BaSE CaMP I

Boundary Structure Experiments with Central Minnesota Profiling

PROJECT DATES
09/28/2012 - 10/05/2012
Project Location
St. Cloud, MN
PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Boundary Structure Experiments with Central Minnesota Profiling (BaSE CaMP)

Principal Investigator: Brian Billings
Facility: Mobile Integrated Sounding System (MISS)

This Mobile Integrated Sounding System (MISS) was deployed to Saint Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN to help support the the Department of Atmospheric and Hydrological Sciences department's Radar and Satellite Meteorology course (EAS 468), but also beneficial for students enrolled in the concurrent Physical Meteorology course (EAS 465), and the following semester’s Meteorological Instrumentation course (EAS 364). 

The particular focus of the field deployments will be either on boundary layer structure in the presence of complex terrain and land surfaces, and weather permitting, on air mass boundaries, i.e. frontal passages. Additionally, the MISS was also be used for more general instrumentation experiments, such as intercomparison of the different profiling techniques available with and independent of MISS or data quality issues associated with one specific instrument. 

Two outreach activities were implemented that included students outside of the meteorology program. One morning prior to field deployment, the MISS was taken to a local high school to visit a senior AP physics class. The discussion of the instrument was capped off with a balloon launch from a nearby parking lot. Additionally, on one evening the project scientist gave a seminar which was open to the public. The focus of this seminar was more on the field programs in which the ISS and GAUS instrumentation had been used and on the various challenges of finding the right conditions and collecting the data.
 

BaSE CaMP Final Report

Due to potential conflicts with other coursework, the majority of operations in BaSE CaMP were planned to occur between the hours of 5-8 p.m. on a near-nightly bases. This schedule precluded traveling large distances to follow the most significant synoptic systems. Therefore, the field sites were chosen on the basis of unique topography or the ability to intercompare observations from MISS with independent instrumentation. The following is a brief summary of the conditions during each Intensive Observing Period, the experiments performed by the students, and the data which was collected for future use.

BaSE CaMP Photos

 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Data Manager
EOL Archive, NCAR/EOL/DMS