After two years of laying the groundwork and installation attempts, a new weather station was erected on top of the middle school building this school year. It was a gift of Weather Services International as part of their international lightning monitoring network. At the very top of the tower is their lightning sensor and a GPS receiver that are connected to a modem that sends the information direct to their offices in Maryland.
In return for hosting their antennae, the American School received a high-tech weather station that monitors temperature, wind speed, rainfall, humidity and other variables. It is really a work in progress as time has limited our ability to learn about how to use all the features that apparatus provides.
Looking across the roof, you can see downtown Mexico City, built on an old lake bed. From the top of the archbishop's palace in 1803, Humboldt also studied the city's skyline. His instruments had survived a 4,000-mile journey through the Americas on muleback, canoe and ship. His accurate measurements of lattitude and longitude corrected the old colonial maps of New Spain. Our up-to-the-date equipment allow us to scan the same horizon the Prussian scientist did in an environment utterly transformed.
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