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Title: Meteorological Monitoring on bikini atoll: system description and data summary (May 2000 - April 2001)

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15002223· OSTI ID:15002223

Meteorological data are continuously collected at three sites on Bikini Atoll in support of radioecological research and monitoring programs conducted by the Health and Ecological Assessments Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Weather stations were first established on Bikini Atoll in April 1990, and provide information on rainfall, wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, and solar radiation. These data and information are used to interpret results of remediation experiments designed to evaluate the effectiveness of potassium fertilizer on reducing the uptake of {sup 137}Cs into locally grown foods. We have also demonstrated that {sup 137}Cs is slowly leached from surface soil by the action of rain water. Long-term meteorological data are crucial to our efforts of developing an understanding of environmental processes controlling the environment loss of {sup 137}Cs in coral atoll soil. In May 2000, older data collection platforms and the DOS-based system that downloaded data from National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Data Automatic Processing System (DAPS) was decommissioned, and new data loggers, GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) transmitters and antennas were installed. Consequently, new procedures were developed to maintain the field systems, download the data, and reduce and archive the data. This document provides an operational description and status report on the three new meteorological monitoring systems on Bikini Atoll as well as an computational summary of previously recorded data. Included are overviews of procedures for sensor exchange, data recovery and reduction, and specific information about the different sensors. We also provide a description of systems maintenance and trouble shooting activities. This report will be updated on an annual basis.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of Energy (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
15002223
Report Number(s):
UCRL-ID-147523; TRN: US200408%%179
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 1 Jan 2002
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English