Meteorology 3000- Mountain Weather and Climate

Class Project and Presentation

A prototype automated network of climate monitoring stations may be sited in northern Utah within the next year. The first step in this process is to inventory existing stations in the area. You will assist in this effort by doing a site survey of at least one existing site as well as attempting to identify possible nearby sites in the vicinity of that station that meet specific criteria. Through this project you will gain greater appreciation for what is required to collect environmental information and the microclimates of specific locations. The basic idea is that you will either be assigned a location or select a particular location by October 5 that is located within an hour of Salt Lake City. You will gather information on that site available from existing databases, visit the site and collect information to be described here, and turn in to me an outline of your information by November 9. You must be ready to present the results of your data collection and site survey information in a short powerpoint presentation (max 12 slides in 8 minutes or less) to the class by November 28. Your grade for the project will depend greatly upon meeting the 3 deadlines.

At this point (mid-October), you have already selected a station and should have collected rudimentary information (latitude, longitude, elevation).

Before You Visit Your Site

• (1)Use MesoWest to save images of the topo map and a satellite map for your particular location using the latitude and longitude (note MesoWest database is experiencing problems this weekend, so you may have to use the ROMAN interface). You will use these images in your presentation. Google earth can also be used to gain better perspective on siting issues.
• (2)Read the siting guidelines. Organize the information you will need to collect in order to evaluate these guidelines (i.e., you will be rating the site for temperature and humidity, precipitation, wind, and soil moisture and temperature as well as coming up with a final site classification using Table A-5).
• (3)Contact the landowner if the site is not publicly accessible. Explain that you would like to visit and collect information for a class project, etc.

• (1)Use a digital camera (I can loan you one if needed) to take pictures of the site in at least all four cardinal directions. Stand where you would expect the equipment to be, if there is no equipment present. Take pictures of the equipment, if some is present.
• (2)Collect the information on slope, obstacles, artificial heating sources, etc. that are required to score the site (Tables A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5).
• (3)What weather conditions are present during the time of your visit? Any examples of microclimates, e.g., canyon winds, cold air pooling?
• (4)Evaluate the site subjectively using the guidelines in sections A1 and A2 (notes: LETS is the law enforcement telecommuncations network- simply assess whether there is line of sight to any obvious microwave or other comms tower nearby).
• (5) Can you find a nearby site that would better meet the requirements? If so, repeat #1-4 for this preferred site.

• (1)Due November 11.
• (2)Summarize the basic metadata (name, latitude, longitude, elevation, county, etc.). If there is an existing station, then describe the length of record.
• (3)Use Tables A-1 to A-5 to rate the site objectively as well as an alternative site that you may have identified.
• (4)Provide your overall recommendation of your primary and alternative site based on the guidelines in A1 and A2.

• (1)Due November 28
• (2)Organize the information collected into a short powerpoint presentation (12 or fewer slides)
• (3)You may want to use MesoWest or the Western Region Climate Center site to examine some of the meteorological data collected at this site or a nearby one.