Purpose

The weather station is maintained and managed by the Energy Studies Programme at the Department of Physics for the purposes of obtaining meteorological data specific to the University of Otago campus. Measurement and analysis of climatic conditions is essential for the assessment of the viability of renewable energy generation options such as solar panels and wind turbines, and to assess the thermal performance of buildings. Hence the data collected by the Energy Studies Weather Station is useful for various research projects being carried out onsite currently, and those that may be carried out sometime in the future, as well as for teaching laboratories and the interest of the general public.

Location and environment

Coordinates

• Latitude: 45 degrees 52 minutes south
• Longitude: 170 degrees 31 minutes east

Elevation

• Pressure transducer - approximately 40 m above mean sea level
• Wind instruments - approximately 47 m above mean sea level
• Other instruments - approximately 45 m above mean sea level

Environment

Dunedin is located in the south-east of the South Island of New Zealand, built on the coast around Otago Harbour, adjacent to the Otago Peninsula. The New Zealand Metservice maintains two weather stations in Dunedin, one located in Musselburgh in the south of the city, and one at Momona Airport, inland from the city. Dunedin North, where the Energy Studies Weather Station is situated, often experiences slightly different conditions compared to these sites because of the influence of the surrounding hills.

Northward panoramic view over North Dunedin from the weather station site.

Notes

If you would like to bookmark the weather station display directly without coming to this page, use this URL: http:/www.physics.otago.ac.nz/eman/weather_station/current.php

The weather station window is set to automatically refresh every five minutes in order for the latest weather data to be displayed. Cached data is set to expire after two and a half minutes.

The time given on the display is New Zealand Day Time (NZDT). This is 12 hours later than Universal Time (NZDT = UTC + 12 hrs), except during daylight savings when it is 13 hours later (NZDT = UTC + 13 hrs). Daylight savings in New Zealand is from the first Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March. Graphed data in the online display will be overlapped or stretched by one hour on daylight savings change-over days.

Related Links

See where in the world New Zealand is using Fourmilab's neat 'Earth Viewer' programme.

To find out more about the weather in this part of the country, there is a description and statistics available at the NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) website.

NIWA also has excellent resources on their site for students interested in climate science.

To obtain weather forecasts for Otago and the whole of New Zealand, visit the New Zealand Metservice forecasts webpage.

There are two other online weather stations in Dunedin - one in the city centre maintained by the Dunedin City Council and a series of stations recording wind and tide data maintained by Port Otago.

The Department of Physics is also the hub of a western-Pacific lightning detection network. The latest information from this network is online and in real-time.