Automatic weather stations used in agriculture

Automatic weather stations have a variety of applications in agriculture, which are of great significance in improving the efficiency of agricultural production, reducing the risk of disasters and promoting the quality of agricultural products. Specific applications include:

1.Climate monitoring and prediction: automatic weather stations can monitor real-time temperature, humidity, wind speed and other climate parameters to help farmers understand local climate conditions and predict weather changes, so as to reasonably arrange farming activities, such as irrigation, sowing, fertilising and harvesting.

1.1 Temperature: temperature is a key factor affecting the growth and development of crops. Excessively high or low temperatures may negatively affect crop growth, such as causing growth retardation, yield reduction or death. Therefore, temperature is one of the focuses of agrometeorological research.

1.2 Humidity: Humidity affects crop transpiration and soil moisture status. Moderate humidity is favourable to crop growth, while either too high or too low humidity may adversely affect the crop. For example, high humidity may lead to the development of crop diseases while low humidity may lead to crop drought.

1.3 Rainfall: rainfall directly affects the availability of water to crops. Too much rainfall may lead to water logging and too little may lead to drought. Therefore, the study of rainfall variability is essential for agricultural production.

1.4 Light: Light is necessary for photosynthesis in crops and has a significant impact on crop growth and development. Variations in light intensity and light duration affect the growth rate and yield of crops.

1.5 Wind speed and direction: Wind speed and direction affect crop transpiration and the spread of pests and diseases. For example, high winds may cause crops to fall over, while suitable wind speeds help in pollen dispersal. In addition, the spread of certain pests and diseases is also affected by wind speed and direction.

1.6 Atmospheric Pressure: Changes in atmospheric pressure can reflect changes in weather systems and are important in predicting future weather conditions. In agrometeorology, changes in atmospheric pressure can also be used to analyse the stability of the growing environment of crops.

In addition to these basic meteorological elements, there are some other elements related to soil and crop status that are also used in agrometeorological studies, such as soil temperature, soil moisture, and crop growth conditions. These elements can help us understand the environmental conditions of crop growth more comprehensively and provide more scientific guidance for agricultural production.

2. Disaster early warning: Automatic weather stations can monitor signs of natural disasters such as hailstorms, typhoons, droughts and floods in a timely manner, providing early warning information to farmers so that they can take timely measures to reduce disaster losses.

3. Crop growth environment monitoring: Automatic weather stations can continuously monitor key climate factors for crop growth, such as temperature and precipitation, to help farmers understand whether the crop growth environment is suitable and make adjustments when necessary.

4. Climate quality evaluation: By evaluating the climatic conditions in the region where agricultural products are grown, it is possible to judge their impact on the quality of specific agricultural products, thereby enhancing their value, such as by carrying out the evaluation of climatically livable places and high-quality food varieties.

5. Precision agriculture practice: Combined with GIS (Geographic Information System) and GPS (Global Positioning System) technologies, automatic weather stations can provide data support for precision agriculture, such as variable fertiliser application, irrigation and pest management, in order to improve agricultural production efficiency and reduce resource waste.

6. Market Decision Support: Data collected by automated weather stations can help farmers and agribusinesses better understand market risks and opportunities, and thus make more scientific decisions.

7. Agricultural research and education: The data provided by automated weather stations are invaluable to agricultural research organisations and can be used for climate research, crop breeding and agricultural technology improvement. At the same time, these data are also useful resources for agricultural education and public science.

Through these applications, automated weather stations become an important tool for agricultural producers and managers, helping them to better adapt to and manage climate risks and improve the sustainability of agricultural production.