126 in Maryland). 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 WMAR network page. No map yet.

WCAU SchoolNet - WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania operates this network of 230 stations located at schools throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states (1 in Maryland). 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 WCAU network page. No map yet.

WPXI SchoolNet - WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania operates this network of 63 stations located at schools throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states (2 in Maryland). 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 WPXI network page. No map yet.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Maryland Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Maryland DOT operates this network of 45 stations with locations along highways throughout the state of Maryland. The network provides variable (hourly or higher) resolution observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, and wind speed. For further information visit the Maryland DOT RIWS page or the Surface Systems, Inc Road Weather page.

Aberdeen Proving Ground Network - The US Army operates the Abderdeen Proving Ground network of 5 station with locations to the northeast of Baltimore, Maryland. The data from this network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Precipitation and Radar Networks
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Maryland. 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.

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 (12 in Maryland) 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 (18 in Maryland). These data are archived at NOAA/NCDC as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page.

Integrated FLood Observing and Warning System (IFLOWS) Precipitation Network - The IFLOWS precipitation network is a collection of various state operated Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) networks throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeastern portions of the United States. The network is comprised of 1530 precipitation stations that provide 15-minute observations of precipitation (73 in Maryland). These precipitation data are included as part of the NCEP Precipitation data set described above. For further information visit the AFWS home page.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ultraviolet Monitoring Program (UV-Net) - The EPA operates this network of 20 Brewer spectrophotometers throughout the US (1 in Maryland). 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 Maryland). 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 50 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (1 in Maryland). 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 Maryland). 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 (60 in Maryland) 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 or the USGS Maryland District Office home page.

Integrated FLood Observing and Warning System (IFLOWS) Streamflow Network - The IFLOWS network is a collection of various state operated Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) networks throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeastern portions of the United States. The network is comprised of 275 streamflow gages that provide 15-min stage observations (25 in Maryland). For further information visit the AFWS home page.

USDA/ARS Watershed Research - The USDA/ARS operates a number of research watersheds throughout the US. Some of the best instrumented include the Reynolds Creek in Idaho, the Walnut Gulch in Arizona, the Southern Plains Experimental Range in Oklahoma, the Little Washita River in Oklahoma, the Blackland Prairie in Texas, the Goodwater Creek in Missouri, the Walnut Creek in Iowa, Goodwin Creek in Mississippi, the Little River in Georgia, the Oconee River in Georgia, the North Appalachian Watershed in Ohio, the National Agriculture Research Center in Maryland, and the Mahantango Creek in Pennsylvania. Most of these have at least one surface meteorological station and a precipitation gage network. For further information visit the USDA/ARS Watershed Research home page at: http:/www.nwrc.ars.usda.gov/watershed/.

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 (1 in Maryland). 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.

Cooperative Agency Profiler (CAP) Network - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from wind profilers and RASS operated by a number of cooperating agencies. Most of these profilers are 915 MHz, but some are 449 or 50 MHz. Most provide hourly observations of wind speed and direction. The number and location of these can vary through time. As this is being written the network included 58 locations within the US (1 in Maryland). Most of the sites are along the US West Coast and in the northeastern US. For further information visit the CAP home page at: http://www.profiler.noaa.gov/jsp/aboutCap.jsp.

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 (5 in Maryland). 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.

Aerosol 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 (3 in Maryland) near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions and precipitable water. For further information visit the AERONET home page.

Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet - The Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet (REALM) is a proposal by a number of lidar researchers and is designed to monitor air quality in the vertical from multiple locations on the east coast. For further information visit the REALM web site. Map at web site.

Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) - MPLNET is comprised of ground-based lidar systems that are co-located with sun/sky photometer sites in the NASA AERONET. Basic data from the MPL include aerosol and cloud layer heights. The primary purpose of MPLNET is to acquire long-term observations of aerosol and cloud vertical structure at sites around the world (1 in Maryland). For further information visit the MPLNET home page.

Coastal Networks

Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) - The National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) operates this network of 55 C-MAN stations with locations along coastlines throughout the US (1 in Maryland). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust. Some stations also provide observations of sea water temperature, water level, waves, relative humidity, precipitation, and visibility. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) - The National Ocean Service (NOS) operates this network of 51 weather stations with locations within bays and harbors along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines (2 in Maryland). The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, water temperature, and water level. For further information visit the PORTS home page .

Regional Surface Meteorological Networks
	Click on the maps for larger image


WMAR WeatherNet - WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Maryland operates this network of 131 stations located primarily at schools throughout Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware (126 in Maryland). 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 WMAR network page.	No map yet.

WCAU SchoolNet - WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania operates this network of 230 stations located at schools throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states (1 in Maryland). 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 WCAU network page.	No map yet.

WPXI SchoolNet - WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania operates this network of 63 stations located at schools throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states (2 in Maryland). 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 WPXI network page.	No map yet.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Maryland Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Maryland DOT operates this network of 45 stations with locations along highways throughout the state of Maryland. The network provides variable (hourly or higher) resolution observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, and wind speed. For further information visit the Maryland DOT RIWS page or the Surface Systems, Inc Road Weather page.

Aberdeen Proving Ground Network - The US Army operates the Abderdeen Proving Ground network of 5 station with locations to the northeast of Baltimore, Maryland. The data from this network is included in the NOAA/FSL MADIS data set.

Precipitation and Radar Networks
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) - The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University overseas this cooperative network of observers located throughout Maryland. 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.

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 (12 in Maryland) 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 (18 in Maryland). These data are archived at NOAA/NCDC as data set TD 3260. For further information visit the NOAA/NCDC TD3260 page.

Integrated FLood Observing and Warning System (IFLOWS) Precipitation Network - The IFLOWS precipitation network is a collection of various state operated Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) networks throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeastern portions of the United States. The network is comprised of 1530 precipitation stations that provide 15-minute observations of precipitation (73 in Maryland). These precipitation data are included as part of the NCEP Precipitation data set described above. For further information visit the AFWS home page.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ultraviolet Monitoring Program (UV-Net) - The EPA operates this network of 20 Brewer spectrophotometers throughout the US (1 in Maryland). 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 Maryland). 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 50 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (1 in Maryland). 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 Maryland). 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 (60 in Maryland) 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 or the USGS Maryland District Office home page.

Integrated FLood Observing and Warning System (IFLOWS) Streamflow Network - The IFLOWS network is a collection of various state operated Automated Flood Warning System (AFWS) networks throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeastern portions of the United States. The network is comprised of 275 streamflow gages that provide 15-min stage observations (25 in Maryland). For further information visit the AFWS home page.

USDA/ARS Watershed Research - The USDA/ARS operates a number of research watersheds throughout the US. Some of the best instrumented include the Reynolds Creek in Idaho, the Walnut Gulch in Arizona, the Southern Plains Experimental Range in Oklahoma, the Little Washita River in Oklahoma, the Blackland Prairie in Texas, the Goodwater Creek in Missouri, the Walnut Creek in Iowa, Goodwin Creek in Mississippi, the Little River in Georgia, the Oconee River in Georgia, the North Appalachian Watershed in Ohio, the National Agriculture Research Center in Maryland, and the Mahantango Creek in Pennsylvania. Most of these have at least one surface meteorological station and a precipitation gage network. For further information visit the USDA/ARS Watershed Research home page at: http:/www.nwrc.ars.usda.gov/watershed/.

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 (1 in Maryland). 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.

Cooperative Agency Profiler (CAP) Network - The NOAA/FSL ingests data from wind profilers and RASS operated by a number of cooperating agencies. Most of these profilers are 915 MHz, but some are 449 or 50 MHz. Most provide hourly observations of wind speed and direction. The number and location of these can vary through time. As this is being written the network included 58 locations within the US (1 in Maryland). Most of the sites are along the US West Coast and in the northeastern US. For further information visit the CAP home page at: http://www.profiler.noaa.gov/jsp/aboutCap.jsp.

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 (5 in Maryland). 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.

Aerosol 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 (3 in Maryland) near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions and precipitable water. For further information visit the AERONET home page.

Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet - The Regional East Atmospheric Lidar Mesonet (REALM) is a proposal by a number of lidar researchers and is designed to monitor air quality in the vertical from multiple locations on the east coast. For further information visit the REALM web site.	Map at web site.

Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNET) - MPLNET is comprised of ground-based lidar systems that are co-located with sun/sky photometer sites in the NASA AERONET. Basic data from the MPL include aerosol and cloud layer heights. The primary purpose of MPLNET is to acquire long-term observations of aerosol and cloud vertical structure at sites around the world (1 in Maryland). For further information visit the MPLNET home page.

Coastal Networks

Coastal-Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) - The National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) operates this network of 55 C-MAN stations with locations along coastlines throughout the US (1 in Maryland). The network typically provides hourly observations of air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and wind gust. Some stations also provide observations of sea water temperature, water level, waves, relative humidity, precipitation, and visibility. For further information visit the NDBC home page.

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) - The National Ocean Service (NOS) operates this network of 51 weather stations with locations within bays and harbors along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines (2 in Maryland). The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, water temperature, and water level. For further information visit the PORTS home page .