EAST ALTON – Visitors to the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s Jerry F. Costello Confluence Field Station will notice a new addition atop its iconic green roof.

A weather station, specifically called a Mesonet station, from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Saint Louis University, was recently installed by NGRRECsm Post-Doctoral Research Associate Teresa Baraza, PhD, and Doctoral Student Ryan Kelly.

"We are excited to be able to bring this collaboration to fruition,” Baraza said. “The NGRREC field station is a great location for a Mesonet station that can yield useful and reliable weather data, so this is a great opportunity for both institutions".

The goal of this weather station is to continuously collect real-time data on temperature, pressure, moisture, rain fall, solar radiation and wind speed. The station will record each of these metrics every minute, giving researchers a more complete picture of weather fluctuations in the area.

These data will contribute to an ongoing weather observation project, which consists of a larger network of Mesonet stations placed across the greater St. Louis area.

For more information about the station and data access, please reach out to Baraza at tbarazapiazuelo@lc.edu.

National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC℠)

NGRREC is dedicated to the study of great river systems and the communities that use them, facilitating the efficient implementation of science into policy and to practice. Founded in 2002 as a collaborative partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lewis and Clark Community College, the center aspires to be a leader in scholarly research, education, and outreach related to the interconnectedness of large rivers, their floodplains, watersheds, and their associated communities.