Santa Rosa weather station

The HPWREN and ROADNet teams deployed a weather station on the Santa Rosa Native American reservation - in order to better understand the relationship between weather and network connectivity.

The Santa Rosa site is situated northwest of Toro Peak and southeast of Idylwild - at approximately 5000 feet above sea level.

Due to a lack of traditional electricity, the site is powered by solar energy, with battery storage.

Jim Hale and Bud Hale of HPWREN, along with Santa Rosa Native American tribal members, played an instrumental role in the site installation. Meanwhile HPWREN PI Hans-Werner Braun and ROADNet Systems Coordinator Todd Hansen (shown here) organized and instrumented the site with the weather station.

After the outdoor sensors were mounted onto the tower segment, they were interconnected with the below-ground indoor electronics, and then connected via a serial-to-Ethernet converter to the radio.

The drainage Y piping protects the hygrometer and thermometer from direct sunlight while allowing natural air flow.

The following image illustrates the vermiculite used to protect against leaks that might make it through the battery and the black battery box into the bigger battery box.

The battery/control unit box was burried to protect it from the summer heat of the high desert.

The finished weather station provides researchers with data related to indoor/outdoor air temperature, indoor/outdoor humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, rainfall, and horizontal wind direction.