The Geography Dept. Weather Network covers a vast geographic area, from stations located on the local offshore islands of Channel Islands National Park, to the inland valleys, to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, and to the desert sands of the Mojave. The data from the network are centralized in the Geography Department, where they are organized and disseminated to the appropriate parties.
The weather station network at CSUN serves a dual purpose. Primarily, it serves to augment the Department's climatology courses by providing students with the opportunity to participate in the setting up, programming, and maintaining of automated weather stations. This allows students to acquire advanced technical and data analysis skills using the latest in state-of-the-art climatic monitoring equipment. In addition to expanding students' knowledge of meteorological techniques, the network also provides valuable weather data to schools and other agencies, such as the National Weather Service, the United States Navy, the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and various other research organizations.
