A measurement tower is a free standing tower

Tower

A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....

 or a removed mast

Radio masts and towers

Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the tallest man-made structures...

, which carries measuring instruments with meteorological instruments such as thermometers and wind velocity measurers

Anemometer

An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind, and is used to describe any airspeed measurement instrument used in meteorology or aerodynamics...

. Measuring towers are an essential component of rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

 launching sites, since one must know exact wind conditions for an execution of a rocket start. Also in the proximity of some nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 stations (as in Grafenrheinfeld, Germany) there are measuring towers. Beside measurement towers, which are equipped with meteorological measuring instruments, there are also measuring towers for measuring the radiation

Radiation

In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...

 pattern of antennas. Such towers are frequently implemented as metal-free timber constructions for the avoidance of disturbance of the radiation pattern, as the measuring towers of the antenna measuring position in bridge.

Meteorology

• Obninsk Meteorological tower
  Obninsk Meteorological tower
  Obninsk Meteorological Tower is a 315 metre tall silver-grey guyed steel tube mast at Obninsk, Russia. Obninsk Meteorological Tower was built in 1958 and is equipped with multiple platforms on different heights, on which devices for measuring radioactivity and for meteorological science are...
  
  , Obninsk, Russia
• Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility
  Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility
  The Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility is a climatic research station in the Siberian taiga in the proximity of Zotino, Russia, established and operated by the Max Planck Society and the Sukachev Institute of Forest, it serves as a long-term observing platform to be operated for at least 30...
  
  , Zotino, Russia
  Russia
  Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
  
  
• KNMI-mast Cabauw
  KNMI-mast Cabauw
  The KNMI-mast Cabauw is a 213 metre high guyed mast for meteorological measurements at Cabauw, the Netherlands.In 1972 at Cabauw a 213 m high mast was specifically built for meteorological research to establish relations between the state of the atmospheric boundary layer , land surface conditions...
  
  , Cabauw, Netherlands
• Meteorological tower of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
• KFU-Tower
  Gundremmingen
  Gundremmingen is a municipality in the district of Günzburg in Bavaria in Germany. It is well known for the Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant.-Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Station:...
  
   Gundremmingen, Gundremmingen, Germany
• KFU-Mast
  Grafenrheinfeld
  Grafenrheinfeld is a municipality in the district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany. The municipality is home to the nuclear power station, Grafenrheinfeld, which opened in 1982.-Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Station:...
  
   Grafenrheinfeld, Grafenrheinfeld, Germany
• Mast of Richard Assmann Observatory, Falkenberg, Germany
• Mast of Asbach near Obrigheim, Germany ( dismantled)
• Mast of Obrigheim Nuclear Power Plant, Obrigheim, Germany
• Mast of Dukovany Nuclear Power Station
• Oskar-von-Miller-Tower
  Oskar-von-Miller-Tower
  Oskar-von-Miller-Tower is a tower for meteorological measurements of Munich Technical University at Garching. It is a concrete structure surrounded by a coat of acrylic glass. It has a height of 62 metres and carries 5, 10, 20, 35 and 50 metres above ground measuring devices according to all...
  
  , Garching, Germany

Other measurement towers

• Aerial test facility Brück, Brück, Germany
• BREN Tower
  BREN Tower
  BREN Tower is a guyed steel framework mast, high, on the Nevada Test Site in Nevada, USA. "BREN" stands for "Bare Reactor Experiment, Nevada."...
  
  , Nevada Test Side, USA

Wind farm development

Before developers construct a wind farm, they first measure the wind resource on a prospective site by erecting temporary measurement towers. Typically these mount anemometers at a range of heights up to the hub height of the proposed wind turbines, and they log the wind speed data at frequent intervals (e.g. every ten minutes) for at least one year and preferably two or more. The data allow the developer to determine if the site is economically viable for a wind farm, and to choose wind turbines optimized for the local wind speed distribution.