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Dublin Airport weather station - photos

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    #32
    Danno
    Registered Users Posts: 8,913 ✭✭✭Danno


    LOL Lads, what is the problem with DA appearing so cold? If the mercury can dip that low then it can read that low!

    I'd be more worried with mercury readings coming in too high due to tarmac, buildings etc... or God forbid a bumping of figures to massage the Global Warming Tax scam.


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    #33
    Deep Easterly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Deep Easterly


    Danno wrote: »
    LOL Lads, what is the problem with DA appearing so cold? If the mercury can dip that low then it can read that low!

    I don't think has anyone has a problem with the actual temperature readings at Dublin Airport as doubtlessly they are accurate for the location. Just seems a little odd though that headlines such as 'Coldest month at Dublin Airport in 40/50/60 years' are becoming more and more frequent; all the more odd when nearby stations such as Casement don't record such.

    I think Mothman mentioned before that the weather station at the airport has changed location more than once in recent years and I think this is beginning to reflect in the data. Might be worth doing some research into this though.


    Octo, don't know how to make a table in a post but if you use Excel you can highlight the cells containing the data, then right click: click copy and paste into Paint or similar graphic program, save as image file and just upload.


    PS, does anyone know when the weather station at Dublin Airport changed location? as might be worth looking at the Airport's data before and after to compare and contrast.


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    #34
    compsys
    Registered Users Posts: 1,042 ✭✭✭compsys


    Deep Easterly wrote: »
    I don't think has anyone has a problem with the actual temperature readings at Dublin Airport as doubtlessly they are accurate for the location. Just seems a little odd though that headlines such as 'Coldest month at Dublin Airport in 40/50/60 years' are becoming more and more frequent; all the more odd when nearby stations such as Casement don't record such.

    I think Mothman mentioned before that the weather station at the airport has changed location more than once in recent years and I think this is beginning to reflect in the data. Might be worth doing some research into this though.


    Octo, don't know how to make a table in a post but if you use Excel you can highlight the cells containing the data, then right click: click copy and paste into Paint or similar graphic program, save as image file and just upload.


    PS, does anyone know when the weather station at Dublin Airport changed location? as might be worth looking at the Airport's data before and after to compare and contrast.

    Yeah, I pretty much agree with what you're saying. It's also the fact that it's the main station in the capital. If it were a station somewhere less important you mightn't mind as much but it should be more representative of the city, and even country, as a whole.

    I mean last March the weather was fairly seasonal and every station in the country recorded an average monthly temperature of around .3 to .5 degrees above average - apart from D.A. which recorded a temp of 0.5 below average and was the only station in the country to record a below average temp. That's just strange. It's like it has its own micro climate as times.


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    #35
    Deep Easterly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Deep Easterly


    Been looking and taking data for Dublin Airport and Casement Aerodrome from the Met Eireann monthly bulletins between Jan 2007 and May 2011:

    http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-weather-bulletin.asp

    Jotted down both mean maxima and mean minima at both for the period (Excel file attached, and if anyone spots any mistakes please let me know. Will triple check again tomorrow)

    Just focusing on the monthly mean minima, and particularly the difference in the monthly deviation values for the monthly mean minima at both stations, there seems to be an interesting trend emerging:
    171512.jpg


    Spaced over an average year, the mean minima at Dublin Airport works out about 1.0c higher than that of Casement, and which, up the first half of 2010, the chart shows nicely. It is interesting to see though that during the 2nd half of 2010, this difference changes drastically.

    I am not sure I totally understand what all this means myself at the moment as I am totally jacked and seeing 4 of everything at this stage so will continue this tomorrow!


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    #36
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    DE, there is a fundamental issue.

    The weather station has been recently moved and the averages you are using refer to a different site. This site is not even the previous one, but the original station.

    I have referred to this issue in #5 AND #21

    You may as well be comparing apples and oranges!

    I don't know when the latest site came into operation, but it was well before mid 2010, so there may be still an anomaly to discuss.

    You may be interested to having the mean mins for my own site. My site shares characteristics with DA. I suggest comparing the actual figures between the 3 stations.


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    #37
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    I looked for where Casement is located. The Location is given by Met Eireann Here....and looks suspiciously rounded.

    I translated that Met co ordinate and it landed me at a location on top of a jet exhaust blocking berm HERE . Lucky we only got small jets in Ireland, what! :D Nothing Met like at that spot though.

    I would be delighted were anyone to confirm I did the TRANSLATION correctly.

    I think I see it slightly west of there and that it has been there for years looking at OSI maps.


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    #38
    thetonynator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    Sponge Bob wrote: »

    I think I see it slightly west of there and that it has been there for years looking at OSI maps.


    40m from tarmac and about 20m from a building.


    I'd say Dublin is more accurate!!!


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    #39
    Deep Easterly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Deep Easterly


    Mothman wrote: »
    DE, there is a fundamental issue.

    The weather station has been recently moved and the averages you are using refer to a different site. This site is not even the previous one, but the original station.

    I have referred to this issue in #5 AND #21

    You may as well be comparing apples and oranges!

    I don't know when the latest site came into operation, but it was well before mid 2010, so there may be still an anomaly to discuss.

    Your absolutely right MM which begs the question why the 61-90 temperature average for Dublin Airport is still being used to compare current data with. M.E still seem to use it YET, as you know, the DA climatological average is not listed or used in the monthly Met Bulletins which makes the whole thing all the more confusing.


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    #40
    Deep Easterly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Deep Easterly


    The 61-90 average dictates that mean minima at Dublin Airport during the month of January is 0.69c higher than that of Casement Aerodrome.

    This was more or less the case until 1995:
    171703.JPG

    The 1995-2011 average dictates that the mean minima during the month of January at Dublin Airport is now 0.6c lower than that of Casement Aerodrome.

    Incredible!


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    #41
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Not incredible, I believe the station moved in May 94, ties in nicely.

    And has been moved again in recent years and this latest site appears to be recording relatively lower mins.


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    #42
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    They really should look at the siting of the Rome Ciampino Airport weather station for some top tips. :D


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    #43
    NIALL D
    Registered Users Posts: 671 ✭✭✭NIALL D


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    They really should look at the siting of the Rome Ciampino Airport weather station for some top tips. :D

    they must get some funny readings :D

    the video is mad , the car flying through the air as it passes the engine , jus goes to show the power of one of those engines !!


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    #44
    Su Campu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,279 ✭✭✭Su Campu


    If you look back to my original post and my photos you'll see that the current Dublin site is pretty much perfect, as regards the standards set down by the WMO. It's in total contrast to the Ciampino example above, which is an all-too-common feature nowadays.

    While taxiing into Charles de Gaulle recently I laughed at the Meteo France building with its weather station sited just outside it, and a few steps from the huge concrete apron on one side, two massive carparks just to the west and south...and of course the multi-story MeteoFrance building itself shielding the station from northerly winds! :rolleyes:

    171740.PNG


    171741.PNG


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    #45
    Su Campu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,279 ✭✭✭Su Campu


    The Met Office at Dublin Airport is located between Piers D and A. It's the curved building in this IAA Aircraft Docking Chart, and also in this map. You walk right by it when walking along that long corridor to Pier D. It's on the left hand side, and has a "control tower" type lookout, along with various instruments (radiation sensors, Campbell-Stokes, etc) on its roof.

    I'm not sure exactly where the original met instruments (screen, etc.) themselves were located before the airport built up around it. I'm sure they wouldn't have been on the roof.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/38016434@N05/5755841317


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    #46
    Elmer Blooker
    Registered Users Posts: 6,044 ✭✭✭Elmer Blooker


    Casement 9c and D.Airport 5c now.
    I make it 9c too and I'm about 5km from the Airport. 5c for a location quite near the coast just doesn't seem right to me considering sea temps are at their highest in late summer?


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    #47
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Elmer Blooker wrote: »
    Casement 9c and D.Airport 5c now.
    I make it 9c too and I'm about 5km from the Airport. 5c for a location quite near the coast just doesn't seem right to me considering sea temps are at their highest in late summer?
    I recorded less than 6C 4 times this month and I'm only 1.5km from sea.
    My min last night was 6.6C with 2.0C recorded 1.2m below on the grass.

    I've been taking daily obs for nearly 10 years and I have no issue with the temps recorded at Dublin AP.

    Neither do I have an issue with 5C+ difference across 5km. I've experienced this difference across a matter of 200 metres!


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    #48
    Elmer Blooker
    Registered Users Posts: 6,044 ✭✭✭Elmer Blooker


    Mothman wrote: »
    I recorded less than 6C 4 times this month and I'm only 1.5km from sea.
    My min last night was 6.6C with 2.0C recorded 1.2m below on the grass.

    I've been taking daily obs for nearly 10 years and I have no issue with the temps recorded at Dublin AP.

    Neither do I have an issue with 5C+ difference across 5km. I've experienced this difference across a matter of 200 metres!

    Your low temps this month could due to your location, the air over the Wicklow Mts cools quickly on clear calm nights and because cold air is heavier it will flow towards the warm sea - a katabatic wind which is the exact opposite to a daytime sea breeze.
    The terrain at D. Airport is as flat as a pancake (which is why the airport is there :rolleyes: ) so I cannot think of any reason for this micro climate.
    The 5c difference over 200m is due to temperature inversion surely?


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    #49
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Elmer Blooker wrote: »
    Your low temps this month could due to your location, the air over the Wicklow Mts cools quickly on clear calm nights and because cold air is heavier it will flow towards the warm sea - a katabatic wind which is the exact opposite to a daytime sea breeze.
    The terrain at D. Airport is as flat as a pancake (which is why the airport is there :rolleyes: ) so I cannot think of any reason for this micro climate.
    The 5c difference over 200m is due to temperature inversion surely?
    I do get katabatic breezes here which actually warm up the air by shifting the local inversion. Much more prevalent in winter than in summer. Soil conditions play a part as well with the light soil leading quicker cooling as well. But it is true to point out the mtns having an influence, a significant one, with my site. It was one of my main motivations to in getting a climate station here.

    I'm not familiar with the Dublin AP site but perhaps not as flat as a pancake. Judging by my site it doesn't take much of a hollow to trap the cool air on calm nights.


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    #50
    Danno
    Registered Users Posts: 8,913 ✭✭✭Danno


    Having a good look at the sites in question and to me it would be down to soil type.

    There are 2 quarrys to the west of the site which suggests very sandy soil in the vicinity of the location, alot of grain fields to the west of the airport would support this theory.

    Another hint is the townsland called "Coldwinters" about 1km SW of the new site!

    Finally, the new site is roughly 12 to 15 metres higher up and a further 2km inland.


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    #51
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    I think you're on to something Danno.

    Have a look at 6" map on OSI site and see all the gravel pits mentioned.

    I can't help thinking that coldwinters is simply a coincidence.....but my mind is open


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