A measurement tower or measurement mast, also known as meteorological tower or meteorological mast (met tower or met mast), is a free standing
tower
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifi ...
or a removed
mast, which carries measuring instruments with
meteorological instruments, such as
thermometers
A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermomete ...
and
instruments to measure wind speed. Measurement towers are an essential component of
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
launching sites, since one must know exact wind conditions for an execution of a rocket launch. Met masts are crucial in the development of
wind farms
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few h ...
, as precise Knowledge of the wind speed is necessary to know how much energy will be produced, and whether the turbines will survive on the site. Measurement towers are also used in other contexts, for instance near nuclear power stations, and by
ASOS
ASOS or Asos may refer to:
* Asos, a village in Greece
* ASOS (retailer), a UK online fashion store
* Association Sportive Oussou Saka, a Beninese football team
* Automated Surface Observing System, a type of weather station
* Air Support Operat ...
stations.
Examples
Meteorology
Other measurement towers
*
Aerial test facility Brück, Brück, Germany
*
BREN Tower
BREN Tower was a guyed steel framework mast, high, on the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, USA. "BREN" stands for "Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada." The structure was owned by the Department of Energy and maintained by National Security Technologies. ...
, Nevada Test Site, USA
Wind farm development
Before
developers construct a wind farm, they first measure the wind resource on a prospective site by erecting temporary measurement towers. Typically these mount
anemometer
In meteorology, an anemometer () is a device that measures wind speed and direction. It is a common instrument used in weather stations. The earliest known description of an anemometer was by Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti ...
s at a range of heights up to the hub height of the proposed wind turbines, and log the wind speed data at frequent intervals (e.g. every ten minutes)
for at least one year and preferably two or more. The data allow the developer to determine if the site is economically viable for a wind farm, and to choose wind turbines optimized for the local wind speed distribution.
See also
*
Automatic weather station#Mast
*
Guyed mast
A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...
*
Radio masts and towers
*
Truss tower
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Measurement Tower
Meteorological instrumentation and equipment
Towers