The Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State has a long history of weather observation and education. As with many similar departments, a map wall has been a common meeting ground for faculty and students alike, forming a congregation point to discuss the finer points of a forecast and possible outcomes. For many years, the map wall was an expansive collection of difax charts printed and displayed across a wall in the weather center. In 2009, the Joel N. Myers Weather Center came into existence as part of an extensive renovation of the 6th floor of the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences home, Walker Building. A central component of this renovation was a digitization of the Map Wall into an Electronic Map and Visualization Wall. This new digital map wall is a cutting edge tool with a primary purpose to replace and enhance the traditional paper map wall. When installed in March 2009, the 147,456,000 pixel display represented the 5th largest contiguous display in terms of pixel density in the World.
This site serves as a web-based host for many of the images displayed on the latest generation of the map wall. Here, you'll find images of traditional satellite and numerical weather prediction output, historical weather observations taken at Walker Building as part of the long-standing CO-OP observation site, and recent student and faculty generated images showcasing our Department's breadth of research and innovation.
The website contains two sections: the Map Wall Image Portal, which serves as an index for content shown on the physical map wall, and the Penn State Meteo Map Wall website (e-Wall 2.0), the next generation of the original Penn State Electronic Map Wall website. Over the coming years, new content will be added gradually, eventually replacing all of the major components of the old e-Wall website.
To submit comments, report bugs, or make feature requests, please contact the map wall manager, Karl Schneider, at kschneider@psu.edu.