| ABSTRACT | A meteorological monitoring system which scrapes real-time, raw data from various internet resources is introduced. The system preprocesses, checks for quality and stores these data within a state-of-the-art database, before performing a visualization for real-time display on the web (see http://web.itu.edu.tr/climate/hava_yeni/index.php). Data sources include the recently installed, dense network of automatic surface stations belonging to the Turkish Met-Office, as well as those of other institutions and individuals in Turkey. Over the last decade, both the number of automatic stations worldwide and the online availability of their real-time observations have increased dramatically; providing the meteorology/climatology community with a huge volume of data and an unprecedented opportunity for exploratory data analysis. Therefore, this monitoring system is meant to exploit the potential of internet for meteorological data acquisition to the furthest possible extent, without making any compromises about data quality. It is being designed to become the basis, in the long term, for 1) higher quality climate research in Turkey 2) more accurate regional and local weather prediction, since in future projects, these real-time data are to be assimilated into operational models. |