MANHATTAN — During this week’s Governor’s Conference on the Future of Kansas Water, Assistant Scientist at K-State Christopher Redmond gave a presentation on drought monitoring with the university’s Mesonet soil moisture monitoring system.
Mesonet consists of 16 weather stations across the state that create a network. Redmond said the data they record is provided through a web site where people can see current soil moisture at multiple depths across the state.
According to Redmond the data is used for various purposes.
Redmond they have seen that a decrease in soil moisture advances drought conditions. So that data provided through the Mesonet can help them develop and early warning system for potential droughts. But that’s not the only opportunity this data can provide according to Redmond.
Redmond mentioned during his presentation that he would like to see a station in every county across the state to be able to better monitor a wide range of soil types and different locations.
The conference was held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Manhattan Conference Center inside the Hilton Garden Inn at Blue Earth Plaza. To learn about Mesonet more visit mesonet.ksu.edu.
