Portable Mesonet Tower (PMT)

Three portable mesonet towers were a part of the TTUHRT fleet from 2002-2006 with special funding from the Soldier Biological and Chemical Command (SBCCOM), for an urban dispersion experiment carried out during the summer of 2002 in Oklahoma City. The towers were adapted for hurricane operations following the completion of the experiment. After four years of TTUHRT service they were retired prior to the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season in favor of the rapid deployment Stick-Net platforms.

The platforms are single mast aluminum towers which collect wind speed and direction data at 10 m height, as well as the standard meteorological variables. The primary wind sensing instrument used in the TTUHRT configuration is the RM Young 5106 Wind Monitor.

The PMT were a member of the TTUHRT fleet from 2002-2006 and have been used for several other experiments during their lifetime. The PMT were retired in 2006.

In 2005, a PMT suffered major damage from the first significant debris impact in the history of the project. PMT Black was impacted by a 20 ft x 12 ft hangar door during Hurricane Rita. The tower was deployed at the Orange County Municipal Airport in Orange, Texas. The hangar door originated approximately 300 yards from the deployment site. The tower collected data until the mast failed and the instrument wires were severed. The final observation was an instantaneous wind speed value of 42 meters per second or 94 miles per hour. Pictures of the damaged tower can be seen in the Hurricane Rita photo gallery.

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