Ray Sanders is re-booting Tim Channon’s UK Surface Stations Project and will be updating old entries as well as adding new ones. The state of the station network will shock you. Ray has uncovered a lot of serious issues and we will be highlighting them in regular posts here at the talkshop. We’re putting the MET-Office and relevant government ministers on notice: scientific data must be properly measured, collected, as well as being collated and curated in a transparent, accessible manner. We taxpayers demand our money is spent wisely and that the resulting outputs are available to be examined and used by any and all researchers. ~tb
51.39848 -0.49514 Met Office Rating – CIMO Class 3 Installed 1/1/1914 Temperature data from 4/4/2017
So here is the Met Office’s official station in Chertsey, Surrey. Although it is claimed to have existed since 1914 there are only archived temperature records from 2017 and it does not appear on google aerial images prior to then – probably originally a rain gauge site only. It is also a regular record breaker, this year’s hottest temperature to June was recorded here.
In 2022 Affinity Water installed the Solar Panels detailed with this youtube promotional film – the weather station makes a starring appearance from 2 minutes 49 seconds in but it’s worth watching the full clip to judge the scale involved.
Does the presence of these panels affect the accuracy of temperature readings and if so in what way? I put this very question to the Met Office – their response.
OFFICIAL
Dear Mr Sanders, thank you for your email dated June 26th 2024.
The Met Office is aware of the solar panels near Chertsey Abbey Meade Pumping Station Automated Weather Station. The weather station was originally given a CIMO 2 rating for temperature, however, following the installation of the solar panels this rating was adjusted to CIMO 3 in line with World Meteorological Organisation guidelines for screen temperatures due to the artificial heat sources and reflective surfaces.
For grading and classification purposes, for heat sources and reflective surfaces we look at 3m 10m, 30m and 100m land use circular areas from the Screen.
· CIMO 4: Close artificial heat sources, reflective surfaces (buildings, cars, etc.) and expanses of water. Occupying <30% of a 3m circular area.
· CIMO 3: More than 10m from artificial heat sources, reflective surfaces (buildings, cars, etc.) and expanses of water (<5% within 10m or 30% of a 3m circular area).
· CIMO 2: More than 30m from artificial heat sources, reflective surfaces (buildings, cars, etc.) and expanses of water (<10% of area within 30m radius, <5% within 5-10m or <30% of a 3m circular area).
· CIMO 1: More than 100m from artificial heat sources, reflective surfaces (buildings, cars etc.) and expanses of water. (<10% 100m radius).
Measurements at Chertsey Abbey Meade Pumping Station Automated Weather Station show at 3m radius from the Screen = 0% solar panels, 10m radius = 0%, 30m radius = 20%, 100m radius = >20%. The temperature measurements meet standards for publication and scientific use.
My Response:
“Thank you for your interesting interpretation of the CIMO assessment ratings. This leaves me to wonder which part of “Ground covered with natural and low vegetation (< 10 cm) representative of the region;” do Solar panels come under? Is that area of Surrey completely covered in solar panels?”
What does recent research into the effects of solar panels on the local environment say? Well this research clearly indicates they elevate temperatures surprisingly significantly.
https://phys.org/news/2016-11-solar-island-effect-large-scale-power.html
My alternative research comprised walking through a local solar farm in a tee shirt and judging by what my delicate skin recorded……it was warmer inside the confines than outside!
Is this an isolated site alteration? In future posts I will highlight several other sites similarly compromised by solar panel installations with data demonstrating the effects.
Meantime, lots of questions. What are the views of our readers? Does anyone know of any other definitive research on this subject? What do you think about this site and should its readings contribute to the UK’s climate record? ……Should it stay or should it go!
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
August 23, 2024 at 04:29AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 