NORMAN, Okla. - The Fred V. Brock Standards Lab - named in honor of one of the early pioneers of the Oklahoma Mesonet, the state's weather network - was dedicated in a reception on Tuesday, June 30, at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd. on the University of Oklahoma Research Campus.

"Professor Brock was an integral part of implementing both the Oklahoma Mesonet and the Mesonet's calibration laboratory," said Ken Crawford, director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. "He always believed the statement 'trust, but verify,' and because of this, the Mesonet and its data became the gold standard for mesoscale surface networks. The fundamentals of his calibration processes are still relied upon today."

The reception included remarks from Crawford; John Snow, OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences dean; and Charles Doswell, OU School of Meteorology adjunct professor. A plaque honoring Brock, which is located outside the laboratory, also was unveiled during the reception.

"We wanted to show our appreciation for the contributions Brock made during the early days of the Oklahoma Mesonet," said Chris Fiebrich, manager of the Oklahoma Mesonet. "By dedicating the Standards Lab in his name, we hope all future users of Mesonet data recognize his commitment to data quality as well."

The Fred V. Brock Standards Laboratory has been enhanced by support from a number of Brock's colleagues and friends, as well as private-sector companies who design meteorological instrumentation and applications.

Fred V. Brock
Brock designed, developed and operated the National Center for Atmospheric Research's Portable Automated Mesonet; served as professor of meteorology at OU from 1985 to 1997; was a founding member of the Mesonet Steering Committee and first manager of the Oklahoma Mesonet; and was lead author of numerous publications, including Meteorological Measurement Systems (2001). In 2000, Brock was awarded the American Meteorological Society Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Advance of Applied Meteorology.

The Oklahoma Mesonet
The Oklahoma Mesonet is Oklahoma's weather network. The network was designed and implemented by scientists at OU and Oklahoma State University.

The Oklahoma Mesonet measures a large variety of environmental conditions at more than 100 locations statewide. The Mesonet's thousands of sensors are tested and validated in the Fred V. Brock Standards Lab both before and after their field deployment. Because of the continual flow of high-quality observations, the production of millions of decision-making products have been enabled for government agencies, public safety officials, agricultural producers, students, researchers, electric utilities, weather forecasters and private citizens.

The Oklahoma Climatological Survey at the OU National Weather Center receives the observations, verifies the quality of the data and provides the data to Mesonet customers. It takes less than 10 minutes from the time the measurements are acquired until they become available to the public.

For more information about the Oklahoma Mesonet, visit http://www.mesonet.org/. For additional information on the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, visit http://climate.ok.gov/.