NEON TIS tripod data, D18 Toolik, 2013-2014

NEON site designs strongly rely on the wind patterns for determining the correct orientation of the tower and sensors. Because we do not have in situ measurements yet at NEON sites, we must rely on historical data from the closest available weather station, which sometimes can be > 30 miles away. In a few NEON locations, these long distances between the closest weather station and the NEON tower site cause large uncertainties and potential risks to NEON’s science goals. In other instances, local topographic conditions can affect our ability to measure winds and climate, which are also not captured in historical data. To minimize the uncertainty and to lower the risks associated with the tower and site design, NEON plans to measure local winds and meteorological conditions with a portable tripod-based weather station at a few selected NEON sites for a limited time (~ 1 y) prior to construction at the site. These sites are selected because of their importance to the overall NEON design, and we think that the historical data is not representative. The Toolik core site is one of these sites.