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The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX)

Journal Article · · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [12];  [13];  [6]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  3. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL (United States)
  4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  5. Olympic National Park, Port Angeles, WA (United States)
  6. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
  7. Environment and Climate Change Canada, King City, ON (Canada)
  8. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab.
  9. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
  10. Univ. of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)
  11. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  12. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  13. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) took place during the 2015/16 fall–winter season in the vicinity of the mountainous Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. The goals of OLYMPEX were to provide physical and hydrologic ground validation for the U.S.–Japan Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission and, more specifically, to study how precipitation in Pacific frontal systems is modified by passage over coastal mountains. Four transportable scanning dual-polarization Doppler radars of various wavelengths were installed for this study. Surface stations were placed at various altitudes to measure precipitation rates, particle size distributions, and fall velocities. Autonomous recording cameras monitored and recorded snow accumulation. Four research aircraft supplied by NASA investigated precipitation processes and snow cover, and supplemental rawinsondes and dropsondes were deployed during precipitation events. Finally, numerous Pacific frontal systems were sampled, including several reaching “atmospheric river” status, warm- and cold-frontal systems, and postfrontal convection.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (United States); National Science Foundation (NSF) (United States); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1430723
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1411901
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--130387
Journal Information:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 98; ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (11)

Validation of the Version 05 Level 2 precipitation products from the GPM Core Observatory and constellation satellite sensors
  • Kidd, Christopher; Tan, Jackson; Kirstetter, Pierre‐Emmanuel
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue S1 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3175
journal December 2017
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's scientific achievements and societal contributions: reviewing four years of advanced rain and snow observations
  • Skofronick‐Jackson, Gail; Kirschbaum, Dalia; Petersen, Walter
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue S1 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3313
journal November 2018
Evaluation of Triple-Frequency Radar Retrieval of Snowfall Properties Using Coincident Airborne In Situ Observations During OLYMPEX journal June 2018
Terrain‐Enhanced Precipitation Processes Above the Melting Layer: Results From OLYMPEX journal November 2018
The Microphysics of Stratiform Precipitation During OLYMPEX: Compatibility Between Triple‐Frequency Radar and Airborne In Situ Observations journal August 2019
The Impact of the Radar-Sampling Volume on Multiwavelength Spaceborne Radar Measurements Using Airborne Radar Observations journal September 2019
Potential of Sentinel-1 Surface Soil Moisture Product for Detecting Heavy Rainfall in the South of France journal February 2019
Towards variational retrieval of warm rain from passive microwave observations journal January 2018
Retrieval of snowflake microphysical properties from multifrequency radar observations journal January 2018
The importance of particle size distribution and internal structure for triple-frequency radar retrievals of the morphology of snow journal January 2019
Precipitation characteristics and associated weather conditions on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies during March–April 2015 journal January 2018

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