The MATERHORN Experiment

A comprehensive field experimental program is planned to study flow over mountainous terrain. This experiment is a part of the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) program, funded under the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Program, to improve mountain terrain weather forecasting. The participants include the University of Notre Dame, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Post Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley, University of Utah, University of Virginia, and US Army Dugway Proving Ground. The experiments will be conducted at the Granite Mountain Atmospheric Science Testbed (GMAST) at the US Army Dugway Proving Ground. GMAST is conceivably the most heavily instrumented test bed for studying atmospheric processes within complex-terrain. In addition to the vast array of permanent monitoring devices located at GMAST, several pieces of sophisticated remote and in-situ atmospheric measurement devices will be installed in the vicinity of Granite Mountain. The first of the two field campaigns will take place during spring 2012 focusing on moist soil conditions and frequent synoptic disturbances. The second field campaign will take place during fall 2012 under drier and more quiescent conditions. These studies aim to characterize surface conditions related to mountain winds, investigate the planetary boundary layer in complex-terrain, study surface exchange processes, and to observe the interaction of flows across a wide range of space-time scales. Data collected will be used for model evaluation and data assimilation. The design of the experiment will be described in this paper.