The project will enable undergraduate students taking courses in the Climate & Meteorology Program to have direct experience with climatological instrumentation. This will affect both majors and non-majors as the intention is to introduce students to exposure to equipment in the three introductory courses as well as selected advanced courses. The new equipment will allow students to undertake measurements in laboratories and to prepare individual research projects which will link local weather conditions, which they have measured, to the synoptic conditions. The advanced students will be able to take courses in measurement theory and techniques, micrometeorology and hydroclimatology, where they will become familiar with the state- of-the-art techniques for measuring the transport of energy and water, and the wind temperature and humidity profiles from the ground to approximately 1.5 km into atmosphere. To permit this the equipment that will be purchased will consist of introductory weather stations, electronic micrometeorological equipment, anemometers, psychrometers, time domain reflectometry soil moisture system, sonic anemometer thermometer, lyman alpha hygrometer, bowen ratio system, and a tethersonde system. In the U.S. exposure to micrometeorological instrumentation is relatively limited at undergraduate level but has been found to be successful in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, even at first year level. This would permit a similar type of beneficial learning experience to be had for students taking courses in the Climate & Meteorology Program.
