Unit.  College/School/Department:

Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences / Geography

In Cooperation with (Optional):

(Name of Cooperating Unit)

Name of Project Director:

Hong-Bing Su

Campus Address:

Brewster A-227

Phone Number:

328-1040

E-Mail:

suh@mail.ecu.edu

Total Funding Request:

$26,185.54

Choose One:

¬ Distance Education Proposal

X

¬ On Campus Proposal

Project Title: 

Enhancement of Innovative Instructional Facility for Atmospheric Science Education at East Carolina University

Name of Unit Head:

Ronald Mitchelson

Campus Address:

Brewster A-227

Phone Number:

328-6086

The primary goal of this proposal is to enhance field instructional facilities in support of innovative undergraduate and graduate education and training in the (newly developed) Atmospheric Sciences Concentration in the Department of Geography at East Carolina University. The proposed project includes the construction of two automated precision weather stations, one on the main campus and the other on the west research campus (former Voice of America Site C), and the establishment of network communications between these weather stations and a central workstation housed in the Atmospheric Science Lab in the Department of Geography in the Brewster Building (C-203). These facilities are critical resources to improve students’ learning in Atmospheric Sciences at ECU, in particular for field experiences and hands-on skills. In addition, these facilities will provide real-time local meteorological and climatological data that could be very useful to all students and instructors at ECU in the teaching of other courses in physical, biological, environmental, health and social sciences. For example, the continuous precipitation measurements at the two weather stations (the one located at the main campus represents an urban land use type, and the other located at the west research campus represents a rural, agricultural surface type) may be used to study water budget, run-off, flooding, etc. Other local weather and climate information provided by these weather stations (heat index, wind chill factor, evapotranspiration and irrigation schemes, etc.) may also be useful to the ECU and the Greenville community at large. The North Carolina State Climatologist welcomes and supports the addition of these weather stations become part of the North Carolina Environment and Climate Observing Network (NC ECONet) (see Dr. Raman’s email and letter in the appendix). Strong interaction between ECU Atmospheric Sciences and local news media is envisioned.

Students from the following Atmospheric Sciences courses will most directly benefit from the proposed project. However, as stated above, all students and faculty at ECU can also use these real-time local weather and climate data to facilitate their learning activities. Note that the numbers of students per year are estimated.

      GEOG2200 Weather and Climate (100 students)

      GEOG3230 Global Climates (25 students)

      GEOG3510 Physical Meteorology (20 students)

      GEOG3520 Dynamic Meteorology (20 students)

      GEOG4510 Meteorological Instruments and Observations (10 students)

      GEOG4520 Boundary Layer Meteorology (10 students)

      GEOG4530 Micrometeorology (10 students)

      GEOG4540 Coastal Storms (20 students)

      GEOG4550 Synoptic Meteorology (20 students, new course, pending university approval)

      GEOG4560 Urban Climatology (15 students)

      GEOG6510 Meteorological Measurement Systems (5 students)

      GEOG6520 Atmospheric Turbulence (5 students)

      GEOG6530 Advanced Micrometeorology (5 students)

      GEOG6540 Advanced Costal Storms (15 students)

      GEOG6550 Synoptic Meteorology and Forecasting (15 students)

      GEOG6560 Applied Urban Climatology (15 students)

Other Geography Course that will also be benefit from these facilities include:

      GEOG1250 The Water Planet (570 students)

      GEOG2250 Earth Surface Systems (50 students)

      GEOG3250 Environmental Hazards (25 students

      GEOG4210 Fluvial and Hydrological Processes (15 students)

      GEOG4230 Land Form Analysis (15 students)

      GEOG6210 Advanced Fluvial and Hydrological Processes (5 students)

Examples of courses in Geology and Biology that may use data from these weather stations include:

      GEOL5700 Geohydrology of Drainage Basins (10-15 students) (See email from Dr. Mike O'Driscoll in the Appendix).

      BIOL4301 Ecosystem Ecology Laboratoratory (10-15 students) (See email from Dr. Mark Brinson in the Appendix).

      BIOL5401 Wetland Ecology Laboratory (10-15 students) (See email from Dr. Mark Brinson in the Appendix).

One set of items (8) and (13) in the equipment request below were purchased from departmental start-up fund.

None

From Campbell Scientific, Inc.

(1)     Air temperature and relative humidity

             HMP45C-L15: Vaisala Temperature and RH Probe ($499.20) and 15 ft cable ($8.25)

             UT12VA RM Young Gill Radiation Shield & Crossarm Mount for HMP45C ($216.00)

             UT018-5 Sensor Crossarm with Tower Mounting Hardware, 5 ft long ($120)              

(2)     Atmospheric pressure

             CS115  Druck Barometric Pressure Sensor, 2.5 ft lead ($580.80)

(3)     Wind speed and wind direction

             05103-L40: RM Young Wind Monitor ($835.20) and 40 ft cable ($22)

             019ALU: Aluminum Sensor Crossarm w/ Mounting Hardware ($72.00)

(4)     Solar Radiation

              SP-LITE-L15 Kipp & Zonen Silicone Pyranometer (398.40) and 15 ft cable ($3.90)

                    UT018 Mounting Bracket for Wind Sentry ($57.60)

                    025STAND Pyranometer Crossarm Stand ($55.68)

                    14282 SP-LITE or CM3 Kipp & Zonen Base & Leveling Fixture ($61.44)

(5)     Precipitation

             TE525WS-L40: Texas Electronics 8” Tipping Bucket Rain Gage ($350.40) and 40 ft cable ($10.40)

(6)     Measurement control and data collection

      CR23X Micrologger w/2 Mbytes Memory ($2,438.40)

      10518 CR23X Sealed Rechargeable Battery Base ($288.00)

      9591 18 V 1.2 Amp Wall Charger for 10518 ($28.80)

(7)     Housing for items (2), (5) and (6)

      15875 ENC 12/14 Weather-Resistant Enclosure Series ($187.20)

      14390 Two Conduits Cable Opening (no charge)

      7841 Triple-Notch for UT30 Tower ($52.80)

(8)     Platform of sensors

             UT30 Universal 30 ft Tower and Adjustment Mast ($576)

             B18 Universal Tower Concrete Mounting Base for UT30 ($91.20)

             UTGND Grounding Kit for UT30 ($33.60)

             UTGUY Guy Kit for UT30 ($163.20)

             UTEYE Eyebolt Anchors for UTGUY (qty 3) ($33.60)

Subtotal includes 2 sets of items (1) to (7) and 1 set of item (8): $13,470.54

From Dynamax, Inc.

(9)     Cloudiness

             BF3H Sunshine Sensor ($2,250.00)

             Cable for BF3 to logger, 10 meter ($160.00)

Subtotal includes 2 units of item (9): $4,865.00

From ECU Purchasing Department:

(10)        Dell Desktop Workstation ($1,500)

(11)        MXT-B01D300 MAXTOR ONE TOUCH 300GB USB2.0 External Hard drive ($350)

From ECU ITCS:

(12)        Internet Communication cables and ports ($2,000)

From ECU Physical Plant Contractor:

(13)        Security Fence,  concrete foundations, conduits ($4,000)

Total: $26,185.54

The project director, Dr. Hong-Bing Su will take primary responsibility for the design and construction of the two weather stations, instrument maintenance, data management and dissemination, and the development of a webpage for students and faculty at ECU to view both current local weather and to access meteorological and climatological records from these weather stations for instructional use, especially during significant weather events or studies of such events as hurricanes, heat waves, drought, and winter storms.

Other faculty support from the Geography Department include: atmospheric scientists Dr. Scott Curtis and Dr. Erin Saffell who will assist with development and implementation. Drs. Scott Lecce, Paul Gares, and Patrick Pease are earth scientists who will also provide assistance in program development.

Geography Departmental Chair’s support: The department is committed to the maintenance of these new facilities and instructional capacities. The development of atmospheric sciences instructional capacity is contained in the strategic plans of 2000-2004 and 2005 (not completed). This includes development of undergraduate degree program in atmospheric sciences. The department has also invested in the renovation of the Atmospheric Science Lab, laboratory meteorological instruments, one set of items (8) and (13) in the above list of equipment requested.

(1) Pre- and post-course student survey in the Atmospheric Sciences and related Geography courses listed above will be conducted to measure their progress in learning through the use of these facilities.

(2) Students’ accomplishments, including lab and field project reports (e.g. in instrumentation and field oriented courses GEOG4510 & GEOG6510), student conference presentations, internship reports and thesis, that use data from the weather stations in their work.

(3) Departmental learning outcome assessment report, particularly in Atmospheric Sciences. This includes a standardized examination that all seniors take and a portfolio of student work that each senior assembles.

(4) Feedback on these facilities will be obtained in various forms, e.g., on-line comments, questions and suggestions at the website for these two weather stations.

(5) Annual summary report of students and instructors use of these facilities, and data and specific impacts on their teaching and learning activities will be posted on the webpage.