Every five minutes the Oklahoma Mesonet measures atmospheric and soil data, and updates the information to a Web site so that officials can make the most up-to-date decisions for their communities.

Mesonet is a combination of the words, mesoscale and network. The network consists of 119 solar powered weather stations throughout Oklahoma that measure weather data in real time and send it back to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey at the National Weather Research Center on OU’s campus for processing and quality assurance, said Chris Fiebrich, manager of the Oklahoma Mesonet.

After the Mesonet processes information like wind speed, pressure and soil temperature, it is then posted for public access at mesonet.org.

“It’s both a tool for decision makers in the state, like farmers and emergency management officials, and it’s also a really rich scientific data set that scientists all over use,” Fiebrich said.

He said the network, which was commissioned in 1994, is seen as the gold standard for weather data collection. Since then it has collected almost 4 billion weather observations according to the Mesonet Web site.

“No other state has one quite like what we have,” Fiebrich said.

In 2002, the Oklahoma Climatological Survey hosted a conference to teach 25 countries how to run a network like the Oklahoma Mesonet, Fiebrich said, and it has been featured in close to 300 peer reviewed articles.

Each station transmits data constantly to a local base, where it is then sent through radio signals to the National Weather Research Center.

Fiebrich said the Mesonet utilizes the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System to send the weather data, and most of the local bases that receive and redirect the data are local law enforcement offices.

The network costs about $3 million to maintain annually and the state funds about two thirds of that amount. The remaining funds come from outside grants, he said.

Fiebrich said they are currently looking to raise one million additional dollars from the state of Oklahoma to help supplement federal grants that are expiring and to help pay for upgrades that are already underway.

He said the improvements being made to the network are not the first improvements to the project.

In 1994 the data was updated every 15 minutes, but now it is updated every five.

The Mesonet also has trained more than 450 emergency management officials and more than 250 grade school teachers on how to use the data collected by the stations.

Mark Shafer, director of climate services for the Oklahoma Mesonet, oversees the outreach programs Mesonet hosts, including training programs for public safety officials, teachers and electrical utilities operatives.

Shafer said the Mesonet is designed to help the public make informed decisions based on the weather.

“We’re a resource for the state to deal with all kinds of weather extremes that happen,” he said.

Shafer said there are two OU students working in the climate services area of the network at the National Weather Research Center. One of the students is in charge of public outreach, and the other is in charge of climate services.

Other OU students work as Mesonet operators, monitoring the stations from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. everyday.

Chris Fetsch, geography senior, is a Mesonet operator. She said the operators have multiple duties, which include helping the Mesonet technicians who are out in the field with the instruments. Although the technicians are with the stations, they are unable to see the data the stations are collecting. This is where the operators come in, Fetsch said.

The operators also take care of Mesonet customers and make sure all of the products and Web sites are working correctly.

“It’s quite a rewarding job,” Fetsch said.