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Why the USCRN is Needed

  1. Program Overview
  2. Why the USCRN is Needed
  3. Site Selection Criteria
  4. What is Measured
  5. Station Instruments
  6. Site Photos

In the past, long-term U.S. weather stations have faced challenges with instrument and site changes that impact the continuity of observations over time. Even small biases can alter the interpretation of decadal weather variability and change, so a substantial effort is required to identify discontinuities and correct station records.

The NRC (1999) study further concluded that action was needed to:

NOAA's response to the NRC concerns is the USCRN, a network of 114 stations deployed across the continental U.S., and an ongoing effort to add 29 more stations in Alaska. As noted earlier, the primary goal of its implementation is to provide future long-term homogeneous observations of temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture/soil temperature that can be used for current applications while also being properly coupled to past long-term observations.

Beneficiaries

The USCRN cooperates with federal, state, and local government entities, as well as private non-profits, who provide sites and host services for stations. Local site hosts can access the weather data at their locations for their own needs as well via the USCRN’s public data access at NCEI. This joint effort can minimize the cost of operating the USCRN while maximizing the benefits and information obtained from the network. Beyond the site hosts, many government and commercial entities benefit from access to USCRN observations currently, including the Departments of Commerce, Interior, and Agriculture; NASA; and various firms needing high quality environmental measurements. The USCRN system is designed for easy expansion, such as when soil moisture/soil temperature and humidity instruments were added to the stations in 2009-2011 through a cooperative venture with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). The USCRN data has application to weather forecasting, agriculture, hydrology, and commercial interests, among others.

Sectors Supported

benefit icon Commercial Sector

Over the last decade, the amount of money in our economy that is directly impacted by the reliability of NOAA's data has increased dramatically. Errors in the data which might not have mattered a decade ago can now cost individuals and corporations millions of dollars. The USCRN is able to provide various sectors of the economy with reliable data.

The USCRN provides important information to the energy sector, such as:

The USCRN provides important contributions to agricultural and natural resource development, such as:

benefit icon National Weather Service

benefit icon Department of Interior/Department of Agriculture

benefit icon National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)