18 Weather Monitoring


Casella’s Portable Weather Station Te answer to improving monitoring


capabilities after major incidents


Casella Monitor (www.casellameasurement.com; tel: +44 (0)1234 844100) was one of the first to develop a truly portable device for measuring meteorological and climate conditions.


Weighing just 13kg and comprising three key components, the Nomad is designed for rapid deployment and ease of transportation and can be set up and start collecting data less than five minutes after arriving on the scene of a major incident.


Gary Noakes, Market Manager at Casella Monitor explains: “Following a hazardous incident such as a fire, vehicle spill or nuclear leak, it is vital for emergency response teams to have real-time data regarding weather conditions in order to plan and implement effective evacuation procedures.”


He continues: “The Nomad outputs data directly back to an incident command vehicle, where it can run in conjunction with Aloha® CAMEO®


and predictive software packages*.


This information is received quickly and allows appropriate action to be taken to protect and evacuate people and properties in the vicinity.”


The Nomad measures temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction, solar radiation and rainfall and operates using an integrated solar panel giving it the independence required for prolonged operation in isolated or inhospitable environments.


Gary Noakes, Casella Monitor (Product information) Regent House, Wolseley Road, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 7JY,


Web: www.casellameasurement.com • Email: garynoakes@casellameasurement.com


Emma Hulse, ELH Communications (Press information or images) Red Cottage, Dorney Wood Road, Burnham Berks SL1 8PT


Tel: 01628 665593 • Mobile: 07801 869938 • Email: emmahulse@copperstream.co.uk


Its integral Sensus Logger records 149k data sets, equating to more than three months recording at one minute intervals. Plus, up to four additional sensors can be added to the system through the use of the Nomad ‘Sensor extension unit’, which attaches directly to the base of the tripod.


Disassembling the Nomad also takes just a few minutes, allowing the user to be packed up and en-route to the next monitoring site quickly and efficiently.


Casella CEL (working environment) and Casella Monitor (natural environment) are part of Bedford-based Casella Measurement - one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of high performance occupational health, safety and environmental monitoring equipment.


A wholly-owned subsidiary of IDEAL Industries Inc, Casella Measurement’s market leading products are exported world-wide through an extensive network of distributors and agents. A truly global business, the rapidly expanding company has offices in North America, Spain, India and China.


Casella Measurement has been established since 1799, and employs over 100 staff in its global locations.


Reader Reply Card No. 50


Sunshine Pyranometer for PV Applications


Photovoltaic developers and triallists find the SPN1 Sunshine Pyranometer from Delta-T Devices (UK), a valuable tool for research and for performance validation. When making PV investments, it is essential to identify the best sites. An SPN1 can be used to quantify the available global and diffuse radiation at potential sites. The key advantage of the Sunshine Pyranometer type SPN1 is that it measures global (total) and diffuse radiation, and sunshine state – all in one instrument; it is easy to use and needs no routine adjustment or polar alignment. The SPN1 is a meteorological class


instrument designed for long-term outdoor exposure, and is an affordable alternative to traditional shade- ring pyranometers and other sunshine recorders. It also provides some of the functionality of expensive pyrheliometers; working at any latitude with no moving parts, no shade rings, no motorised tracking needed. The unique design of the Sunshine Pyranometer uses a patented array of thermopile sensors and a computer-generated shading pattern to measure the direct and diffuse components of incident solar radiation, being protected by patents EP 1012633 & US 6417500. The Sunshine Pyranometer provides 2 voltage outputs for global and diffuse energy, and a digital output of sunshine state for data logging. The internal heater keeps the Sunshine Pyranometer clear of dew, ice and snow down to –20°C, ensuring reliable readings in difficult climatic conditions. In summary, the Sunshine Pyranometer is a high performance instrument offering a unique combination of solar radiation measurements in a single, low maintenance device, making it ideal for PV applications.


Reader Reply Card No. 51 Sunshine SPN1 Sunshine


Pyranometer Unique multi-function solar radiation sensor


• Global and diffuse radiation in W.m-2


• Sunshine hours to WMO definition • No moving parts, no routine adjustment


Delta-T Devices Ltd www.delta-t.co.uk


Reader Reply Card No. 52


Meteorological Specialists


REMTECH (France) manufactures and maintains the Remtech Doppler Sodar, the R.A.S.S. (Radio Acoustic Sounding System) and the Doppler Sonar.


The Doppler Sodar systems measure remotely a vertical profile of wind speed, direction, thermal stratification and turbulence parameters (sigma W, sigma Theta) up to 5,000 meters or more above ground.


They are ideally suited for airport safety (wind shear detection), wind energy site assessment, for air pollution control and forecast, site surveys (power plants) and study of telecommunication network disturbances due to atmospheric conditions.


Meteorological and aeronautical services are interested in the Sodars for the detection of windshear at airports, and military organisations are, or will be, using the Sodar in programs for weapons development, parachuting, landing on aircraft carriers as well as flight tests in general.


The R.A.S.S. (Radio Acoustic Sounding System) remotely measures temperature profiles in the atmosphere with resolution to 0.2° Celsius.


It can be used in environmental studies for temperature gradients, and for monitoring how the propagation of radio waves is modified by atmospheric conditions. It comes as an option to all our sodars and can provide measurements up to 1,500 meters above ground. Recently Remtech introduced an advanced Doppler Sonar system for measuring under water currents to 1000 meters.


This instrument takes advantage of all the research acquired from the Phased Array Doppler Sodar development. The Remtech PA0 is the smallest, lightest, most precise Sodar system available. It comprises just two interconnected small modules, each weighing less than 30 pounds and its nominal range reaches 700 meters (1,200 m with all Sodar measuring capability software enhancements) The PA0 requires no external enclosure while others need large and heavy enclosures or bunkers.


This evidences Remtech superior antenna design and ground clutter signal processing. The PA0 uses Remtech’s unique, efficient multi-frequency processing technique resulting in outstanding measurement precision with no requirement for further editing.


This is contrary to other systems which require editing of “outliers”. No further editing has been a Remtech basic feature over the past 25 years, making our Sodars the prime choice for such demanding real time applications as nuclear sites monitoring.


The PA0 needs only one DC Voltage (12Volts) and draws only 25 W and therefore can be made fully autonomous via optional batteries and solar array.


Running under Linux using a Dell Notebook, the PA0 is therefore easy to operate remotely using the internet, cellular service or conventional phone lines. In addition to basic atmospheric data (wind speed and direction) the PA0 can optionally deliver high quality turbulence data.


Reader Reply Card No. 53


IET May / June 2011 www.envirotech-online.com


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