Surveying Olga

Update April 27, 2009: I received a call from the curator of the site, and he has no problem with me coming out to do a proper survey. So, it's just a matter of time before I can schedule a time with him.

Prelude: I've added this explanation after the fact to explain what's being done here, for those who stumble across is who may not know.

This is my very small part of an all-volunteer effort to physically survey USHCN, GHCN, and GISS official Temperature Stations of record, as originated by Anthony Watts at SurfaceStations.org. The purpose is to document siting issues, microsite biases, undocumented station moves, etc, which may or may not have an effect on the temperature records being used to shape Global Warming policy in the US and around the world.

Many of the sites are monitored by citizen volunteers, and as such many are located at private residences. Thus, great care is taken to obtain permission, as politely as possible, from the curators in order to perform a site survey. You can read all about the process at SurfaceStations.org.

Well, I'm sitting in my car 60 feet away from the Olga MMTS. I'm in the driveway of the residence where it's located.

Unfortunately, no one is home.

I'm posting via my Blackberry, so I'm not going to go too in-depth right now. I'm going to write a note and leave on the front door so I can hopefully come out some other time for a proper survey.

Update: Back home. No luck contacting the folks who live at the location. I did leave the note as described above, so hopefully I'll hear back from them.

I did do a visual survey while standing beside my car, about 50-60 feet away. I also took three pictures, but will not be posting them unless I get the ok from the resident.

My findings:

The area is wooded with some open grassy areas. The site is right next to the water on Puget Sound, facing east near the southeastern tip of Orcas Island (as can be seen from Google Maps). They've certainly got a very beautiful view!

While the site was an excellent opportunity for a mostly rural site, the placement of the MMTS is very unfortunate. It is placed virtually right up against an old shed/boathouse, I'd say within 4 feet. The shed/boathouse is north of the MMTS, and a large fir tree is to the east. As such, it is sheltered from winds for about 200 degrees around.

The pole on which the MMTS is mounted is only about 2-2.5 feet high, and is currently surrounded by tall grass (about a foot high).

The next nearest structure is approximately 50 feet away, to the south. There is no pavement or concrete in site (a dirt road leads to the residence, the nearest pavement to my knowledge is maybe a mile away).

So, while not as egregious as some of the official sites, this one still doesn't meet the basic siting standards.