Template talk:Earth-based meteorological observation

Comments
The title of this template is "Meteorological Observation Systems and Weather Stations (Earth based)". Some of the items in the template don't match this description.


 * SST buoys - the link goes to the measurement, SST, not to "buoys" themselves, which would be an observation system on Earth's surface
 * Hurricane Hunters - arguably not Earth-based, and the only manned system on the list

I don't delete them right now because I haven't looked into what pages use this template and what "connections" would be lost. Perhaps a "See Also" in certain pages is a better alternative.

I added NEXRAD radar because it fits the definition of an "observation system (Earth based)".

I assume "Satellite" or "Space" based gets its own template.

- Kd5npf 02:29, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * See Template:Space-based meteorological observation -- space-based remote sensing. --Hard Raspy Sci 02:30, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * SST buoys are probably appropriate as an observation system, however, that and all links should point to an actual article on an observation system. It still links to SST, so needs to be addressed.  There are multiple kinds of buoys, most serving both oceanographic and meteorological/climatological applications and some serving only one or the other, differentiating and possibly reclassifying them may be an issue.  There is a new [[Category:Oceanographic_instrumentation oceanographic observation system category], fyi.  Weather buoy now has its own (stub) article, as for SST, are there buoys that only measure SST, or perhaps more appropriately, is there a formal network of such buoys so that it's important enough to have its own article?  Or should there be an encompassing article.  That depends upon what systems are in operation, how much is written on particular systems, and editor preferences.  [[User:Evolauxia|Evolauxia]] 21:03, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Earth-based definition and length issues
The template is beginning to be populated with more items, some recently by me and I will be adding more. So the issue comes up of what we consider earth based. Currently, it is set up as earth based being all surface (land or marine) and aerial observation platforms, with space based platforms having their own template. As more stations and platforms accumulate, issues of length in its own right as well as tighter classification to surface and aerial, or land and water, etc. may become nascent.

Also along the lines of length are acronyms and abbreviations, because of the large number of space based systems and the long names involved, acronyms are used. There is a point of keeping the full name so that those that don't know an acronym may identify the system; and the full name is also usually descriptive, giving some idea what the system is. As a template of this kind, however, it isn't essential (ref space-based template). It's not to the point that anything has to be done now, and if we further subdivided observation systems to different templates that would likely mitigate any problem. Evolauxia 20:37, 5 June 2007 (UTC)