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January
17, 2007
A TALE OF TWO SITES: IMPACTS OF RELOCATING L.A.'S
WEATHER STATION
In
the classic 1859 novel, "A Tale of
Two Cities," Charles Dickens spins a moral tale of dramatic contrasts
between 18th century London
and Paris.
To modern-day climatologists, though,
the story could serve as a metaphor for weather records in Los Angeles since the National
Weather Service relocated the city's official
downtown Civic
Center
weather station to the University of Southern California
in
July 1999.
A new comparative study of daily temperature and rainfall records in
Los
Angeles by NASA and university scientists finds the move -- to a
location
nearly 6 kilometers (almost 4 miles) closer to the coast and 27 meters
(90
feet) lower in elevation -- has produced weather records reflecting
conditions
that are cooler, drier and less extreme than those at the previous
location.
At the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in San Antonio, Texas,
climatologist Dr. Bill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif.,
said the move has created a clear discontinuity in weather records.
"The move from downtown Los Angeles to
USC in 1999 has caused a major hiccup in
our local climate history," said Patzert. "Suddenly, Los Angeles
became dryer and cooler, and we
were denied a record rain year in 2004-2005. The magnitude of change
reflected
in our study strongly suggests this relocation will bias long-term
climatic
studies."
This is hardly the first move of the downtown Los Angeles
weather station, but it is by far
the largest, and the first to move the station away from the built-up
city
center. The station was moved from the roof of a two-story parking
structure at
the Department of Water and Power building near city center at an
elevation of
almost 90 meters (270 feet), to a park-like environment on the USC
campus with
tall shade trees and grass at an elevation of almost 60 meters (180
feet).
The National Weather Service moved the station as part of a nationwide
effort
to locate all official weather stations on ground-level sites in
natural
settings. The Department of Water and Power site remained operational,
however,
allowing the direct comparisons used by Patzert and his colleagues.
The study found that between August 1999 and June 2006, maximum
temperatures
averaged 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) higher at the
Department of
Water and Power site, while the average temperatures at the new site
were about
a half-degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. Minimum
temperatures
were about the same at both sites. The greatest differences in maximum
temperatures occurred in late summer and early fall, with the smallest
differences
seen in late winter and spring. The Department of Water and Power site
was
cooler than USC in the spring and summer and warmer in the fall and
winter. The
authors attribute these seasonal differences to two factors: distance
from the
ocean and land use.
"In southern California,
the cool ocean
current keeps the coast cooler in summer and milder in winter than
inland
areas," said co-author Dr. Steve LaDochy, a climatologist at California State
University,
Los
Angeles. "For example, the
Department of Water and Power site averages 1.7 degrees Celsius (three
degrees
Fahrenheit) warmer than Los Angeles International Airport at
the coast,
just 20 kilometers (12 miles) away."
Because of the abundance of trees and grass, the USC station tends to
be cooler
during the day than the urbanized Department of Water and Power site.
At night,
the trees can block outgoing radiation, and the moisture in the lawns
tends to
absorb more heat than the drier, open Department of Water and Power
site.
The
USC site averaged about 25.4 millimeters (about one inch) less rainfall
than the higher and more inland Department of Water and Power location.
Again,
elevation and distance from the coast are driving factors in the
differences.
In the Los
Angeles
basin, rainfall increases with elevation and with distance from the
coast. The
Department of Water and Power site averages 375 millimeters (14.77
inches) of
rain a year, while Los Angeles International Airport
averages just 305 millimeters (12.01 inches). Rainfall comes primarily
from
Pacific winter storms moving inland from a westerly direction. As these
storm
fronts are lifted by the coastal mountains, rain and snow tend to
increase with
increasing elevation on the coastal side of the mountains.
The weather station relocation kept Los Angeles
from setting a new rainfall record in the
2004-5 water year (from July 1 to June 30). The USC site recorded 946.2
millimeters (37.25 inches), second only to 1883-4, which had 969.8
millimeters
(38.18 inches). That same season, the Department of Water and Power
site
recorded 973.3 millimeters (38.32 inches). Conversely, in 2001-02, the
USC
station recorded the driest year ever--about 112 millimeters (4.42
inches), a
record that would not have occurred without the move.
LaDochy cited the record heat wave of June and July 2006 as an example
of how
the move has made temperature records less extreme. At the USC station,
the
all-time record for the highest minimum temperature (overnight low) was
set on
June 4, with 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). However, that
same
week, the Department of Water and Power station recorded highest
overnight lows
three days in a row. Similarly, for the month of July, USC station
temperatures
broke or tied seven all-time records, while the Department of Water and
Power
site broke nine.
Since the Department of Water and Power station is still operational,
Patzert
and his co-authors suggest its records be reinstated as the official Los Angeles
downtown
station, with the USC station becoming part of the National Weather
Service's
Cooperative Observer Program. That program has sites all over the United States,
maintained by volunteers or contractors.
Other study authors include JPL's Dr. Josh Willis and Teni Mardirosian,
Glendale Community College,
Glendale,
Calif.
For
more information and images, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/weather-20070117.html
##
Contact:
Alan Buis
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
818-354-0474
alan.d.buis@jpl.nasa.gov
This text is
derived from:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1273
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