Nevada Hydrometeorological Networks

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Regional Surface Meteorological Networks

United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Agricultural Weather Networks (AgriMet) - There are two networks included here with similar data collection efforts. The USBR Great Plains Region operates the Great Plains Cooperative Agricultural Weather Network that consists of 20 stations located in central and western Montana. The USBR Pacific Northwest Region operates the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Agricultural Weather Network that consists of 69 stations located throughout the Pacific Northwest (primarily Washington, Oregon and Idaho) (2 in Nevada). Both networks provide up to 15-minute observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction and wind gust. Other parameters collected at some stations include soil temperature (at 1, 2, 4, 8, 20 and/or 40 inch depths), barometric pressure, leaf wetness, and diffuse solar radiation. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/FSL MADIS data sets. For further information visit the USBR Great Plains Region AgriMet home page or the USBR Pacific Northwest Region AgriMet home page. .
Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (13 in Nevada) located in the central and western United States. Further information on Union Pacific is available on their home page. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets. .

Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) Network - The Department of Energy and the Desert Research Institute operate this network of 25 stations with locations in southern Nevada and southwestern Utah around the Nevada Test Site (21 in Nevada). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and precipitation. For further information visit the CEMP 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/. .

KUTV2 WeatherNet - KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah operates this network of 75 stations located at schools throughout Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming (5 in Nevada). 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.

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (2 in Nevada). 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.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Nevada Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Nevada DOT operates this network of 38 stations with locations along highways in the vicinity of Reno. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets. For further information visit the Nevada DOT RWIS home page. .

Nevada Ambient Air Monitoring Network - The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Air Quality Planning operates this network of 9 air monitoring stations with locations throughout the state of Nevada. It is not know which of these might provide meteorological measurements. For further information visit the Nevada Ambient Air Monitoring home page. Map at web site.

Nevada Test Site Network - The NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory/Special Operations and Research Division operates this network of 33 stations located in the area of the Nevada Test Site in southwestern Nevada. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and precipitation. This network is included within the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/FSL MADIS data sets. For further information visit the Special Operations and Research Division home page at: http://www.sord.nv.doe.gov/arlsord-1.htm. .

Washoe County Evapotranspiration (Et) Project - The Washoe County Regional Water Planning Commission operates this network of 3 stations in the area around Reno, Nevada. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, soil temperature (depth unknown), and precipitation. For further information visit the Washoe County ET Project home page at: http://www.washoeet.dri.edu/washoeEt.html .

Clark County ALERT Weather Station Network - The Clark County (Las Vegas area) Regional Flood Control District operates this network of 25 weather stations with locations throughout the county. The network provides observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation at varying temporal resolutions. For further information visit the Clark County Regional Flood Control District Flood Threat Recognition System home page. No map.

KLAS WeatherNet - KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada operatesthis network of 94 stations located primarily at schools throughout Nevada (90 in Nevada). 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 KLAS network page. No map.

KOLO WeatherNet - KOLO-TV in Reno, Nevada operates this network of 27 stations located primarily at schools throughout Nevada. 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 WEAR 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 (56 in Nevada) 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 (45 in Nevada). 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 (31 in Nevada). 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 USDA/NRCS Nevada Snow Programs page. No Map.

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 Nevada). 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 Nevada), 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 (1 in Nevada). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

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 Nevada). 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 (82 in Nevada) 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 Nevada District Office home page.

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 (3 in Nevada). 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 (2 in Nevada). 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 (3 in Nevada). 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 Nevada) 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
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United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Agricultural Weather Networks (AgriMet) - There are two networks included here with similar data collection efforts. The USBR Great Plains Region operates the Great Plains Cooperative Agricultural Weather Network that consists of 20 stations located in central and western Montana. The USBR Pacific Northwest Region operates the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Agricultural Weather Network that consists of 69 stations located throughout the Pacific Northwest (primarily Washington, Oregon and Idaho) (2 in Nevada). Both networks provide up to 15-minute observations of air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction and wind gust. Other parameters collected at some stations include soil temperature (at 1, 2, 4, 8, 20 and/or 40 inch depths), barometric pressure, leaf wetness, and diffuse solar radiation. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/FSL MADIS data sets. For further information visit the USBR Great Plains Region AgriMet home page or the USBR Pacific Northwest Region AgriMet home page.	.
Union Pacific Railroad Weather Station Network - The Union Pacific Railroad operates this network of 264 weather stations (13 in Nevada) located in the central and western United States. Further information on Union Pacific is available on their home page. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets.	.

Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP) Network - The Department of Energy and the Desert Research Institute operate this network of 25 stations with locations in southern Nevada and southwestern Utah around the Nevada Test Site (21 in Nevada). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and precipitation. For further information visit the CEMP 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/.	.

KUTV2 WeatherNet - KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah operates this network of 75 stations located at schools throughout Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and Wyoming (5 in Nevada). 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.

KMAS-TV WeatherNet - KMAS-TV in Denver, Colorado operates this network of 93 stations located primarily at schools in Colorado and surrounding states (2 in Nevada). 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.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Nevada Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Nevada DOT operates this network of 38 stations with locations along highways in the vicinity of Reno. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. This network is included as part of the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD) MADIS data sets. For further information visit the Nevada DOT RWIS home page.	.

Nevada Ambient Air Monitoring Network - The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Air Quality Planning operates this network of 9 air monitoring stations with locations throughout the state of Nevada. It is not know which of these might provide meteorological measurements. For further information visit the Nevada Ambient Air Monitoring home page.	Map at web site.

Nevada Test Site Network - The NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory/Special Operations and Research Division operates this network of 33 stations located in the area of the Nevada Test Site in southwestern Nevada. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and precipitation. This network is included within the University of Utah MesoWest and NOAA/FSL MADIS data sets. For further information visit the Special Operations and Research Division home page at: http://www.sord.nv.doe.gov/arlsord-1.htm.	.

Washoe County Evapotranspiration (Et) Project - The Washoe County Regional Water Planning Commission operates this network of 3 stations in the area around Reno, Nevada. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, soil temperature (depth unknown), and precipitation. For further information visit the Washoe County ET Project home page at: http://www.washoeet.dri.edu/washoeEt.html	.

Clark County ALERT Weather Station Network - The Clark County (Las Vegas area) Regional Flood Control District operates this network of 25 weather stations with locations throughout the county. The network provides observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation at varying temporal resolutions. For further information visit the Clark County Regional Flood Control District Flood Threat Recognition System home page.	No map.

KLAS WeatherNet - KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada operatesthis network of 94 stations located primarily at schools throughout Nevada (90 in Nevada). 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 KLAS network page.	No map.

KOLO WeatherNet - KOLO-TV in Reno, Nevada operates this network of 27 stations located primarily at schools throughout Nevada. 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 WEAR 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 (56 in Nevada) 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 (45 in Nevada). 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 (31 in Nevada). 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 USDA/NRCS Nevada Snow Programs page.	No Map.

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 Nevada). 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 Nevada), 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 (1 in Nevada). For further information visit the BSRN home page.

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 Nevada). 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 (82 in Nevada) 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 Nevada District Office home page.

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 (3 in Nevada). 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 (2 in Nevada). 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 (3 in Nevada). 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 Nevada) near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions and precipitable water. For further information visit the AERONET home page.