Upgrade four mesonet stations.
-Four Kansas Mesonet weather stations located at KSRE Experiment Fields will be upgraded: Hutchinson, Scandia, Rossville and Topeka (Silver Lake). These field research facilities currently have shorter 10 feet-high weather station towers with temperature measurement at only one height: 6 foot. To measure the presence of inversions, two temperature sensors are needed at different heights (Enz et al., 2014). On the Kansas Mesonet stations this is achieved at 30 and 6 feet, coinciding with wind speed and direction measurements. These observations provide valuable insight to the stability of the lower atmosphere, closest to the surface. This installation process entails removing the current tripod completely and installing an entirely new tower/equipment in replacement.

Application of the data.
-Labeling on several herbicides have begun to consider temperature inversions in their restrictions for spraying (Monsanto Company, 2016). Due to the procedure to verify inversions present, it is not easily achieved in the field. Therefore, the data provided at these weather stations will be incorporated into the Kansas Mesonet Inversion Monitor webpage: mesonet.ksu.edu/agriculture/inversion. This will provide real-time (updated every five minutes) inversion monitoring for research on the farms, where herbicide applications are often tested. This data also will be readily available to the public using the Kansas Mesonet current infrastructure. Implementing this upgrade will also create a historical data record available for the region for supporting of herbicide drift/volatilization and climatology studies.

Update:
August 2019 Progress Update (and Final Update below).
Updated: 4/14/19

May 2019: Rossville and Silver Lake weather station installations complete and data began quality control processes.
June 2019: Both weather stations were added to the webpage with data readily accessible to all local land owners and users.
July 2019: Twelve presentations were given based on inversion data available from these locations to producers and K-State agronomy students.
August 2019: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Rossville 2SE station.

All project activities were completed on schedule.


Final Report

Project results:
Four weather stations within the soybean regime of Kansas (Hutchinson 10SW, Scandia - now Belleville 2W, Rossville - now Rossville 2SE, and Silver Lake - now Silver Lake 4E) were updated during the period of this project as anticipated. All four of these observing stations now measure the presence of inversions within locale K-State Experiment Fields for future research and are available to the public.

Deliverables/Performance Metrics:
-Four stations were installed to provide additional coverage of inversion data in Kansas.
-Data is provided, realtime, through the Kansas Mesonet’s webpage: mesonet.ksu.edu. This data provide users with both current and historical inversion data aimed to prevent spray drift issues.
-Presentations and numerous outreach events occurred/planned to educate producers, agencies, and spray applicators on weather conditions conducive to spraying and utilization of the new weather data as a guidance tool.

Findings:
-Inversions occur daily at all locations. Inversions typically develop an hour before sunset and persist until an hour after sunrise. All four station upgrades (Hutchinson 10SW, Belleville 2W, Rossville 2SE, and Silver Lake 4E) are representative of the region and not influenced by micrometeorology. Therefore, data suffice as a guidance tool to sprayers in the region prior to application - however, data remains not a replacement for in the field measurements still required by labelling. This tool is provided online for anyone with internet access.

Presentations:
August 21, 2018 - Belleville Field Day
October 29, 2018 - Wichita Applicator Training
November 4, 2018 - Presentation to K-State Students
November 5, 2018 - Salina Applicator Training
November 18, 2018 - Olathe Applicator Training
December 5, 2018 - North Central Weed Science Meeting (Milwaukee, WI)
February 13, 2019 - Groundwater Management District #4
March 19, 2019 - Seneca Special Interest Group
March 27, 2019 - Noxious Weed Sprayer Training
July 15, 2019 - Jetmore Area Producers
July 24, 2019 - Protection Area Producers
August 13, 2019 - Rossville Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
August 13, 2019 - Rossville Field Day
August 21, 2019 - Ottawa Field Day
August 27, 2019 - Tribune Field Day
September 4, 2019 - Northwest Technical College - Water Tech Field Day
September 5, 2019 - T&O, Roth Farm - Water Tech Field Day
September 5, 2019 - Liberal - Water Tech Field Day
September 6, 2019 - Kansas Prescribed Burn School
September 10, 2019 - Troy - Water Tech Field Day
September 20, 2019 - Manhattan Field Day
October 29, 2019 - McPherson Spray Applicators Class
October 30, 2019 - Scott City Spray Applicators Class

View uploaded report

-Inversions occur daily at all locations. Inversions typically develop an hour before sunset and persist until an hour after sunrise. All four station upgrades (Hutchinson 10SW, Belleville 2W, Rossville 2SE, and Silver Lake 4E) are representative of the region and not influenced by micrometeorology (trees, buildings, unrepresentative terrain, water sources). Therefore, data suffice as a guidance tool to sprayers in the region prior to application - however, data remains not a replacement for in the field measurements still required by labeling. This tool is provided online for anyone with internet access.

-Data is now available real-time for producers/sprayers to utilize in advance of spraying. This guidance tool aids in making better decisions to avoid off target drift issues. Measurements collected have already been utilized by numerous agencies to examine off target impact cases. Data is also providing a platform for K-State researchers to carry out their research on nearby Experiment Fields. With crop studies focused at these locations, it provides an ideal location to examine drift and potential impacts due to inversions. Numerous presentations (and future discussions) continue to disseminate this important guidance tools to producers and agencies.