Specifications

Table 3 summarizes the basic principles for locating several sensors under the guidelines

described above (it includes additional sensors not required in the TEAM Climate Protocol).

Sensor Height above the

ground

Minimum distance from

obstacle

Source

Temperature 2.0 m 4 times the height of obstacle

At least 30 m away from road

WMO 2008,

EPA 1995

Relative Humidity 2.0 m 4 times the height of obstacle WMO 2008,

EPA 1995

Precipitation 0.3 m 2 times the height of obstacle WMO 2008,

Solar Radiation 3 m but not critical (as

high as possible)

Unobstructed view of the sky;

obstructions should be at an

angle < 5 degrees above the

horizontal plane

WMO 2008

Table 3: Height requirements and minimum distance requirements for several climatic sensors.

The following sections describe in more detail the process of siting the climate station based on

the availability of open areas that fulfill the requirements for different sensors. See Figure 2 on

the following page for a workflow summarizing this process. There is also a video called

“Finding a good place for the climate station (siting)” in the Climate Protocol section of the

TEAM portal (http://www.teamnetwork.org/en/protocols/threat/climate) that provides more

information about this process.

2.5 Level 1 Siting

Ideally, and to fulfill the requirements of the global solar radiation sensor, the climate station

should be located in an open area that is large enough to allow for a nearly complete view of the

sky dome; no obstacles above 5 degrees from the horizon should obstruct the view of the sky,

since incident and diffuse radiation above 5 degrees are not negligible. To fulfill this

requirement, the distance to an obstacle of height H should be H/tan(5*2

/ 360). For example, if

the climate station is in an open area and the forest at the edge of the open area is 25 m high, then

the station should be at least 285 m away from the forest edge which would require an open area

at least of 570 m in diameter (assuming the forest around it is more or less uniform in height and

there is no local topography).

This requirement is unattainable in some areas. Unless the site is located in a large, flat, open

area, the climate station should be sited using the process described in Level 2 Siting (see next

Section).