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.
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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.
