National Weather Service Donates Weather Equipment to Florida Tech for Research

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The National Weather Service in Miami has donated four ceilometers to Florida Institute of Technology’s Department of Marine and Environmental Systems (DMES). Pablo Santos, meteorologist in charge at Miami, approved the donation. The equipment, which measures cloud base height and the aerosol concentration in the atmosphere, will be used for research as part of the DMES undergraduate field projects as well as a hands-on educational tool.

One of the instruments will be installed on the Link building roof on campus; others will be configured for mobile operations, for field work or classroom use. They are valued at $10,000 each and came with spare parts valued at another $40,000.

Steven Lazarus, associate professor of meteorology in DMES, acknowledged that, “This was a generous donation in addition to the time and effort required by the Miami National Weather Service to deliver the equipment. We have never had ceilometers and will put them to good use for our students’ summer field projects.”

The department offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in coastal zone management, earth remote sensing, environmental science, environmental resource management, meteorology, ocean engineering and oceanography.