Mesonet's first manager honored by university

By Julianna Parker Jones

Thousands of sensors at more than 100 locations across the state measure the environment for the benefit of researchers, meteorologists and the public.

The Oklahoma Mesonet has provided reliable and accurate data about weather in Oklahoma for about two decades. It's something most people take for granted in the state, but the resource is a rare one, said John Snow, dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences.

"There is no other network of its type in the U.S. that provides the amount of data and the quality of data (as the Oklahoma Mesonet)," he said. "... It is recognized as the gold standard."

But the Oklahoma Mesonet would not be what it is today without one man: Fred V. Brock, the first manager of the mesonet. For that, the mesonet's calibration laboratory recently was renamed to the Fred V. Brock Standards Laboratory.

Brock designed, developed and operated the National Center for Atmospheric Research's portable Automated Mesonet. He served as professor of meteorology at OU from 1985 to 1997. He was a founding member of the Mesonet Steering Committee and first manager of the Oklahoma Mesonet. He was lead author of numerous publications, including "Meteorological Measurement Systems."

Former colleagues of Brock gathered Tuesday afternoon at the National Weather Center for a reception in his honor.

"I literally don't know what to say," Brock said after his friends had praised his work with the mesonet. "You said some wonderful things. I'm deeply appreciative of all of this. One thing I do know, the lab wouldn't be there, the mesonet wouldn't be there without the efforts of all the mesonet team."

That team included a steering committee formed in the mid-1980s with the vision of a mesonet that would cover Oklahoma and collect accurate and reliable data about the environment. The committee was made up of personnel at OU and Oklahoma State University who initially worked to raise the funds for the effort.

"When we got the money to do this, we looked at each other and said, 'We got the money. Do we know what we're doing? Probably not, but let's do it and do it right,'" said Ken Crawford, director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey who was a member of the steering committee.

The committee knew they needed the right person to lead the mesonet, he said.

"We knew he knew how to lead us out of the wilderness," Crawford said. "We had a vision, we didn't have a director. It takes both."

Crawford said Brock's "intellect and calmness under pressure" got the Oklahoma Mesonet on the right path. Brock's attention to detail and demand for accuracy led the mesonet to become the standard for mesonets, Crawford said.

Brock started the mesonet's calibration laboratory in 1992. The lab contains chambers for calibrating all the types of instruments used by the mesonet, from the one that measures wind speed 33 feet above the ground to the one that measures soil moisture 2 feet under the earth.

Each of the 3,300 sensors used by the Oklahoma Mesonet goes through the lab on a regular basis to ensure accurate data.

"That calibration laboratory means we save money by only deploying sensors whose calibrations we know," Crawford said.

Snow said the renaming of the lab in honor of Brock is very appropriate.

"I can't think of another room in this building that is as well named," he said. He said he remembers going to a workshop in the 1980s led in part by Brock about calibrating meteorological instruments. Snow said Brock took them through every instrument, including how to build their own wind tunnel with a refrigerator box, in case they ever needed one.

The renaming of the lab honors Brock, but Snow said his legacy really lives on as the mesonet is used.

"His legacy goes on in every one of those data points that come into this building," Snow said.

Julianna Parker Jones 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com