The U.S. Regional Climate Reference Network (USRCRN) pilot project was deployed
in the Southwestern U.S. by NOAA during the period 2009-2011. These stations were
designed to provide the same level of climate science quality measurements as the
national-scale U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), but are spaced more closely,
and focus solely on temperature and precipitation.
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USRCRN stations are deployed
at a 130 km spatial resolution to provide for the detection of regional climate
change signals. The long-term vision is to deploy the network in each of the
nine NOAA climate regions
of the United States to detect climate change very rapidly,
as it is happening. As with the USCRN, USRCRN stations have triple redundancy
and are placed in pristine environments. About
538 locations in the United States
will have either a USRCRN or USCRN station when this project is completed. Expansion
beyond the Southwest has been suspended at this time. This project is managed by
NOAA's National Weather Service Office of Science and Technology in partnership
with NOAA's National Climatic Data Center and NOAA's Atmospheric Turbulence and
Diffusion Division.