Fire Weather

Weather Instrumentation

Fire Weather

Campbell Scientific has manufactured thousands of automated weather stations. Our weather stations are known for their versatility and reliability, even in harsh environments. These features make them ideal for fire weather monitoring. Our fire weather stations monitor, record, and transmit meteorological data relevant to fire danger prediction. Our measurement instrumentation is also used for fire research.

Because our equipment can interface to many different sensor types and can measure large numbers of sensors, the weather station can serve more than one purpose. A suitably sited station could be used for avalanche forecasting, or with the addition of a water depth sensor, a year-round hydrological monitoring station.

System Benefits

  1. Sensors such as fuel temperature and fuel moisture, wind speed, wind direction, air temperature and relative humidity, and solar radiation are commonly used in our systems.
  2. Data transfer options include: phone, cellphone, GOES telemetry, and radio.
  3. Fire weather stations can do double duty:
    ET calculation, hydrologic monitoring, avalanche forecasting, & more.
  4. Stations are compatible with Remsoft's WeatherPro software.
  5. Stations provide on-board mathematical & statistical processing.
  6. Stations have proven reliability in harsh environments worldwide.
  7. Maintenance contracts are available.

Data Loggers

Our measurement systems are based around programmable data loggers that measure the sensors, then process, store, and transmit the data. We offer a family of rugged, reliable data loggers, but the CR10X is usually suitable for fire weather applications. Our data loggers have programmable execution intervals, wide operating temperature ranges, on-board instructions, and ample input channels for commonly used sensors. Our data loggers interface directly to most sensors, eliminating external signal conditioning.

Data are typically viewed and stored in the units of your choice (e.g., wind speed in mph, m/s, knots). Measurement rates and data recording intervals are independently programmable, allowing calculation of 15-minute, hourly, and daily data values from 1-minute or 1-second measurements, for example. Conditional outputs, such as rainfall intensity and wind gusts, can also be recorded. The program can be modified at any time to accommodate different sensor configurations or new data processing requirements. If needed, channel capacity can be expanded using multiplexers, including a model designed specifically for thermocouples.

Sensors

Our fire weather stations are equipped with a suite of high quality meteorological sensors for monitoring wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, air temperature, and relative humidity. Sensors such as fuel moisture, fuel temperature, soil water content, soil temperature, solar radiation, and many others can also be measured.

Telemetry

Data can be transmitted over a variety of telecommunication options including satellite, telephone, cell phone, and radio. In the United States, GOES1 satellite telemetered data can be collected via NIFC2 and stored to WIMS3 or collected directly from NESDIS4 using Remsoft's WeatherPro and NESDIS module. NFDRS5 indices are calculated using WIMS or WeatherPro. Our High Data Rate GOES transmitter, the SAT HDR GOES, features transmission rates of 1200, 300, and 100 bps.

1Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
2National Interagency Fire Center
3Weather Information Management System (database)
4National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
5National Fire Danger Rating System

Permanent Stations

For long-term monitoring, our permanent monitoring stations provide reliable and accurate results. Our preconfigured weather stations feature simplified installation and operation with a standard suite of sensors, a pre-wired data logger enclosure, bulkhead mounted sensor connectors, and a fixed program in the data logger. Custom weather stations are configured from a wider selection of sensors and data transfer peripherals, allowing for greater flexibility in matching an application's exact requirements. Twenty-foot instrumentation towers are typically used for permanent fire weather stations. Ten- and thirty-foot instrumentation towers and six- and ten-foot tripods are also available.

Quick Deployment Stations

Because of their light weight and quick setup, these pre-configured weather stations are ideal for prescribed burns or other temporary installations. Setup of our quick deployment stations can occur in as little as 15 minutes without tools. Two carrying cases are used for transporting a station.