QA/QC Procedures for <i>in-Situ</i> Calibration of a High Altitude Automatic Weather Station: The Case Study of the AWS Pyramid, 5050 m asl, Khumbu Valley, Nepal

Abstract

In-situ calibrations of weather stations are usually performed by positioning standard instruments close to the station under calibration and comparing the obtained results. This procedure could be useful to evaluate the proper functioning of the monitoring equipments, but do not allowed the determination of a calibration curve that allow the corrections of the acquired parameters. Thus, the development of a dedicated facility for in-situ calibration of weather stations, enabling simultaneous generation of a wide range of temperatures and pressures could offer important improvements in this framework, particularly if this facility is applied to high mountains monitoring stations where the weather stations calibrations could be very difficult. This paper will present the calibration chamber developed in the framework of the EMRP-METEOMET (Metrology for Meteorology) Project, which aims is to bring metrological traceability to high altitude meteorological instruments and through this experience will provide a general overview on the importance of the application of this methodology at different levels.