During the spring of 2013, the ATMO students working on the green roof finally assembled the weather instrumentation on the roof! We were able to install all of the devices for measuring temperature, dewpoint, radiance, precipitation amounts, wind speed, and direction. … Continue reading
The ATMO team worked hard this semester. From the beginning of September to the end of April, we worked together to have a functional weather instrument station on top of the green roof.
At the beginning of the Fall semester, we started with just a plain roof. Through hard work and many blistering afternoons in the sun, we had the membrane completed. By November, the walkway was down, and plants were growing in the green house.
Once the modules were placed, the weather instruments were added. At first we just had wind speed and direction along with temperature and dewpoint. Throughout the spring semester, we continually added in temperature sensors for each module, as well as a irradiance detector called a pyranometer. The latest instrument added was the tipping bucket rain gauge. This will help us keep a record of how much rain the plants are receiving — if we can find a place to put it without the sprinkler interference!
This has definitely been a learning experience, and we will all take the knowledge with us and apply it in the future.
Texas A&M's Green Roof Project 