Storm Peak Lab is a permanent mountain-top research facility located at 3220 m (10,564 ft) near the summit of Steamboat Springs ski area. The lab has been in existence for more than 40 years, with equipment initially operated from a small trailer and now as a permanent facility.
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| Storm Peak Lab |
This summer, ownership and operation of the lab transition from the Desert Research Institute to the University of Utah under the direction of Dr. Gannet Hallar, with significant support for the lab coming from the National Science Foundation and other agencies. Earlier this week, I made my first visit to the lab with a group of undergraduates who are participating in our Research Experience in ALpine Meteorology program (REALM).
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| REALM students and other visiting scientists and students at Storm Peak Lab |
There are remarkably few mountain-top or high-altitude scientific laboratories in the world that collect a comprehensive suite of meteorological, cloud, trace gas, and other observations. The lab is quite literally packed with instruments, some permanent and some temporary. These instruments measure a remarkable array of variables including trace-gas concentrations (e.g., carbon dioxide), cloud condensation nuclei, ice nuclei, etc. etc. Such measurements are critical for understanding air pollution, cloud and precipitation processes, and climate change.
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| Gannet Hallar describes the instruments at Storm Peak Lab |
The students and I learned, for example, about mercury in the atmosphere, its natural and human sources, and how measurements at the lab are advancing our understanding of its sources and sinks.
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| Dr. Lynne Gratz of Colorado College presents her latest work on mercury in the atmosphere |
We're excited for Storm Peak Lab to be a University of Utah facility. It will be a game changer for us, not only for mountain meteorology, but also interdisciplinary mountain studies, education, and outreach. With support from the National Science Foundation, I am planning on taking a group of graduate students there in the fall as part of my graduate-level mountain meteorology course.
Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Steamboat is a super cool town and area. I've read about the lab before and definitely hope to visit it someday!
ReplyDeleteCurious about the sinks for mercury. The U and then I as a professional did a lot of work on abating mercury emissions. It wasn’t easy but now greater than 90% control of mercury is required and readily achieved at point sources but I admit I spent so much effort on the control of the emissions I never really learned about the fate of it once it reached the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the chemistry well enough to properly explain.
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