The National Mesonet is a multi-functional, multi-faceted observational weather “network of networks” that delivers critical information required for improved weather prediction and warnings across the United States. Comprised of numerous and diverse public-private partners, the National Mesonet is a cost-effective, critical resource for the National Weather Service (NWS), state and local government agencies, policy makers, business enterprises, educators and researchers.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks’ USArray network has been a part of the NMP since 2020 and currently operates 90 weather and seismographic stations. Both the Alaska Climate Research Center and the Alaska Earthquake Center are directly involved in network operations. The network consists of high-quality broadband seismographs measuring earthquake activity as well as weather stations measuring standard meteorological variables (temperature, humidity, precipitation, pressure, and wind) as well as soil moisture and soil temperature on a subset of the network. The NMP helps fill both temporal and spatial gaps that the federally-owned Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) stations do not cover.

The stations operated by UAF help train aspiring meteorologists as well as allow for research on localized weather phenomena by scientists at the ACRC. Data from this array of stations can be dowloaded through Synoptic by clicking on the image below.