Station Information

Latitude:       64.30  N         Longitude:    165.26 W

Elevation:      8 m              Time Zone:     GMT-9

Site Operator

Mr. Jerry Steiger
NOAA/National Weather Service
P.O. Box 1170
Nome, AK 99672-1170

Tel: (907)443-2321
Fax: (907)443-2891
E-mail: Jerry.Steiger@noaa.gov

On June 10, 1998, the BSI multifilter UV radiometer was deployed at the Nome NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office. Until a wooden platform could be built, the UV instrument was temporarily attached to an existing pole on the edge of the roof. The wooden platform and stairs were subsequently completed and the UV instrument moved to its permanent home on July 10. Unfortunately, as seen in the following pictures, the instrument was inadvertently installed below the railing, which resulted in the diffuser being shaded for about an hour in the evening around 7 PM local time (especially apparent during clear or partly cloudy periods). This effect was not immediately identified due to extremely cloudy conditions, which washed out the shadowing. By the time it was recognized that a problem existed, it was close to the end of the monitoring season (instrument was removed in late October), so a correction to the installation was not made until 1999. However, the data can be easily edited to eliminate these one-hour periods, so there is no need to throw away the approximately two dozen days on which the diffuser was shaded.

The Nome BSI	Long View of the Nome BSI

     View from the Nome BSI

In February 1999, the BSI instrument was properly installed on a taller leg, which elevated it above the height of the railing. The instrument has not been moved since that time.

Looking west-southwest over Norton Sound. Note layer of haze just above the horizon.	Looking south with the three FAA towers in the background.	View from the BSI instrument looking north-northeast.

In March 2000, upward- and downward-facing LI-COR solar sensors, measuring photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) in the 400-700 nm spectrum, were installed. The upward-facing PAR sensor was installed at the top of the center FAA tower shown in the above picture. Another view of this PAR sensor, which is inserted into the top of an extendable arm, is shown in the picture below. This is a view from the top of the FAA tower and looking west-northwest.

The downward-facing PAR sensor was deployed at the bottom of the FAA tower, onto a specially designed boom arm, as seen in the following picture:

These two PAR sensors will be used to calculate albedo, which is the ratio of the reflected solar flux (the measurements taken from the downward-facing sensor) to the incident solar flux (the measurements taken from the upward-facing sensor).