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Investigation of the Production and Acquisition of Data in an Automated Weather Observation Station

Organization(s):Mingdao High School
Country:Taiwan Partnership
Student(s):Ho,Tsung-Han
Grade Level:Secondary School (grades 9-12, ages 14-18)
GLOBE Educator(s):Feng-Hsi Shih
Contributors:
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Air Temperature, Relative Humidity
Presentation Poster: View Document
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:03/06/2024
In our school's GLOBE Program, the weather observers usually have to go to the weather station for observations and manually record the data. However, the location of the weather station on campus is remote, and the observation time is limited. Therefore, creating a low-cost automated weather observation station can improve the continuity of data collection and eliminate the need for manual record-keeping. This study utilized a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor connected to an ESP32 microcontroller, which transmitted the data over the internet. The results of the study showed consistency in the temperature and humidity data between the MDSH Site and the Wuri Site of the Central Weather Bureau, while also explaining possible reasons for the differences observed. In the future, the device used in this study will continue to be used for observing the microclimate on the campus.


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Comments

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Waleska Aldana Segura
7 Months Ago

Excellent work, congratulations, I have two questions reading your work. a) do you think the difference in temperature and humidity in both sites could be attributed to calibration of the equipment you made, the arduino sensor? b. have you considered placing a solar panel to recharge the power bank? I really enjoyed your project and hope to see the conclusion of it. Again, congratulations. 

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Feng-Hsi Shih
7 Months Ago

Hello Madam, thank you for your praise. Here are my responses to your two questions:

Question 1:

I believe the biggest difference in temperature and relative humidity between the two locations is the environment. The temperature and relative humidity measured by the DHT11 sensor have very low numerical errors compared to analog thermometers and hygrometers, ruling out any device-related inaccuracies. The temperature trends at both observation stations are generally similar, but the significant difference lies in the relative humidity.

Due to the different locations of the two observation stations, the Wuri Station is situated on the sidewalk outside the elementary school, while the Mingdao Station is located on the fourth-floor corridor of the teaching building. This difference in positioning leads to variations in the measurement values. Under normal conditions, the temperature at the Wuri Station is lower than that at the Mingdao Station because the Wuri Station's location is more open, allowing heat to dissipate more easily and cool down.

In the relative humidity comparison chart, during the morning hours of 9:00-11:00, the relative humidity at the Mingdao Station starts to exceed that at the Wuri Station. I believe this is due to the high number of people on campus during the day (Mingdao High School has a total of approximately 8,000 students). The use of facilities such as sinks and toilets, which involve water transportation through pipelines, may affect the nearby relative humidity. Conversely, in the evening when the number of people on campus significantly decreases, the relative humidity also starts to be lower than that at the Wuri Station.

Question 2:  

Before initiating this project, I had also considered using solar panels to generate electricity for the related equipment at the observation stations. However, I later realized that the cost of using solar panels would be higher and would not align with the low-cost requirement of this research project. Additionally, the power generated by the solar panels would not be sufficient for the equipment, and during periods of low sunlight intensity, the battery would quickly deplete, causing the devices to stop functioning and impacting the automated observation results. Therefore, I did not adopt this idea.