GREAT SALT LAKE STUDIES

Great Salt Lake Studies have the common goal of improving our understanding of the effect of the Great Salt Lake on local weather and climate. Several field and numerical studies have recently focused on the influence of the Great Salt Lake on snowfall and thermally-driven circulations.

Field Research Related to the Great Salt Lake

SOLPEX: Sounding Observations of Lake-effect Precipitation EXperiment (2011-2012)
[Link]
Great Salt Lake Breeze Studies (2006-2010)
[Link]
PCAPS: Persistent Cold Air Pool Study (2010-2011)
[Link]


Current Lake Conditions

Lake Temperature

NOAA Coastwatch AVHRR Satellite Weekly Average

USGS Buoy (May-November)

Weather Conditions

Hat Island Gunnison Island Locomotive Springs

Lake Level

Lake Elevation from USGS

Miscellaneous Great Salt Lake Resources

MODIS Rapid Response Great Salt Lake Basin Subsets
Utah Geological Survey: Great Salt Lake
USGS Bathymetric Map South Arm Great Salt Lake
USGS Bathymetric Map North Arm Great Salt Lake
USGS Utah Water Science Center: Great Salt Lake
Trevor Alcott Experimental Lake-Effect Forcast Page

Recent University of Utah Department of Atmospheric Sciences Publications Related to the Great Salt Lake

Crosman, E., and J. Horel, 2012: Idealized Large-Eddy Simulations of Sea and Lake Breezes: Sensitivity to Lake Diameter, Heat Flux, and Stability.Boundary-Layer Meteorology. DOI:10.1007/s10546-012-9721-x.

Yeager, K. N., W. J. Steenburgh, and T. I. Alcott, 2012: Contributions of lake-effect periods to the cool-season hydroclimate of the Great Salt Lake Basin. J. Appl. Meteor. Clim., in review.

Lareau, N., E. Crosman, J. Horel, D. Whiteman, S. Hoch, T. Horst and B. Brown. The Persistent Cold Air Pool Study. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., in review.

Crosman, E., and J. Horel, 2010: Sea and Lake Breezes: A Review of Numerical Studies. Boundary-Layer Meteorology. 137:1-29.

Crosman, E, and J.D. Horel, MODIS-Derived Surface Temperature of the Great Salt Lake. Remote Sensing of the Environment, January 2009 (Vol. 113, No. 1, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2008.08.013)