NASA Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX 2002/03): Ground-Based and Near-Surface Meteorological Observations

Abstract

A short-term meteorological database has been developed for the Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX). This database includes meteorological observations from stations designed and deployed exclusively for CLPX as well as observations available from other sources located in the small regional study area (SRSA) in north-central Colorado. The measured weather parameters include air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, short- and longwave radiation, leaf wetness, snow depth, snow water content, snow and surface temperatures, volumetric soil moisture content, soil temperature, precipitation, water vapor flux, carbon dioxide flux, and soil heat flux. The CLPX weather stations include 10 main meteorological towers, 1 tower within each of the nine intensive study areas (ISA) and one near the local scale observation site (LSOS); and 36 simplified towers, with one tower at each of the four corners of each of the nine ISAs, which measured a reduced set of parameters. An eddy covariance system within the North Park mesocell study area (MSA) collected a variety of additional parameters beyond the 10 standard CLPX tower components. Additional meteorological observations come from a variety of existing networks maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. Temporal coverage varies from station to station, but it is most concentrated during the 2002/03 winter season. These data are useful in local meteorological energy balance research and for model development and testing. These data can be accessed through the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site.