Barometric MSL to Local Pressure

If you want to compare (or use) a non-local source of barometric information, such as the NOAA website, you must adjust for the altitude of your Onset Computer transducer by converting the NOAA barometric pressure back into the local "station" pressure. Any formula for conversion will be an approximation. 1 PSI = 68.948 mbar NOAA reports barometric pressure as "Mean Sea Level" pressure (MSLP or SLP). This sea level pressure is derived by correcting the station pressure where NOAA's barometric transducer is located to a sea level equivalent pressure. This correction takes into account the standard variation of pressure with height and the influence of temperature variations with height on the pressure. The temperature used in NOAA's sea level correction is a twelve hour mean, eliminating diurnal effects. The calculation of T (the mean temperature of the layer between the station height and sea level) is the most significant parameter in the estimation of SLP. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/unr/?n=mslp A white-paper describing difficulty of conversion between SLP and station pressure. Surface Pressure Analyses...Clearing the Confusion In the Presence of Differing Solutions - A brief essay and training exercise on the various types of sea level reduction of pressure in models and analyses Revised April, 2001 http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~brooksdr/DRB_web_page/Aerosols/pressure.htm Convert "weather report" pressure (corrected to sea level) to station pressure. General barometrics

Standard pressure is 1013.25 mbar (millibar). Rates of change less than 2 millibars per three hours (mb/3hr) are within expected ranges associated with barometric "station" pressure variation due to diurnal oscillation in temperate climates. Vertical variations of "station" pressure range up to 150 mb per mile, whereas horizontal variations are usually less than .1 mb per mile. The barometric pressure in the tropics (with the exception of tropical storms and hurricanes), simply doesn't change a lot from day to day. In the tropics the barometric pressure (corrected to sea level) should vary from about 1008.7 mbar - 1018.9 mbar. Miami's pressure might change from 1002.0 mbar - 1032.4 mbar. In higher latitudes, variations from 981.65 mbar - 1049.4 mbar are not uncommon.

Difference between PAR and Pyranometer sensors

There is no direct conversion between solar radiation(W/m2) values, and PAR sensor values. You would use a "Silicon Pyranometer" to measure total irradiance. There are some approximations that can be made for known light source types, however for agricultural measurements irradiance measurements are not made using a PAR sensor, the reasoning is outlined below: Color Wavelength (nm)

Red

780 - 622

Orange 622 - 597 Yellow 597 - 577 Green Blue 577 - 492 492 - 455

Violet 455 - 390 Not all light is useful for photosynthesis, only light in the wavelength of 400-700 nm (blue-green to red-orange). All light is useful for heat content. One type of measurement is needed to determine how fast a plant will be growing, the other type of measurement is needed to determine how fast water is transpiring and evaporating. Irradiance is a measure of radiometric flux per unit area, or flux density. Irradiance is typically expressed in W/cm2 (watts per square centimeter) or W/m2 (watts per square meter). Illuminance is a measure of photometric flux per unit area, or visible flux density. Illuminance is typically expressed in lux (lumens per square meter) or foot-candles (lumens per square foot). PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) is the quantum measurement of Photosynthetically Active Radiation per unit area, or the number of photons in the 400-700 nm from green to range collected per unit area, during a unit of time. PAR is typically expressed in Microeinstein per second and square meter (E m2 s1). A Silicon Pyranometer is instrument most often used to measure irradiance over a defined wide range (300 to 1100 nm) of spectra (including infra-red and ultra-violet). Irradiance as measured by a silicon pyranometer is typically expressed in W/m2 (watts per square meter).

Light values in log Lum/sqf

Lumens and LUX are actually a measure of energy (power) per unit area. Decibels are the logarithmic units commonly used to express power gain or loss. Gain in Bels = log10(A) where A = Power amplification factor Is 100 lumens a small change or a big change of intensity? The reason for expressing Light values in a logarithm with base 10 is to give more realistic step value changes to your data. A 100-LUX (or lumens) change in light intensity does not represent the same power gain every where along the LUX scale. Eyes would sense a relatively small change of intensity (power gain) if the light level changed from 901 to 1000 lumens, the same eyes would detect a larger intensity change (power gain) if the light level changed from 1 to 100 lumens.

Excel function =LOG( ) will work for converting "log Lum/sqm " back to LUX, and will convert "log Lum/sqf " back to Lumens. example 0.0013 Lumens =LOG( 0.0013 ) will result -2.86 log Lum/sqf example -2.86 log Lum/sqf =10^ -2.86 will result 0.0013 Lumens example -2.86 log Lum/sqf =POWER(10, -2.86) will result 0.0013 Lumens

Intensity in (log Lum/sqf) is closest to the native raw storage format of the logger. Yes, there are slight differences between values that you can obtain with Excel LOG, and raising 10 to the power of, functions versus the values given by Boxcar. The limitations of integer math and log conversions cause the slight differences.

lumens/sq. ft and LUX

Units of illumination

The lux is a unit of illumination equal to 1 lumen per square meter. The foot-candle is a unit of illumination equal to 1 lumen per square foot.

The foot-candle (fc) is also called lumens/sq. ft Conversions

To convert from lux to lumens/sq. ft, multiply by .0929. To convert from lumens/sq. ft to lumen/sq meter, multiply by 10.764.

Light intensity measurements are scaled relative to the output of a candle (lumen). To give you an idea of light levels, at noon on a overcast winter day, the light level could be less than 500 fc however on a clear summer day at noon direct sunlight would be over 10,000 fc. LUX is the equivalent lumens per square meter.

mA to Engineering Units
Media:Formula.xls You have to hit enter after changing the value in a cell MIN Units and Max Units MIN Units and Max Units fill in your transducer's range, for example if you had a pressure transducer that read from 0 to 100 PSI you would put 0 under MIN Units and 100 under Max Units. (actually already like that by default. Out Min and Out Max If the output of your transducer is 4 to 20 mA you can leave Out Min at 4 and Out Max at 20.

If you have a CONLAB CON-ACT transducer you would need to change Out Min to 0. You would also have to change the Max units to match your particular CONLAB transducer. You have to hit enter after changing the value in a cell Test Out and Sensor Out You can play with Test Out value to see what the Sensor Out represents. Handy during testing. Engineering Units = (Output x #) - # Here is your formula in plain text. Output of your transducer times some value, then you may need to subtract some value offset.

PAR micro-moles into watts per meter squared -ROT

Converting from PAR to watts is not simple because you must account for the characteristic spectral bandwidth for different light sources. To make an approximate conversion from mols1m-2 to lm/ft2 (footcandles) see the link below: http://www.sylvania.com FAQ0017-0800.PDF Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) Units http://www.intl-light.com/ search for Light Measurement Handbook http://www.maximumyield.com/article20.htm http://www.zetatalk.com/food/tfood27l.htm Then (after you understand why this is a bad idea) you can use this ROT (rule of thumb): convert from Lumens to Watts multiply by ...0.0015.

PAR term
How the term PAR (E) came into existence The PAR unit "einstein" is used to refer to one mole per square meter per second. It means that each second, a 1 square meter of surface has 6 x 1023 photons falling on it. Irradiance levels for plant growth can therefore be measured in micro-einsteins or in PAR watts/sq. meter. Because jargon peculiar to a field of study is a necessary evil, therefore jargon-busting is needed occasionally for clarification. Yes, HOBOware and BoxCar PRo software labels PAR units as PAR (E) not as (E m s). No, we do not mean (E) as a raw quanta of photons. We expect (E) to be understood as quanta in the range of 0 to 2500 mol/m/sec, wavelengths 400 to 700 nm.

The manual specifies the PAR Smart Sensor measurement range as 0 to 2500 mol/m/sec, wavelengths 400 to 700 nm Traditionally the quantum flux is measured in micro-moles per second per square meter. By yet aother tradition (eponym), moles of photons are called Einsteins. A crop science (agricultural) jargon term for PAR quanta units is "micro-Einsteins." The conversion factor is: 1E/sec/m PAR= 1mole/sec/m PAR = 6.02*1017 quanta/sec/m PAR Scientific terminology is nothing more than a confabulation of jargon, eponyms and abbreviations. Instead of saying "the-force-that-accelerates-a-mass-of-one-kilogram-at-the-rateof-one-meter-per-second-per second, " we just say Newton and be done with it. Few people can say: "micro-mols-of-photons-per-square-meter-per-second-wavelengths-400-to700-nano-meters" more than once without causing injury to their tongue.

Volts to Engineeering Units

Please see MA to Engineering Units

mol/m2/sec conversion to W/m2

The answer is obtuse because there is no real conversion, a formula derived from texts by McCluney and Glover help a little.

The PAR sensor counts the number of photons

equally counts low energy photons (infra red) and high energy photons (UV)

The Pyranometer (solar radiation) sensor measures total energy

weights on energy (photons).

On a cloudy day, there may be tons of radiation (W/m2), but no PAR (mol/m2/sec).

The Pyranometer measurement of solar radiation is from 300-1200 nanometers . The PAR measurement is from 400 - 700 nanometers.

Here are the conversion equations. Remember that these are very approximate. The two sensors (Solar Radiation and PAR) measure different wavelengths and meaure different things (energy and photons respectively). I hope this helps. PAR: Required Parameter(s): PAR (umol/m2/s) or PAR (uE) Conversion Equations: Watts/m2 = 0.21*L Lumens/m2 = 140.2*L Lux = 140.2 *L Lumens/ft2 = 13.03*L Where: L = PAR

Note: These conversions are only approximations and assume that sunlight is being measured in the 400 nm to 700 nm range. Source: Calculations by Stalcup based upon texts by McCluney and Glover ONSET Photosynthetic Light (PAR) Smart http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/sensors/s-lia-m003

Sensor

S-LIA-M003:

Silicon Pyranometer Smart Sensor S-LIB-M003: http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/sensors/slib-m003 HOBO Weather Station H21-001 http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/data-loggers/h21-001 HOBO Micro Station H21-002 http://www.onsetcomp.com/products/data-loggers/h21-002

Quantum Response Definition

Quantum efficiency: In an optical source or detector, the ratio of the number of output quanta to the number of input quanta. Note: Input and output quanta need not both be photons. http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmLightandPlants.html explains the difference between Lumens (H8, U12 measurements) and PAR (PAR sensor for the weather station)