Oregon 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) (28 in Oregon). 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 (22 in Oregon) 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. .
Mountain Weather Data Network - The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center operates this network of 17 stations located in mountainous areas of Washington and Oregon. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and snowfall. This network is included within the University of Utah MesoWest and the NOAA/FSL MADIS. For further information visit the Mountain Weather Data Network home page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Oregon Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Oregon DOT operates this network of 58 stations located along highways throughout Oregon. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. For further information visit the Oregon DOT RWIS 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.

KTVB7 First Alert Weather Network - KTVB-TV in Boise, ID operates this network of 10 stations located primarily at schools throughout southwestern Idaho (1 in Oregon). 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 KTVB7 network page.

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 (179 in Oregon) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. For further information visit the NCEP Hourly Precipitation Analysis web page.

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 (117 in Oregon). 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.

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 (74 in Oregon). 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 Oregon Snow Survey Program. No Map.

City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services HYDRA Rainfall Network - The City of Portland, Oregon operates this network of 39 rain gages located throughout the Portland area. The network provides hourly observations of precipitation. For further information including a map of locations visit the City of Portland HYDRA home page. Map at web site

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defense operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the contiguous US (3 in Oregon). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivity, 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 NCDC Radar Data Archive or the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page or the NOAA Radar Operations Center.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (3 in Oregon). 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.

University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory Network - The University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory Network consists of 21 stations located throughout Oregon and nearby states (11 in Oregon). The parameters measured vary by station but typically provide up to 5-minute observations of global, direct and diffuse solar along with some meteorological parameters. For further information visit the SRML Network 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 (3 in Oregon). 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 (180 in Oregon) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is computed 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 streamflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page or the USGS Oregon 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 (2 in Oregon). 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 Oregon). Most of the sites are along the US West Coast and in the northeastern US. For further information visit the CAP home page.

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 (2 in Oregon). 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 NOAA/FSL 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 Oregon) 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


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) (28 in Oregon). 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 (22 in Oregon) 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.	.
Mountain Weather Data Network - The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center operates this network of 17 stations located in mountainous areas of Washington and Oregon. The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and snowfall. This network is included within the University of Utah MesoWest and the NOAA/FSL MADIS. For further information visit the Mountain Weather Data Network home page.

State and Local Surface Meteorological Networks

Oregon Department of Transportation (DOT) Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Network - The Oregon DOT operates this network of 58 stations located along highways throughout Oregon. The network provides 15-minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. For further information visit the Oregon DOT RWIS 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.

KTVB7 First Alert Weather Network - KTVB-TV in Boise, ID operates this network of 10 stations located primarily at schools throughout southwestern Idaho (1 in Oregon). 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 KTVB7 network page.

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 (179 in Oregon) collected by the NOAA River Forecast Centers and sent to NCEP. For further information visit the NCEP Hourly Precipitation Analysis web page.

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 (117 in Oregon). 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.

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 (74 in Oregon). 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 Oregon Snow Survey Program.	No Map.

City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services HYDRA Rainfall Network - The City of Portland, Oregon operates this network of 39 rain gages located throughout the Portland area. The network provides hourly observations of precipitation. For further information including a map of locations visit the City of Portland HYDRA home page.	Map at web site

Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) Network - The NOAA/NWS and the Department of Defense operate this network of 143 WSR-88D radars across the contiguous US (3 in Oregon). The Level II data are the three meteorological base data quantities (reflectivity, 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 NCDC Radar Data Archive or the NOAA/NCDC Radar Resources page or the NOAA Radar Operations Center.

Radiation and Flux Networks

Ameriflux Network - The Ameriflux network consists of 54 sites conducting long-term measurements of CO2, water and energy fluxes throughout the US (3 in Oregon). 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.

University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory Network - The University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory Network consists of 21 stations located throughout Oregon and nearby states (11 in Oregon). The parameters measured vary by station but typically provide up to 5-minute observations of global, direct and diffuse solar along with some meteorological parameters. For further information visit the SRML Network 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 (3 in Oregon). 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 (180 in Oregon) at locations throughout the US. The network provides hourly or more frequent observations of stage (water level) from which discharge (flow) is computed 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 streamflow network visit the USGS Water Resources of the United States page or the USGS Oregon 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 (2 in Oregon). 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 Oregon). Most of the sites are along the US West Coast and in the northeastern US. For further information visit the CAP home page.

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