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Summary

Install

Details

Service/Install Description (Sept 5-9 and Sept 26-Oct 2 2023):

• Install location was chosen for the lawn in front of the Tacoma Water office building (next to the NOAA Met station) on Sept 5, 2023 when the install team first arrived and discussed the possibility with Tyler, Bret, and Ken from Tacoma Water.
• Ken, the Tacoma Water electrician, said he would install a separate AC circuit by the proposed site that could be dedicated to the RadMet station.
• Bret informed the team that any digging would first require a utilities location. The team marked out a rectangle area for proposed digging and Jim put in a location request that Tacoma Water employees completed by Friday, Sept 8, spray painting the locations on the lawn.
• Hazards identified were the following:
• There are buried high-voltage lines in the lawn, running from NW to SE just to the north of the installation zone (initially marked by red stakes)
• There is a deep buried concrete sewer line running W to E just north of the installation zone (initially marked by green stakes)
• Installation began on Wed, Sept 27
• The RadMet enclosure was installed on two poles using pipe hangers and a unistrut frame, with the GOES, GPS, and radio antennas mounted above it.
• The tipping bucket and disdrometer were installed on dedicated poles with a junction box mounted on each one for terminating the conduit coming from the RadMet enclosure
• The MRR was installed on its tripod with concrete pavers under each foot to avoid them sinking in the ground. A short pole was installed next to it for mounting a junction box and hanging the excess length of the MRR data cable.
• The holes for each pole were dug with a combination of an auger, hammer drill, dig bar, and post hole digger. The auger had an 8in diameter bit and got us to about 1 foot deep. The rest of the way needed to be dug with a hammer drill and post hole digger. Holes were dug about 18 inches deep.

• Using a single trench, 12-18” deep, the team ran liquidtight flex PVC conduit size 1-¼” from the RadMet enclosure to the MRR junction box (containing the data and AC cables), size ¾ ” from the RadMet enclosure to the tipping bucket junction box (containing an AC cable), and size ¾ ” from the RadMet enclosure to the disdrometer junction box (containing the disdrometer data/power cable) (the final stretch of trench to the disdrometer was 6” deep).

• The tipping bucket signal cable was run to the surface Met enclosure through a 6” deep trench in through aluminum flex conduit.
• AC power for the RadMet was connected via size ¾ ” flex PVC conduit to a junction box installed by the Tacoma Water electrician. There were two available 120V / 15A circuits in the box, which was mounted to the structure for the NOAA met station that was installed there previously. The circuit used for the RadMet is called:
• 40 - DPL - L / CKT - 32

which is wired to a circuit breaker with the same name in the breaker room located in the office building. The room can only be accessed by a Tacoma Water employee.

Note: the junction box for this circuit had water inside due to poor seal on the box. It was tightened a lot and outdoor silicone was caulked around the gasket edge to prevent this from happening again. Silicone was also applied to all the upwards facing cable glands on the sensor junction boxes.

• There was no circuit in the originally built RadMet for a heated tipping bucket since AC power for the heater was not initially anticipated for this installation. To power the tipping bucket heating element, a terminal block circuit was wired up on-site, with a 5A fuse used in the fuse block, which was the closest available value in the area. This should be replaced eventually.

RadMet Enclosure Interior

• RADMet followed most of the computer setup in the RAD-Met Rugged Computer Setup . The only differences were all steps related to the cell were skipped (this includes the FTP setup). This site uses GOES to transmit data, and the transmitter used is the FTS G6-DB. The instructions to set up the FTS G6-DB are in their manual. Additional steps for the processing script and the the FTS G6-DB are located in Tacoma Radmet Data Setup .
• The SurfaceMet was installed following the best practices in the SurfaceMet_DeploymentManual

Notes:

• Contact information for the NOAA COOP site ( PALW1 ): john.burg@noaa.gov (NWS Seattle)
• Headworks people let us know that there is microclimate right there at the site, the weather there is different than what’s forecasted for the general area and there can be very high winds
• Late Summer/Early fall is the time of year bear cubs wean from their mothers, so if you see any bear cubs alone around this time, they are okay!
• No locks
• If digging is required, please contact the Tacoma Water folks prior to digging.
• Oct 9, 2023- Tacoma Water folks dug up some grass to replace with gravel around the site
• Oct 23, 2023 - Tyler confirmed that gravelling the site was finished

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