FARGO, N.D. -- The North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network is looking for a more stable, tax-based funding in an attempt to replace a donation system of getting funding for maintenance.
Adnan Akyuz, the North Dakota state climatologist who supervises the system, housed in the soil science department at North Dakota State University in Fargo, says that's the reason for a $200,000 request to the North Dakota Legislature.
The request covers a two-year biennium and would first go to pay for a technician -- someone who could help Dallas Morlock with computing aspects of NDAWN. It would be good if that person also could assist Radu Carcoana, with maintaining the 70 automated stations in the system. Every year, stations need maintenance, including calibration.
If approved for biennial funding, the NDAWN system, which has become a vital tool for farmers and other businesses, would have more reliable funding. Now the system depends on Extension Service agents to annually "knock on doors for people to support NDAWN," Akyuz says. That's not all bad, but it's isn't efficient with donations from $10 to $1,000, and some areas short on potential donors.
Looking ahead to NDAWN's future, Akyuz says some of the basic computer equipment in each of the 70 stations will need to be replaced. A "data logger" on each of the stations is a computerized "brain" that changes the voltages into temperature, pressure and humidity data. The data is stored until researchers can interrogate it.
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NDAWN equipment has been in place since 1991. Manufactures have stopped producing those data loggers and soon will stop technical support. He says the manufacturer is willing to help support the system through a transition, but data logger alone is roughly estimated at $2,000 per site. That and other related equipment would have to be replaced. And all that is in addition to the average $1,000 per-site annual maintenance costs.
"It's a pro-active maintenance procedure," Akyuz says of the replacement planning. "We don't want to fall behind the technology."
