Meteorological Monitoring

The California Air Resources Board monitors wind speed, wind direction, ambient temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation at many of its ambient air monitoring stations throughout the state.  In addition, the ARB collects ambient meteorological data from local agencies and, for special studies, receives data from the National Weather Service, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Defense, and private sources performing prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) monitoring.

 The Monitoring Activities table summarizes the network and the monitoring methods for wind speed, wind direction, ambient temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and solar radiation.  It includes sampling schedules, number of sites operating in the State, methodology used by the ARB, U.S. EPA reference method, and data availability. 

The Quality Assurance Section conducts annual performance audits for wind speed, wind direction, ambient temperature, and barometric pressure.  Real-time meteorological data are generated to characterize meteorological processes such as transport and diffusion, and to make air quality forecasts and burn-day decisions.  The data are also used for control strategy modeling and urban airshed modeling.