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Home > Beacon Valley Meteorological Station Daily Averages (2000-2012)
Summary

Abstract: 

As part of the Long Term Ecological Research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, meteorological data are collected from various locations throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. These files contain data for the Beacon Valley Meteorological Station daily averages, as derived from the 15-min data.  Data gaps in 15 minute data were not filled to produce this dataset.  Beacon Valley Meteorological Station ceased operations in the 2012 season.

Date Range: 

November 27, 2000 to December 27, 2012
Dataset(s)

Description: 

Description and details of the spreadsheet containing daily averages of the Beacon Met station

Variables (click to expand): 

METLOCID
  • Label:
  • Definition: Location code for this met station
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
DATE_TIME
  • Label: Date_time
  • Definition: Date sample was collected
  • Type: Date/time
  • Date format: mm/dd/yyyy
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
AVG_AIRT3M
  • Label:
  • Definition: Daily average air temperature at 3 m above ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_AIRT3M
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation for the daily air temperature at 3 m above ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_AIRT3M
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily value of the air temperature at 3 m above ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_AIRT3M
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum daily value for the air temperature at 3 m above ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_AIRT3M
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations for this average
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified

File: 

BENM_AIRT_DAILY.csv [1] (206.86 KB)

...or query the dataset by variables and dates of interest:

[2]

Description: 

Description and details of the spreadsheet containing RH daily averages of the Beacon Met station

Variables (click to expand): 

METLOCID
  • Label:
  • Definition: Location code for this met station
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
DATE_TIME
  • Label: Date_time
  • Definition: Date sample was collected
  • Type: Date/time
  • Date format: mm/dd/yyyy
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
AVG_RH
  • Label: Daily mean RH
  • Definition: Daily average of the relative humidity values
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
STD_RH
  • Label: Standard Dev. of daily RH
  • Definition: The standard deviation for the distribution of daily rel. humidity values
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
MIN_RH
  • Label: Minimum RH
  • Definition: The daily minimum of the relative humidity
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
MAX_RH
  • Label: Maximum RH
  • Definition: The daily maximum of the relative humidity
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
N_RH
  • Label: Number of Observations
  • Definition: Number of observations for the daily stats.
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified

File: 

BENM_RH_DAILY.csv [3] (197.77 KB)

...or query the dataset by variables and dates of interest:

[4]

Description: 

Description and details of the spreadsheet containing daily averages of the Beacon Met station

Variables (click to expand): 

METLOCID
  • Label:
  • Definition: Location code for this met station
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
DATE_TIME
  • Label: Date_time
  • Definition: Date sample was collected
  • Type: Date/time
  • Date format: mm/dd/yyyy
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
AVG_SOILT0CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Daily average soil temperature at ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_SOILT0CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation for the daily soil temperature at suface ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_SOILT0CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily value of the soil temperature at surface ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_SOILT0CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum daily value for the air temperature at 3 m above ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_SOILT0CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations for this average
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
AVG_SOILT5CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Daily average soil temperature at 5cm below ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_SOILT5CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation for the daily soil temperature at 5cm below ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_SOILT5CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily value of the soil temperature at 5cm below ground
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_SOILT5CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum soil temperature at 5 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_SOILT5CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations for this average
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
AVG_SOILT10CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Average daily soil temperature at 10 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_SOILT10CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: standard devation of the daily soil temperature at 10 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_SOILT10CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily soil temperature at 10 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_SOILT10CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum daily soil temperature at 10 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: celsius
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_SOILT10CM
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations used to compute these statistics
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified

File: 

BENM_SOILT_DAILY.csv [5] (482.03 KB)

...or query the dataset by variables and dates of interest:

[6]

Description: 

Description and details of the spreadsheet containing solar radiation daily averages of the Beacon Met station

Variables (click to expand): 

METLOCID
  • Label:
  • Definition: Location code for this met station
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
DATE_TIME
  • Label: Date_time
  • Definition: Date sample was collected
  • Type: Date/time
  • Date format: mm/dd/yyyy
  • Missing values:
    • Required entry = None given
AVG_PAR
  • Label:
  • Definition: Daily average photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_PAR
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation for the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_PAR
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily value of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_PAR
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum daily value for the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_PAR
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations for the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) statistics
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
AVG_SWRADIN
  • Label:
  • Definition: Daily average for the short wave incoming radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_SWRADIN
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation for the short wave incoming radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_SWRADIN
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily value of the short wave incoming radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_SWRADIN
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum incoming shortwave radiation/solar flux
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.1
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_SWRADIN
  • Label: Number of Observations
  • Definition: Number of observations for the derived data statistics.
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
AVG_SWRADOUT
  • Label:
  • Definition: Average daily for the short wave outbound radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
STD_SWRADOUT
  • Label:
  • Definition: standard devation of the the short wave outbound radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MIN_SWRADOUT
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum daily the short wave outbound radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
MAX_SWRADOUT
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum daily soil temperature at 10 cm depth
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: W/m^2
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: 0.01
  • Missing values:
    • Null = None given
N_SWRADOUT
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of observations the short wave outbound radiation
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified

File: 

BENM_RADN_DAILY.csv [7] (448.39 KB)

...or query the dataset by variables and dates of interest:

[8]

Description: 

Daily averages for the wind speed at the Beacon met station - description of the spreadsheet container, units used and other details 

Variables (click to expand): 

METLOCID
  • Label:
  • Definition: METLOCID identification code for the meteorological station
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified
DATE_TIME
  • Label:
  • Definition: Date when measurement was taken
  • Type: Date/time
  • Date format: DD/MM/YYYY
  • Missing values: None specified
AVG_WSPD
  • Label:
  • Definition: Average of the daily values of the wind speed
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: metersPerSecond
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
STDDEV_WSPD
  • Label:
  • Definition: Standard deviation of the daily distribution of the wind speed
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: metersPerSecond
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
MIN_WSPD
  • Label:
  • Definition: Minimum value of the wind speed for the period of one day
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: metersPerSecond
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
MAX_WSPD
  • Label:
  • Definition: Maximum value of the wind speed for the period of one day
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: metersPerSecond
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
N_WSPD
  • Label:
  • Definition: Number of data points used to calculate these statistics.
  • Type: Physical quantity
  • Unit: dimensionless
  • Maximum: Not specified
  • Minimum: Not specified
  • Precision: Not specified
  • Missing values: None specified
N_COMMENTS
  • Label:
  • Definition: N_COMMENTS
  • Type: Nominal
  • Missing values: None specified

File: 

BENM_WSPD_DAILY.csv [9] (182.31 KB)

...or query the dataset by variables and dates of interest:

[10]

Short name: 

BENM Daily Averages

Dataset ID: 

7102
People

Principal Investigator(s): 

Andrew G. Fountain [11]

Contact: 

McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER [12]
Related

Related publications: 

McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER): LTER automatic weather network (LAWN) [13]
Methodology

Methods: 

The Beacon Valley meteorological station was added to the McMurdo Dry Valley network in the 2000-2001 field season. It was established in Beacon Valley. The station was set up to sample sensors every 30 seconds and send summary statistics (for example, averages and maximums) to solid-state storage modules every 15 minutes. This has resulted in approximately 20 values being recorded for final storage in every output interval.

Maintenance: 

On February 12, 2003, wind direction (WDIR) values were corrected by Thomas Nylen for a systematic error in the measurement created by improper wiring. The wind sensor still worked, but the values were systematically off. The wind direction is off by 180 degrees and mirrored around the north-south axis. For example a wind direction of 160 degrees was corrected by adding 180 degrees to it (340 or -20) and takING the mirror value of that, i.e. 20 degrees. Beacon ceases operations in 2012/2013 season Andrew Fountain: First, the station was installed to support the soil experiments in Beacon that are no longer being conducted, so its original purpose no longer supports its operation. Second, the station is costly in terms of helicopter hours that could be better spent in maintaining the stations in the valleys in which we work particularly our expansion into Miers. Third, the current met station at Lake Hoare, our longest running station in the valleys, is endangered by rising lake levels. It has perhaps another year or two at most given current rates of increase. To plan for its removal to a new spot, we need to erect a new station at a new site close by (selection is underway) and have the two stations run simultaneously for a year or so to characterize the small meteorological differences between sites. We do not have another station to do that and propose to move the Beacon Station to Hoare. Finally, Beacon Valley may be the best monitored valley in the region for air temperature and other met variables because of other projects including Sletten, Marchant, and MacKay. Sletten's station in Beacon is not far from ours, it has a relatively long data record, and I'm sure we could use his data if needed.

Additional information: 

Meteorological data is collected year-round at each of the stations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. After retrieving this data (usually every January), the parameters that are recorded are processed from level 0 (raw) to level 1 (processed, provided on the web). The raw data file descriptions and task lists summarize what was done to get from level 0 to level 1for all station found at the following address: http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/tasks/task_lists.htm [14]

Categories

Research Section: 

MCM Keywords: 

Keywords: 

Source URL: http://mcm.lternet.edu/content/beacon-valley-meteorological-station-daily-averages-2000-2012

Links
[1] http://mcm.lternet.edu/file/4108/download?token=YB7OtxsJsRcRzpKfy0wrP9GP5cKKw9bCrcHdspXiXYE
[2] http://mcm.lternet.edu/node/3337/data
[3] http://mcm.lternet.edu/file/4107/download?token=uaRyHx7uoZW2FKxUrj8eY1Zr5PLk3Y8TDKddc2R2FeA
[4] http://mcm.lternet.edu/node/3338/data
[5] http://mcm.lternet.edu/file/4109/download?token=6B4OHrVvpz8QChsEQBGlKV3w-qHOBNumzwZrHh8IPDs
[6] http://mcm.lternet.edu/node/3340/data
[7] http://mcm.lternet.edu/file/4110/download?token=bo1KsDafWKy_Tr7lvMNf5dLZsz-ZAcHVuPHH15FVDmM
[8] http://mcm.lternet.edu/node/3341/data
[9] http://mcm.lternet.edu/file/4123/download?token=a65LjU6iMT3RVnNca_BLFbL3lI71MWrUE9z7pB8Hs2k
[10] http://mcm.lternet.edu/node/3357/data
[11] http://mcm.lternet.edu/people/andrew-g-fountain
[12] http://mcm.lternet.edu/content/mcmurdo-dry-valleys-lter
[13] http://mcm.lternet.edu/content/mcmurdo-dry-valleys-long-term-ecological-research-lter-lter-automatic-weather-network-lawn
[14] http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/tasks/task_lists.htm
[15] http://mcm.lternet.edu/section/meteorology
[16] http://mcm.lternet.edu/section/daily-averages-level-2
[17] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/air-temperature
[18] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/average
[19] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/humidity
[20] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/relative-humidity
[21] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/rh
[22] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/soil-temperature
[23] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/temperature
[24] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/wind
[25] http://mcm.lternet.edu/station-keywords/wind-speed
[26] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/air-temperature
[27] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/humidity
[28] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/meteorology
[29] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/relative-humidity
[30] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/soil-temperature
[31] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/temperature
[32] http://mcm.lternet.edu/lter-controlled-vocabulary/wind-speed