The U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) consists of 114 stations developed, deployed, managed, and maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the continental United States for the express purpose of detecting the national signal of climate change. The vision of the USCRN program is to maintain a sustainable high-quality climate observation network that 50 years from now can with the highest degree of confidence answer the question: How has the climate of the nation changed over the past 50 years? These stations were designed with climate science in mind. (more...) Three independent measurements of temperature and precipitation are made at each station, insuring continuity of record and maintenance of well-calibrated and highly accurate observations. The stations are placed in pristine environments expected to be free of development for many decades. Stations are monitored and maintained to high standards, and are calibrated on an annual basis. In addition to temperature and precipitation, these stations also measure solar radiation, surface skin temperature, and surface winds, and are being expanded to include triplicate measurements of soil moisture and soil temperature at five depths, as well as atmospheric relative humidity. Experimental stations have been located in Alaska since 2002 and Hawaii since 2005, providing network experience in polar and tropical regions. Deployment of a complete 29 station USCRN network into Alaska began in 2009. This project is managed by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and operated in partnership with NOAA's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division.

A new network of stations called the U.S. Historical Climatology Network - Modernization (USHCN-M) is now being deployed by NOAA. These stations maintain the same level of climate science quality measurements as the USCRN, but are spaced more closely, and focus solely on temperature and precipitation. (more...) Beginning with a pilot project in the Southwest, USHCN-M stations will be deployed at a 100 km spatial resolution to provide for the detection of regional climate change signals. Following completion of the pilot project, the long-term vision is deployment in each of the nine NOAA climate regions of the United States at a 100 km spatial resolution that will allow the detection of regional climate change signals. As with the USCRN, USHCN-M stations have triple redundancy and are placed in pristine environments. About 1000 locations in the United States will have either a USHCN-M or USCRN station at the end of deployment for this project. This project is managed by the Office of Science and Technology in NOAA's National Weather Service and operated in partnership with NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and NOAA's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division.