Solar-radiation monitoring at UM-Western!

The University of Montana-Western is participating in a solar-radiation monitoring program administered by The University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory. In October, Rich Kessler from the Solar Radiation Monitoring Lab and a visiting scientist, Dr. Igor Tyukhov, from the All-Russian Research Institute for Electrification of Agriculture, Moscow, Russia, visited the campus to install the equipment on the roof of the OC Building. The site is one of 29 in a network around the Northwestern United States and is the only one in Montana. The equipment takes measurements of solar radiation at the Dillon site every five minutes. Tom Wagenknecht, an Environmental Sciences student, is maintaining the equipment and communicating with the UO lab. If you would like more information about the UO solar monitoring program, visit their website at http://solardata.uoregon.edu.

Dr. Igor Tyukhov, Rich Kessler, and Dr. Sheila Roberts, Environmental Sciences Department Chair, on the OC rooftop with the solar monitoring setup.	Tom Wagenknecht, Dr. Igor Tyukhov, and Rich Kessler discussing the installation.
The instruments used to measure three different aspects of solar radiation (global, diffuse, and direct normal)	Tom Wagenknecht doing regular maintenance of the instruments.