OKMESO: Soil Moisture and Surface Meteorological data

Summary

The Oklahoma Mesonet is a permanent mesoscale observing network. The Mesonet consists of 115 stations, including at least one station in each of Oklahoma's 77 counties. The average station spacing is 32 km. Mesonet sites are predominantly located in rural areas, as free from anthropogenic influences as possible (Shafer et al, 1993). A system of soil-moisture sensors was installed at 60 Mesonet sites. The system was designed to provide information about the soil-water status at several depths in the soil profile. The system is designed to operate in remote locations, providing automated, continuous measurements with little or no maintenance required.

The Oklahoma Mesonet data is password protected.

Objectives:

The Oklahoma Mesonet records 11 'core' and 8 'supplemental' parameters. The core parameters are measured at every site, while the supplemental parameters are measured at about half the sites (Brock et al., 1995). In addition to these Mesonet parameters, additional sensors have been added to the network during the course of various field projects. Most prominent of these are soil moisture sensors at depths of 5, 25, 60, and 75 cm. The soil moisture sensors actually measure heat dissipation which translates into water content of the soil.