Selected meteorological data for an arid site near Beatty, Nye County, Nevada, calendar year 1989

Abstract

Selected meteorological data were collected at a study site adjacent to a low-level radioactive-waste burial facility near Beatty, Nevada, for calendar year 1989. Data were collected in support of ongoing studies to estimate the potential for downward movement of radionuclides into the unsaturated sediments beneath waste-burial trenches at the facility. The data include air temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure, incident solar radiation, windspeed, wind direction, and precipitation. The data are summarized in tables and graphs.Instrumentation used at the site is discussed. The discussion includes the type, reported accuracy, and mounting height of each sensor.In 1989, the hourly averaged air temperature ranged from -14.5 degrees Celsius, in February, to 46.0 degrees Celsius, in July. Hourly averaged relative humidity ranged from less than 12 percent to over 80 percent. Hourly vapor pressures ranged from 0.06 to 1.71 kilopascals. Daily maximum incident solar radiation values ranged from 149 to 1,084 watts per square meter. Daily mean windspeed ranged from less than 1 to 8.6 meters per second. Monthly wind direction patterns are shown in a series of diagrams in which wind direction is summed over 10-degree arcs from hourly averaged data. Wind direction was primarily from the northwest in fall, winter, and spring and varied from southeast, southwest, or northwest during the summer. Total precipitation for 1989 was 14.0 millimeters, with almost 90 percent occurring from January through May.

On Evaluating Characteristics of the Solute Transport in the Arid Vadose Zone

“…As much as 70% of precipitation occurs in the period of October to April through frontal systems. Remaining summer rainfall is predominantly through localized short-duration convective storms (Wood and Andraski 1995). Although annual precipitation is very low, the precipitation intensity of some rainfall events is high.…”