How Tos

How to use Mesonet Atlas

From the Explore page, you can freely browse networks and stations by clicking on their map icons.

Network headquarters (the larger circles with a white border) are shown at all scales, while stations (the smaller circles with a dark border) only appear at higher zoom levels by default. You can force stations to always appear by clicking the toggle switch in the legend (only available on desktop).

You can hide and show different networks (and their associated stations) using the checkboxes next to their names in the legend.

The data dictionary provides detailed information about the meaning of particular fields and metrics that are displayed in networks and station records.

In the top-right corner of the map is the "Search" button. The search dialog has a toggle button at the top that allows you to choose whether you want to search by networks or stations. Click one of the "+" buttons to add a filter criterion (or, for "text tag" fields, type in or more tags, hitting Enter after each). Then click "Search" to find all networks or stations satisfying the full set of filters you chose.

How to contribute to Mesonet Atlas

We welcome (and depend on) contributions from personnel at state and regional mesonets to populate the Mesonet Atlas with data and keep that data up to date. If you are an administrator or staff member at such a network, and you are not already collaborating with us, please reach out!

Getting set up

For one-time submissions of very small amounts of data (a few station records or so), you can simply email us and we will help get the data updated in the database.

Most networks will want to submit larger amounts of data on an ongoing basis. If so, you should register for a user account. Once you are registered, make sure to email the site administrators so they can create a record for your organization - if it doesn't yet exist - and add you to it as a member.

Note that your organization will not be the same as your network. An organization is an administrative body, like a university or state climate office. A network is a set of stations which is administered by an organization. They're handled in different parts of Mesonet Atlas - networks on the Explore page, and organizations on the Admin/Explore page (which can only be accessed by users with administrative privileges).

The site administrators will also get you set up with appropriate permissions for your role:

Editor: This role is for personnel with data-curation responsibilities. Editors are able to create, modify and delete network and station records.
Administrator: Adminstrators have all the permissions of an Editor, but can also add and remove personnel from their organization and set permissions for them.

We encourage network administrators to reach out first. Once you are set up and have access to the "Organizations" page, you can then instruct your editors to sign up as well. From the Organizations page, you can manage the accounts and permissions of the members of your organization - this is where you add your personnel and grant them Editor privileges.

Entering and editing data

A signed-in user with appropriate permissions will see "Edit" and "Delete" buttons at the bottom of the display pane when a network or station is selected on the Explore page. While editing, you can refer to the data dictionary if you need explanations for specific form fields and station metrics.

To add entirely new networks or stations, click the "Add new network" or "Add new station" button. (These are located directly underneath the "Search networks/stations" button in the top-left corner of the map, and, like the "Edit" and "Delete" buttons, are only visible if you have the appropriate permissions.)

Please note: When specifying what metrics are available at a given station, only include data that are made publicly available. If a particular type of data is recorded, but is not generally by request, then it is not useful to list it on Mesonet Atlas and you should leave it off the station record.

Adding new metrics

The Mesonet Atlas offers a finite set of metrics that can be listed as available from a given station. If your stations output some metric that is not yet a choice in Mesonet Atlas, please email us and describe your needs. We will do our best to accomodate reasonable requests to add new metrics to the existing set.

We encourage you to consult the data dictionary as a basis for the proposed new metrics. Feel free to copy one of the existing metric definitions as a template, editing it to describe the new metrics you'd like to see added.