Quality Assurance
This page describes known issues with the Tesa WS1081V3 AWS and Weather Display software, and also describes our routine performance monitoring. Although we strive to provide the highest quality data, you should never base important decisions on the data we publish or provide. Events or incidents that affect the operation of our PWS and adversely impact on the availability or quality of the data are recorded in our Operations Log.
This page should be viewed in conjunction with our station metadata and observing program for a complete overview of our standard operations.
Tesa WS1081V3
Rainfall
The AWS rainfall sensor has a resolution of 0.3 mm and is used for all real-time reporting. The standard rain gauge is read to 0.1 mm and is used for all daily and monthly reporting, and long-term statistics. The daily rainfall from the AWS are routinely compared against the standard rain gauge, with the ongoing comparison able to calculate a software correction for improved accuracy of the AWS rainfall data. The daily rainfall data from the AWS so far compare favourably against the standard rain gauge without the need for a correction.
Temperature
The AWS thermo-hygro sensor is protected from direct solar radiation and other sources of radiated heat by a fan aspirated radiation shield (FARS). Regular spot checks of the temperature data from the AWS are typically within ±0.3° C of the superseded La Crosse AWS temperature sensor that is still housed in the Stevenson Screen.
Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP)
The AWS MSLP data are routinely compared against the MSLP data from the BoM AWS at Laverton, with the ongoing comparison able to calculate a software correction for improved accuracy of the AWS MSLP data. The MSLP data from the AWS so far compare favourably against the BoM AWS at Laverton without the need for a correction.
Wind Speed and Direction
The AWS wind sensors are installed at a height of about 2 m instead of the standard height of 10 m. The wind data should therefore be used with caution.
Weather Display
A bug in the software occurs on the first day of the month, whereby the previous month does not change to the new month until 9:00 am. Coincidentally this is the start of the new meteorological day. All erroneous dates and computed values based on the erroneous dates are corrected in the data archive at the first opportunity after this time.
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Performance Monitoring
The daily rainfall and temperature data from our AWS are routinely compared against the BoM AWS at Laverton. The daily rainfall is also routinely compared against the Melbourne Water rainfall and river level station on Skeleton Creek at Hoppers Crossing.
