Technology Access Fees Database

Alisa Hass

alisa.hass@mtsu.edu

Todd Moore

Geosciences

Discipline specific equipment

The weather station will be installed outside in the open grassy space between the DSB parking lot a

N/A

N/A

Weather stations provide real-time atmospheric information that aids students’ understanding of the connection between atmospheric systems and the local environment and community. The closest official weather stations to MTSU, located at the Nashville airport and at the National Weather Service in Mount Juliet, are too far from campus to provide quality data on the local weather conditions, which often varies greatly from Nashville. We propose to purchase and install a WeatherSTEM station on campus to provide data for Geoscience True Blue Core and upper-level classes that serve more than 4000 students per academic year. Examples of classes include GEOL 1030/1031-Introduction to Earth Science, PGEO 1030-Physical Geography, ENVS 2810-Introduction to Earth Science, GEOL 4050/5050-Meteorology, and GEOL 4120/5120-Field Methods. Students will use these data to: 1) observe/quantify the patterns and impact of every day and extreme weather events on the local environment, community, and watershed; 2) understand the role of weather data in environmental risk assessments, such as floods, droughts, heat, cold, and severe storms; 3) integrate data into near- and long-term weather analyses and models; and 4) use the real-life data and video footage to analyze and better understand weather events. The weather station will additionally be used for research by at least six Geoscience faculty members and their undergraduate and graduate research students. Current weather conditions, forecasts, and warnings will be fed through the TV screens throughout DSB and potentially other locations on campus. Data downloads for the campus community and the public will be freely available.