The Oklahoma Mesonet's Skin Temperature Network

In 1999, the Oklahoma Mesonet deployed infrared temperature (IRT) sensors at 89 of its environmental monitoring stations. A 3-yr dataset collected since that time provides a unique opportunity to analyze longer-term, continuous, mesoscale observations of skin temperature across a large area. Several limitations of the sensor have been identified and include 1) failure of the calibration equation during the cold season, 2) difficulty in keeping the sensor's lens clean at remote sites, and 3) limited representativeness of local conditions due to the sensor's narrow field of view. Despite these limitations, the Oklahoma Mesonet's skin temperature network provides a wealth of information that can be used to better understand many land–atmosphere interactions. Not only can the observations be used to estimate the partitioning of latent and sensible heat flux, they also provide beneficial “ground truth” estimates to validate remotely sensed estimates of skin temperature. This manuscript describes the IRT sensor, evaluates its performance, and provides analysis of time series data and observed spatial variability across Oklahoma.