Storm Peak Lab Field Project

February 25 - 27, 2006

Introduction

The Storm Peak Laboratory sits high above Steamboat Springs atop Mount Werner (El. 10,500 ft). The lab, sponsored by the Desert Research Institute, sits within the boundaries of the Steamboat Ski Area. Because of it's situation atop the North-South oriented Park Range, prevailing westerly winds often blanket the summit with clouds and snow, making this an ideal location for cloud microphysics research. Since I was taking CSU's Cloud Microphysics (AT 724) course as part of my graduate studies, I had the privilege of spending three days and two nights at the lab with my classmates. The goal was to conduct class field projects, organized by various groups from the class. Since the lab is in the ski area, and the only way to get to the lab is either by snow machine or skis, many projects naturally involve skiing and taking measurements on the mountain. My group decided to conduct some "ski sondes" (vertical soundings of atmospheric variables such as temperature, dew point temperature, pressure, and wind) and relate this meteorological information to measurements taken on the slopes using a portable condensation nuclei (CN) counter. 

Pictures will be posted sometime . . .

Visualizations of the skisonde routes

I have created a number of 2D and 3D visualizations of the GPS tracks of my skisondes. These were created using National Geographic's TOPO software (Colorado State Series and Streets and 3D Views Expansion Pack). Click here to see the visualizations.

Video of an extreme high speed top-to-bottom descent

In order to document the ski sonde route, I shot a video of one of my runs from the top of the mountain nearly all the way to the base area. Click here to find out more and view the video.