What are verification sites and how do I specify them?

What is a Verification Site?

Verification sites are individual monitoring sites that are assigned to existing AirNow reporting areas. The data reported from the assigned verification sites are used to calculate the NowCast and daily AQI reported on Airnow.gov and in AirNow products. Since forecasts are issued at the reporting area level, verification sites are also used to compute the forecast verification statistics available in AirNow-Tech.

Adding and Removing Verification Sites

To be able to add or remove verification sites, your account must have forecaster privileges. If you need to be granted forecaster privileges for your agency, email info@airnowtech.org with your request. After receiving forecaster privileges, you can choose verification sites for a forecast city by choosing the “Forecast” tab in AirNow-Tech, and then selecting the “Verification Sites” tab.

Add or remove verification sites by choosing a city from the drop down menu, and then clicking the Select Verification Sites button. A site selection tool will appear, and allow you to query and select the sites you would like to use as verification sites for the forecast city/reporting area. For information on how to use the Site Selector tool, see the following post: http://forum.airnowtech.org/t/using-the-site-selector-tool-custom-queries/108

When a new monitor is added to a network, an assessment should be made by the agency to determine which reporting area(s) the monitor should be associated with. Otherwise, the data from the monitor will not be used for verification purposes or in reporting area-based data products.

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