Meteorological Station

La existencia de estaciones meteorológicas convencionales, que empezaron su andadura durante la segunda mitad del siglo XIX e inicios del siglo XX, ha hecho posible analizar las variaciones y las tendencias seculares de las diferentes variables meteorológicas a partir de la generación de series regionales. Estas estaciones, que a lo largo de los años han sufrido cambios de emplazamiento, de instrumentos y de observadores, forman parte del patrimonio material de un territorio, pudiéndose convertir en un atractivo turístico. Esta transformación es aún más factible si en los orígenes de la estación se encuentra la figura de un personaje de relevancia histórica, natural de la población donde está localizada la estación o bien una institución que justificó la creación de la estación. En este estudio se exponen los atributos que debería tener una estación para convertirse en un atractivo turístico y se propone un itinerario entorno a la estación meteorológica de Tivissa (Tarragona). Esta ...

This research assesses the feasibility of using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict and improve the spatial distribution of solar radiation data, using Peninsular Malaysia as a case study. This peninsula has seas to the east and west that control cloud formation and rain throughout the year. A rugged mountain range bisects the length of the peninsula creating a complex topography. These features make it difficult to develop effective empirical solar radiation models to cover large areas in Peninsular Malaysia. In this article, several different solar radiation prediction models were designed using the ANN tool in MATLAB. Geographical and meteorological data from 24 solar energy stations were used to predict the solar radiation in 341 cities. Standard multilayer, feed‐forward, and back‐propagation neural networks were used for the 12 solar radiation models with different numbers of neurons, training functions and activation functions. Predicted solar radiation results were ac...

In spite of the crash of Schiaparelli, the Exomars Descent Module in October 2016, following a nevertheless successful aerothermodynamic entry, data from the infrared radiometers ICOTOM embedded of the COMARS modules was sent to the orbiter before and after the blackout phase. Three pairs of radiometers were located in line on the back shield of the probe in order to monitor the infrared radiation received by the thermal protection system from CO and CO2 molecules. Within a pair, one ICOTOM (B1) was dedicated to the range 4,17-5 µm (2000-2400 cm-1) and the other one (B2) was dedicated to the range 2,6-3,36 µm (2950-3850 cm-1) in order to collect cold and CO2 bands as well as CO rovibrational radiation. Flight data provided radiative heat flux densities in both ranges for three locations in the shield, especially at the end of the hot phase. Lower housing temperatures than expected led to recalibration of the ICOTOM depending on the incoming flux and on the sensor own temperatures. I...

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.

Dynamics of the surface air temperature and amount of precipitation in the Polar, Northern, and Southern Urals in the 20th century is analyzed. Charts of the temperature distribution in the Urals for the period from 1961 to 2000, taking into account the relief, are plotted in the geographical informational system on the basis of data of instrumental measurements at meteorological stations with the use of the multiple regression analysis and raster modeling. The northeastern direction of the warming gradient and increase of falling precipitations in the period under review is established. Time series of anomalies of the average annual air temperature and amount of precipitation in the 20th century at three meteorological stations, situated in the Polar, Northern, and Southern Urals, are analyzed. The tendency of the growth of anomalies of the average annual temperature and total amount of precipitation is revealed.

The DREAMS (Dust characterization, Risk assessment and Environment Analyser on the Martian Surface) instrument on Schiaparelli lander of ExoMars 2016 mission was an autonomous meteorological station designed to completely characterize the Martian atmosphere on surface, acquiring data not only on temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and its direction, but also on solar irradiance, dust opacity and atmospheric electrification; this comprehensive set of parameters would assist the quantification of risks and hazards for future manned exploration missions mainly related to the presence of airborne dust. Schiaparelli landing on Mars was in fact scheduled during the foreseen dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum) allowing DREAMS to directly measure the characteristics of such extremely harsh environment.

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14 th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because it was designed to land on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission.

DREAMS (Dust Characterisation, Risk Assessment, and Environment Analyser on the Martian Surface) is a payload accommodated on the Schiaparelli Entry and Descent Module (EDM) of ExoMars 2016, the ESA and Roscosmos mission to Mars (Esposito (2015), Bettanini et al. (2014)). It is a meteorological station with the additional capability to perform measurements of the atmospheric electric fields close to the surface of Mars. The instrument package will make the first measurements of electric fields on Mars, providing data that will be of value in planning the second ExoMars mission in 2020, as well as possible future human missions to the red planet. This paper describes the pipeline to convert the raw telemetries to the final data products for the archive, with associated metadata.

NASA’s Perseverance rover’s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer is collecting data at Jezero crater, characterizing the physical processes in the lowest layer of the Martian atmosphere. Here we present measurements from the instrument’s first 250 sols of operation, revealing a spatially and temporally variable meteorology at Jezero. We find that temperature measurements at four heights capture the response of the atmospheric surface layer to multiple phenomena. We observe the transition from a stable night-time thermal inversion to a daytime, highly turbulent convective regime, with large vertical thermal gradients. Measurement of multiple daily optical depths suggests aerosol concentrations are higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Measured wind patterns are driven mainly by local topography, with a small contribution from regional winds. Daily and seasonal variability of relative humidity shows a complex hydrologic cycle. These observations suggest that changes in some loc...

DREAMS (Dust Characterisation, Risk Assessment, and Environment Analyser on the Martian Surface) is a payload accommodated on the Schiaparelli Entry and Descent Module (EDM) of ExoMars 2016, the ESA and Roscosmos mission to Mars (Esposito (2015), Bettanini et al. (2014)). It is a meteorological station with the additional capability to perform measurements of the atmospheric electric fields close to the surface of Mars. The instrument package will make the first measurements of electric fields on Mars, providing data that will be of value in planning the second ExoMars mission in 2020, as well as possible future human missions to the red planet. This paper describes the pipeline to convert the raw telemetries to the final data products for the archive, with associated metadata.

This paper presents the design and implementation of an atmospheric observing system to study downslope winds in the Laja River Valley, southern-central Chile. Practical design issues are discussed based on the first two years of operation, as well as scientific results that demonstrate the potential of the measurement system. The system consists of a network of eight meteorological stations that characterize the winds along the Laja River Valley, Chile. The meteorological network extends over 90 km, beginning with the station at the Antuco Ski Center at 1395 m.a.s.l. and ending at the Charrua Electric Plant at 153 m.a.s.l. The meteorological stations were designed to employ an embedded controller and highperformance instruments with low power consumption. In order to transmit data to the base station, a communication protocol was developed using SMS messages. Graphic tools are also available in the project webpage to visualize received data. Data reported in this work show that the meteorological network is able to identify and characterize downslope winds.

A novel wind speed and direction sensor designed for the atmosphere of Mars is described. It is based on an spherical shell divided into four triangular sectors according to the central projection of tetrahedron onto the surface of the unit sphere. Each sector is individually controlled to be heated above the ambient temperature independently of the wind velocity and incidence angle. A convection heat rate model of four hot spherical triangles under forced wind has been built with FEM thermal-fluidic simulations. The angular sensitivity of the tetrahedral sphere structure has been determined theoretically and compared with tessellation of the sphere by four biangles. A 9mm diameter prototype has been assembled using 3-D printing of the spherical shell housing in the interior commercial platinum resistors connected to an extension of a custom design printed board. Measurements in Martian-like atmosphere demonstrate sensor responsiveness to the flow in the velocity range 1m/s to 13m/s at 10mBar CO2 pressure. Numerical modelization of the sensor behavior allows to devise an inverse algorithm to retrieve the wind direction data from the raw measurements of the power delivered to each spherical sector. The functionality of the inverse algorithm is also demonstrated.

Le projet SIMPATIC consistait à étudier l'utilisation de données climatiques à haute résolution spatiale pour améliorer la qualité des conseils agricoles et des pratiques culturales, en palliant la densité limitée de stations météorologiques. Le projet a permis le développement d'un système d'information permettant de générer des données météo spatialisées à deux résolutions (5x5km et 1x1km) accessibles aux partenaires du projet via la plateforme d'intégration Cap 2020 sur deux dispositifs terrains principaux de plusieurs centaines de km² (Sud du Bassin Parisien et Sud-Est : région Nîmes-Tarascon) via des Stations Météo Virtuelles® accessibles par Internet (www.meteoagricoledeprecision.com). Ces données météo ont été utilisées en comparaison avec celles de stations météo réelles dans différents OAD développés par les partenaires du projet, sur différentes cultures (pomme de terre, céréales, tomate et vigne) et thématiques (gestion des risques liés aux bioagresseurs (mildiou, pucerons) ou pilotage de l'irrigation) sensibles aux facteurs climatiques. Les résultats montrent l'intérêt de la spatialisation des données agrométéorologiques et l'importance de la qualité des données de pluie et d'humidité. Mots-clés : spatialisation, agrométéorologie, outils d'aide à la décision, itinéraires culturaux, irrigation, pomme de terre, vigne, tomate.

This paper presents the design and implementation of an atmospheric observing system to study downslope winds in the Laja River Valley, southern-central Chile. Practical design issues are discussed based on the first two years of operation, as well as scientific results that demonstrate the potential of the measurement system. The system consists of a network of eight meteorological stations that characterize the winds along the Laja River Valley, Chile. The meteorological network extends over 90 km, beginning with the station at the Antuco Ski Center at 1395 m.a.s.l. and ending at the Charrua Electric Plant at 153 m.a.s.l. The meteorological stations were designed to employ an embedded controller and highperformance instruments with low power consumption. In order to transmit data to the base station, a communication protocol was developed using SMS messages. Graphic tools are also available in the project webpage to visualize received data. Data reported in this work show that the meteorological network is able to identify and characterize downslope winds.

The “ExoMars Atmospheric Science and Missions” Workshop served as a forum for general discussions on Martian atmospheric science with a focus on the assessment of the results and instrumentation development cycle of the ExoMars 2016 mission. These led to presentations and discussions of the atmospheric investigation plans and strategies for the ESA ExoMars-2020 mission in particular and for forthcoming Mars missions in general. The workshop gave overviews of the ExoMars atmospheric investigations through invited talks by Exomars scientists. The ExoMars atmospheric results and planned investigations were covered by individual scientific presentations. The workshop engaged early career scientists, inclusiveness states and scientific and technological cooperation in the European planetary science community. The Workshop provided a forum for discussion and debate on the outstanding scientific topics of the Martian atmosphere, and on how to integrate and network the scientific teams with...

In the first 100 Martian solar days (sols) of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) measured the seasonally evolving diurnal cycles of ultraviolet radiation, atmospheric pressure, air temperature, ground temperature, relative humidity, and wind within Gale Crater on Mars. As an introduction to several REMS-based articles in this issue, we provide an overview of the design and performance of the REMS sensors and discuss our approach to mitigating some of the difficulties we encountered following landing, including the loss of one of the two wind sensors. We discuss the REMS data set in the context of other Mars Science Laboratory instruments and observations and describe how an enhanced observing strategy greatly increased the amount of REMS data returned in the first 100 sols, providing complete coverage of the diurnal cycle every 4 to 6 sols. Finally, we provide a brief overview of key science results from the first 100 sols. We found Gale to be very dry, never reaching saturation relative humidities, subject to larger diurnal surface pressure variations than seen by any previous lander on Mars, air temperatures consistent with model predictions and abundant short timescale variability, and surface temperatures responsive to changes in surface properties and suggestive of subsurface layering. 2. Design and Performance of the REMS Sensor Suite The REMS sensors are located inside the rover chassis (pressure sensors), on two short booms attached to the rover mast at a height of~1.6 m above the surface (ground temperature, humidity, air temperature, and wind), and on the rover deck (downward UV radiation fluxes) [Gómez-Elvira et al., 2012].

The first of the two missions foreseen in the ExoMars program was successfully launched on 14th March 2016. It included the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli Entry descent and landing Demonstrator Module. Schiaparelli hosted the DREAMS instrument suite that was the only scientific payload designed to operate after the touchdown. DREAMS is a meteorological station with the capability of measuring the electric properties of the Martian atmosphere. It was a completely autonomous instrument, relying on its internal battery for the power supply. Even with low resources (mass, energy), DREAMS would be able to perform novel measurements on Mars (atmospheric electric field) and further our understanding of the Martian environment, including the dust cycle. DREAMS sensors were designed to operate in a very dusty environment, because the experiment was designed to operate on Mars during the dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum). Unfortunately, the Schiaparelli module failed part of the descent and the landing and crashed onto the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, several seconds before the crash, the module central computer switched the DREAMS instrument on, and sent back housekeeping data indicating that the DREAMS sensors were performing nominally. This article describes the instrument in terms of scientific goals, design, working principle and performances, as well as the results of calibration and field tests. The spare model is mature and available to fly in a future mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has been executing the ExoMars program in cooperation with the Russian federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). It foresees two elements: the first one, launched on 14th March 2016 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, includes the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), currently in orbit around Mars, and the Schiaparelli lander demonstrator that unfortunately did not land safely. The second mission will be launched in the 2020; it includes a Russian Surface Platform and a European rover. The whole program will allow Europe to mature the technologies necessary for the entry, descent and landing of a payload

In this paper, we propose a remote sensing model based on a 1 × 1 km spatial resolution to estimate the spatio-temporal distribution of sunshine percentage (SSP) and sunshine duration (SD), taking into account terrain features and atmospheric factors. To account for the influence of topography and atmospheric conditions in the model, a digital elevation model (DEM) and cloud products from the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) for 2010 were incorporated into the model and subsequently validated against in situ observation data. The annual and monthly average daily total SSP and SD have been estimated based on the proposed model. The error analysis results indicate that the proposed modelled SD is in good agreement with ground-based observations. The model performance is evaluated against two classical interpolation techniques (kriging and inverse distance weighting (IDW)) based on the mean absolute error (MAE), the mean relative error (MRE) and the root-mean-squar...

The objective of this study is to decide a suitable spatial interpolation method for estimating solar radiation in South Korea. Firstly, the study extracted regr ession equations between sunshine duration and solar radiation for 22 meteorological stations. We used the Thiessen method for estimating solar radiation with 22 stations because the 55 stations do not observe solar radiation. The stations in same polygons have same regression equations to estimate solar radiation from sunshine duration. The estimated solar radiation of 77 stations uses an interpolation for spatial distribution of solar radiation. We selected four interpolation methods, which were IDW, Spline, SK and OK to estimate a solar radiation at the unmeasured regions. As a result, the OK method shows that the lowest MAE and RMSE. The obtained results are reasonable and an obvious finding from spatial distribution indicated that OK approach is a very useful tool for the unknown solar radiation regions.