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Monthly QA Report

Quality Assurance

The Oklahoma Mesonet’s quality-assurance (QA) consists of four principal components:
1) laboratory calibration,
2) on-site intercomparison,
3) automated QA, and
4) manual QA.

In the instrument laboratory, all sensors are calibrated to validate or improve upon factory calibrations.

On an annual basis, the accuracy of several types of sensors in the field is verified through comparison to calibrated reference sensors housed in a portable system.

To make a first pass through the 640,000+ observations that are received at the Mesonet each day, automated QA software includes numerous algorithms to evaluate the data received from remote stations.

Finally, the Mesonet’s QA meteorologists employ numerous manual techniques to complement automated QA including analysis of monthly statistics to detect sensor drift or bias (click on a month and year to the left to download a PDF version of a Monthly Report). In addition to detecting problematic sensors, the QA meteorologists trace the true start time of each problem so that appropriate data can be manually flagged as erroneous. The QA meteorologists are responsible for communicating problems to, and coordinating with, appropriate field technicians to ensure proper resolution (see a list of the current outstanding tickets below).

Current Trouble Tickets in the Oklahoma Mesonet
(For questions regarding these tickets, contact )

Station Variable Date Reported Problem Description
PAUL 229L Delta Temperature at 10cm under Bare Soils 2018-08-13 14:03:02 10 cm Bare Soil stopped heating. Final temperature nearly the same as starting temperature. Averaged soil temp is fine.
CLOU 229L Delta Temperature at 5 cm 2018-08-03 15:27:58 5 cm sod not heating properly. Final temp nearly the same as starting temp. Averaged soil temp is fine.
COOK Rain since midnight UTC at 0.6m 2018-07-30 16:24:45 Both rain gauges missed or significantly under-reported during rain events.
NEWP Soil Temperature at 10 cm under Native Vegetation 2018-07-23 21:41:36 5cm and 10cm soil temperature under sod are coolest in state and have significantly less diurnal variation than neighbors. Check sensor depth and rebury if at incorrect depth. Replace sensor if found at correct depth.
NEWP Soil Temperature at 5 cm under Native Vegetation 2018-07-23 21:40:42 5cm and 10cm soil temperature under sod are coolest in state and have significantly less diurnal variation than neighbors. Check sensor depth and rebury if at incorrect depth. Replace sensor if found at correct depth.
PRYO Rain since midnight UTC at 0.6m 2018-07-16 13:48:05 Primary rain gauge sometimes over 10% low during heavy rain events. Replace top only.
ADAX Soil Temperature at 10 cm under Native Vegetation 2018-07-16 13:39:18 10 cm under sod reports -7999 for starting, final, and average soil temperature.
HUGO Soil Temperature at 10 cm under Bare Soil 2018-07-13 13:44:10 10 cm under bare reports -7999 for starting, final, and average soil temperature.
BURB 229L Delta Temperature at 5 cm 2018-07-02 16:52:55 5 cm under sod reports either -7999 or errantly high value for starting, final, and average temp.