Kipp&Zonen BSRN Scientific Solar Monitoring System - Manual (Page 31)

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The description consists of 11 sections broken down into three m ain areas: General Description,
Site Description and Station Description; m uch of this inform ation is required for the Archive, but it
is set up as an inform ation package for prospective data users. A description of the inform ation
required to com plete the package follows. A blank docum ent is included in Annex A.
3.2.1 General Description
(1) Inform ation on whom the scientific authority is for the site. Postal address, telephon e, fax
and E-m ail if applicable.
(2) The site’s location: latitude (N positive 0 - 90), longitude (East/W est of Greenwich),
Elevation above MSL, Local Tim e from GMT, Station Topography and Station Surface
Type from the archive, and the date of the first data subm itted to the archive.
(3) Topographic m ap showing the land within a 15 km radius. A topographic m ap with a
scale of approxim ately 1:250000 provides the appropriate resolution. This gives users a
sense of the hom ogeneity of the surrounding areas.
3.2.2 Site Description
(4) Site Surroundings: a written description indicating population centres, population
density. W hen the station is within a large city, the following inform ation should be added
to the description: whether the city is growing, stagnant or declining in population. Major
sources of pollution. Large bodies of water or significant local topographic effects should
be noted. If the site is located at an educational institution or on the top of a building.
(5) Clim ate characteristics: the general clim ate type (e.g., m aritim e, polar, etc.), clim atic
norm als (m in/m ean/m ax sum m er/winter tem peratures, m ean rainfall etc.), significant
clim atic events (e.g., m onsoons, hurricanes, tornadoes)
(6) A m ap of the local area around the station (approxim ately a 1 to 2 km radius). A recent
topographic m ap or photom ap with a scale of 1:50000 provides the necessary resolution.
3.2.3 Station Description
(7) A list of all the radiation fluxes being m easured routinely at the station and the types of
instrum ents being used. The type of data acquisition system (s) being used, the sam pling
rates of the data acquisition system and the outputs that are being archived. Inform ation
on the tracking and shading system s that are being used in obtaining the m easurem ents
is also required.
(8) A station m ap: a detailed m ap indicating the location of the individual sensors in relation
with each other. This m ap is prim arily for the radiation instrum entation locations and
need not include the location of the m eteorological station or upper air station. Such
inform ation would be on the station m ap if the distances were greater than approxim ately
20 m .
(9) A horizon view of the global radiation sensor indicating the m ajor obstructions. This
would be a figure utilizing the data supplied to the Archive running from North through
South to North in a clockwise direction.
(10) Com m ents on the site. For exam ple, com m ents would include the instrum entation and
data acquisition system s that are used for the m eteorological variables. If another
individual is the responsible contact for the m eteorological portion of the site, the nam e
and address would be included in these com m ents. A brief description of the m ethod
and frequency of the calibration of the sensors would be included in this set of
com m ents. If a particular set of research m easurem ents were being m ade at the site,
this should be noted and the nam e and address of the appropriate contact given. This
section can be used by the site m anager to advertise anything that m akes the particular
site special.