The basic AWS units measure air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction at a nominal height of 3 meters above the surface.
Air pressure is measured at the height of the electronics enclosure.
Some units measure relative humidity at 3 meters above the surface and the air temperature difference between 3 meters and 0.5 meters above the surface at the time of installation. The AWS units are located in arrays for meteorological experiments and at other sites for operational purposes. Any one AWS may contribute to several experiments and all contrib- ute to operational purposes, especially for preparing weather forecasts for aircraft flights to and from New Zealand and within Antarctica. The automatic weather station data is archived beginning in 1980. It is available at 3-hour intervals on floppy disks and via anonymous ftp on Internet.