Weather Station at Lake Ohau

To quantify the linkage between weather events and sedimentation in Lake Ohau, a weather station has been set up in the valley at the head of the lake. This is only possible due to kind assistance from the Inkersell family at Lake Ohau Station.

I accompanied Heidi Roop to the weather station as it needed a bit of maintenance.

We had a few visitors join us while we were there. No doubt they have an interest in weather data. In fact, some of the maintenance we were doing was because the cattle had chewed through the wiring to the weather station!

The weather station measures air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation . Data is collected every 10 minutes and is recorded in the data logger below the mast.   Precipitation events that  produce surges of sediment transport into the lake are recorded and linked to data collected by other instruments in the lake and up in the Hopkins River valley. This is helping to build up a detailed understanding of erosion, transport and sedimentation processes  in action in Lake Ohau.