Richardson Bay to get Weather Station
Audubon, in partnership with the San Francisco National Estuarine Research Reserve, is planning to add a weather station and water quality data logger to one of the pilings that marks the southern boundary of the Richardson Bay Audubon Sanctuary. The data provided by this equipment will be publicly available via the internet and will provide many benefits to the Bay. The data will contribute to research related to water quality and weather patterns, it will provide critical information in the case of an environmental crisis (e.g., an oil or sewage spill), and will provide real time weather data for a wide variety of Bay users such as boaters, kayakers, wind surfers, small aircraft, etc. There are no other weather or water quality stations providing data for this part of the Bay at the current time. The weather station consists of an aluminum tower that will be attached to the piling and will hold the antenna, solar panel, and several sensors, (temperature and radiation (PAR) sensors, wind monitor, and rain gauge). This tower will be attached above the hide tide line and will extend above the top of the piling approximately 14 feet. The equipment will be serviced monthly.
