Atmospheric Research and Public Outreach Activities at Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina

1. Atmospheric Research and Public Outreach Activities at Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina EDC41C-0685 AGU 2012 L. Baker Perry (perrylb@appstate.edu)1, Jesse Pope2, Brett F. Taubman1,Ginger M. Kelly1, James P. Sherman1 1 Appalachian State University, Boone, NC; 2 Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, Linville, NC Background Citizen Science Activities Automatic Weather Stations Promoting scientific and public understanding of mountain meteorological processes, particularly in the context of climate variability and change, remains a formidable challenge. Mountain environments present considerable difficulties in the collection of surface and atmospheric observations due to complex topography and resulting high spatial and temporal variability of the atmospheric processes. A collaborative partnership between Appalachian State University (ASU) and the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation (GMSF) in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina has provided an outstanding opportunity to integrate atmospheric research and outreach activities. The NASA-funded Climate Action Network through Direct Observations and Outreach (CAN-DOO) project directly supports the research and education activities and places them in the context of climate variability and change. • Grandfather Mountain staff, along with citizen scientist observers (Fig. 6), make daily manual measurements of the following : • Minimum and maximum temperature • Precipitation (Fig. 7) • Snow depth • Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) • Visibility • Fractional cloud cover • Solar irradiance • Surface albedo • Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) We have installed two research-quality automatic weather stations in the vicinity of the Swinging Bridge and Top Shop, located at 1,610 m asl (Fig. 1). Station 1 is located on the bridge, with sensors to measure wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric pressure. Station 2 is located in a somewhat more protected area and includes sensors to measure precipitation, present weather, temperature, and relative humidity. Both of the stations are accessible via a local network and data are available on the internet and on public displays in near real-time. . Figure 6. Citizen scientist observers make aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements using a hand-held sun photometer. (Photo credit: GMSF) Grandfather Mountain, NC Grandfather Mountain (Fig. 1), the highest point in the Blue Ridge and immediately adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, attracts 250,000 visitors annually and is an outstanding natural laboratory. Our partnership has promoted climate science awareness through citizen science activities, collection of research-quality meteorological data, interactive public displays, and hosting of high-visibility annual public lectures. These activities have allowed GMSF staff and the general public to become engaged in atmospheric science research and education activities. Photo Credit: Kristen Pickeral Figure 3. Automatic weather stations on Grandfather Mountain: Station 1 and Mile High Swinging Bridge encased in rime ice (left) and instrumentation at Station 2 (right). Figure 7. Daily & Multiday Precipitation for Station NC-AV-9 for the 2012 Water Year (Oct 2011 - Sept 2012). Graphic courtesy of CoCoRaHS. Calloway Peak: 1,818 m asl Heated sonic remained ice-free Public Climate Science Lectures Top Shop and Mile High Swinging Bridge: 1,610 m asl • Dr. David Easterling, Chief of Global Climate Applications Division, National Climatic Data Center, 2010: Observed and Projected Climate Change • Dr. Bruce Doddridge, Head of Chemistry and Dynamics Branch, NASA-Langley Research Center, 2011: NASA and Climate Science: How NASA Contributes to Understanding Climate Change • Dr. Dorothy Hall, Cryospheric Sciences Division, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, 2012: Observing our Changing Planet from Space – The Cryosphere Heavy riming on unheated anemometer Figure 1. Grandfather Mountain, NC. Figure 4. Selected meteorological parameters and photo from 17-18 Nov 2010 heavy riming and high wind event. (Photo credit: Landis Wofford) Summary and Conclusions Educational Displays • Preliminary results of research activities suggest that extreme wind gusts >50 m s-1 and severe icing due to riming and freezing rain are a frequent occurrence on Grandfather Mountain, particularly from October to April. Grandfather Mountain is also one of the wettest locations in the eastern U.S., with annual precipitation totals frequently approaching 2,000 mm and 250 mm falling during heavy events. • Grandfather Mountain offers an unparalleled natural laboratory and the extreme weather captivates visitors, creating an ideal opportunity to promote public understanding of mountain meteorology and broader atmospheric processes, including climate change. Figure 8. Jesse Pope welcoming Dr. Bruce Doddgridge. • Our team has built a permanent display (Fig. 2) in the Grandfather Mountain Nature Museum that includes: • High-definition computer monitors used for sharing an interactive climate science presentation and the current weather conditions from an automatic weather station near the top of the mountain. • PC tablet computers mounted in touch-screen kiosks that invite the public to test their climate science knowledge by taking a climate quiz, explore the NASA Climate Time Machine, and view short movie clips. Acknowledgements Mike Hughes, Dana Greene, Ronnie Vance, and Andrew Grindstaffprovided valuable help in the installation and maintenance of the automatic weather stations. Tom McDonnell, Darryl Cook, Kim Rupard, and Chad Dalton assisted with the software development and server maintenance. The authors are grateful for the support of Dean Anthony Calamai, Kathleen Schroeder, John Pine, Penn Dameron, Crae Morton, Jim Morton, Jill Goodwin, Katie Grady, Landis Wofford, and John Markham. This material is based upon work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Grant No. NNX10AC92G. Figure 2. Public educational displays at Grandfather Mountain. Figure 5. Real-time and historical data displays from automatic weather stations.