Values and variables overview


- Barometric pressure (at sea level in Hectopascal)
- Indoor- and outdoor temperature in ºC
- Heat index
- Indoor- and outdoor humidity
- dew point
- THSW
- Leaf moisture
- Surface temperature
- Soil moisture
- Rain
- Rain rate
- Wind direction and -speed (in km/h)
- Wind Chill 
- Sunrise- and Sunset times
- Solar radiation (in Watt)
- UV MED´s
- Moon phases

 

Description

Barometric pressure:
>The weight of the air that makes up our atmosphere exerts a pressure on the surface of the earth. This pressure is known as atmospheric pressure. Generally, the more air above an area, the higher the atmospheric pressure, this, in turn, means that atmospheric pressure changes with altitude. For example, atmospheric pressure is greater at sea-level than on a mountaintop. To compensate for this difference and facilitate comparison between locations with different altitudes, atmospheric pressure is generally adjusted to the equivalent sea-level pressure. This adjusted pressure is known as barometric pressure. In reality, the Vantage Pro measures atmospheric pressure. When you enter your location’s altitude in Setup Mode, the Vantage Pro stores the necessary offset value to consistently translate atmospheric pressure into barometric pressure.<

 

Wind-Chill:
>Wind chill is the apparent temperature felt on exposed skin, which is a function of the air temperature and wind speed. The wind chill temperature (often popularly called the wind chill factor) is always lower than the air temperature, except at higher temperatures where wind chill is considered less important. In cases where the apparent temperature is higher than the air temperature, the heat index is used instead.< Dew point:
>Dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled for saturation (100% relative humidity) to occur, providing there is no change in water vapor content. The dew point is an important measurement used to predict the formation of dew, frost, and fog. If dew point and temperature are close together in the late afternoon when the air begins to turn colder, fog is likely during the night. Dew point is also a good indicator of the air’s actual water vapor content, unlike relative humidity, which takes the air’s temperature into account. High dew point indicates high water vapor content; low dew point indicates low water vapor content. In addition a high dew point indicates a better chance of rain and severe thunderstorms. You can also use dew point to predict the minimum overnight temperature. Provided no new fronts are expected overnight and the afternoon Relative Humidity = 50%, the afternoon’s dew point gives you an idea of what minimum temperature to expect overnight, since the air cannot get colder than the dew point anytime.< Heat-Index:
>The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature — how hot it feels, termed the felt air temperature. The human body normally cools itself by perspiration, or sweating, which evaporates and carries heat away from the body. However, when the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate is reduced, so heat is removed from the body at a lower rate causing it to retain more heat than it would in dry air. Measurements have been taken based on subjective descriptions of how hot subjects feel for a given temperature and humidity, allowing an index to be made which corresponds a temperature and humidity combination to a higher temperature in dry air.< Evapotranspiration ETo:
>Evapotranspiration (ET) is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies. Transpiration accounts for the movement of water within a plant and the subsequent loss of water as vapor through stomata in its leaves. Evapotranspiration is an important part of the water cycle. An element (such as a tree) that contributes to evapotranspiration can be called an evapotranspirator.< Temperatur-Huminity-Sun-Wind-Index (THSW):
>The THSW Index uses humidity and temperature like the Heat Index, but also includes the heating effects of sunshine and the cooling effects of wind (like Wind chill) to calculate an apparent temperature of what it “feels” like out in the sun.< Solar radiation:
>What we call “current solar radiation” is technically known as Global Solar Radiation, a measure of the intensity of the sun’s radiation reaching a horizontal surface. This irradiance includes both the direct component from the sun and the reflected component from the rest of the sky. The solar radiation reading gives a measure of the amount of solar radiation hitting the solar radiation sensor at any given time, expressed in Watts /sq. meter (W/m2).< UV-Index:
>Its purpose is to help people to effectively protect themselves from UV light, of which excessive exposure causes sunburns, eye damage such as cataracts, skin aging, and skin cancer (see the section health effects of ultraviolet light). Public-health organizations recommend that people protect themselves (for example, by applying sunscreen to the skin and wearing a hat) when the UV index is 3 or higher.< UV-MED´s:
>MED stands for Minimum Erythemal Dose, defined as the amount of sunlight exposure necessary to induce a barely perceptible redness of the skin within 24 hours after sun exposure. In other words, exposure to 1 MED will result in a reddening of the skin. Because different skin types burn at different rates, 1 MED for persons with very dark skin is different from 1 MED for persons with very light skin.
Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Environment Canada have developed skin type categories correlating characteristics of skin with rates of sunburn. See Table A-1 “EPA Skin Phototypes” and Table A-2 “Environment Canada Skin Types and Reaction to the Sun” for a description of skin types.<
 

Leaf moisture:
>The Leaf Moisture Sensor is designed to emulate the surface area of a leaf. It is primarily used to determine the percentage of time that a surface is wet versus dry. We measure in a 40cm level over ground. Resolution (lf) from 0 (dry) to 15 (wet).<

Soil moistuire monitoring in 10 cm deep:
>Definition: Centibar: The SI prefix "centi" represents a factor of 10-2, or in scientific notation, 1E-2.
So 1 centibar = 10-2 bars.
The definition of a bar is as follows:
The bar is a measurement unit of pressure, equal to 1,000,000 dynes per square centimetre (baryes), or 100,000 newtons per square metre (pascals). The word bar is of Greek origin, báros meaning weight. Its official symbol is "bar"; the earlier "b" is now deprecated, but still often seen especially as "mb" rather than the proper "mbar" for millibars.<

Irrigation Guidelines Based on Centibar Readings

Display cb
(centibar)

Interpretation

0-10

Saturated soil.

10-20

Most soils are at field capacity.

20-60

Typical range of irrigation in many medium soils

60-100

Typical range of irrigation in heavy clay soils

100-200

Crop water stress in most soils

 

Moon (lunar) phases

>Lunar phase (or Moon phase) refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. One half of the lunar surface is always illuminated by the Sun (except during lunar eclipses), and is hence bright, but the portion of the illuminated hemisphere that is visible to an observer can vary from 100% (full moon) to 0% (new moon). Lunar phase (or Moon phase) refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. One half of the lunar surface is always illuminated by the Sun (except during lunar eclipses), and is hence bright, but the portion of the illuminated hemisphere that is visible to an observer can vary from 100% (full moon) to 0% (new moon). The boundary between the illuminated and unilluminated hemispheres is called the terminator.<