climatology

Monthly measurement summaries from Explorers Cove Meteorological Station (EXEM), McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (1995-2022, ongoing)

Abstract: 

As part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program, meteorological data are collected from various locations throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. This package contains monthly measurement summaries derived from 15-minute data generated by the Explorers Cove Meteorological Station (EXEM), located in Taylor Valley (Latitude: -77.588733, Longitude: 163.417523, Elevation: 25 meters above sea level). EXEM was acquired from USGS in 1997, during the 97/98 field season.

LTER Core Areas: 

Dataset ID: 

7208

Associated Personnel: 

872
871
358
84
83
85

Short name: 

EXEM_MONTHLY

Data sources: 

EXEM_AIRT_MONTHLY
EXEM_PPT_MONTHLY
EXEM_RADN_MONTHLY
EXEM_RH_MONTHLY
EXEM_SOILM_MONTHLY
EXEM_SOILT_MONTHLY
EXEM_WSPD_MONTHLY

Methods: 

At the start of the first McMurdo LTER field season (1993-1994), Explorers Cove station was one of only two meteorological stations operating on the floor of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The U.S. Geological Survey continued to manage the station. From November 24, 1995 to February 26, 1996, precipitation levels were sampled every hour for the long-term ecological research program.On February 26, 1996, the signal from the precipitation gage went dead and remained so until new equipment was installed in November, 1997. As a result there is a gap in the data collected at Explorers Cove meteorological station.In November, 1997, a new station with all new sensors mounted on Clow's old tripod was set up. At that time, 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 the more recent output intervals.In 2014, the data loggers lost most of the season data, and the streamed record is spotty.
 
Sampling and Averaging Intervals For Sampling frequency and Data Logger output and averaging intervals please visit: http://www.mcmlter.org/data/meteorology/methods/Interval_Dates.pdf
 

Maintenance: 

A Decagon soil moisture and temperature sensor was installed at this station from December 2018 to December 2021, with data spanning 12/20/2018 to 12/23/2021. The sensor was damaged during routine maintenance on 12/23/2021, after which the station temporarily stopped recording data. Consequently, there is a gap in the data from 12/23/2021 10:00 to 12/28/2021 10:45. The sensor was later removed during the 2022-2023 field season.

Additional information: 

Meteorological data is collected year-round at each of MCM LTER stations. Data is manually downloaded from the meteorological stations during the austral summer. Raw 15 minute data (Level 0) is processed and provided as Level 1 data on the MCM LTER website. Field notes, sensor information, processing procedures, QA/QC, and metadata is provided in the Meteorological Post Processing Documentation and Task Lists for each field season at the following address: https://mcm.lternet.edu/meteorological-task-lists

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