Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX)

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [12];  [13];  [6]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  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)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1430723
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-130387
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-0007
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-76RL01830; NNX12AL54G; NNX13AO58G; NNX14AJ72G; NNX14AO64G; NNX15AL38G; NNX15AT26G; NNX16AD75G; NNX16AK05G; AGS-1503155
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 98; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Houze, Robert A., McMurdie, Lynn A., Petersen, Walter A., Schwaller, Mathew R., Baccus, William, Lundquist, Jessica D., Mass, Clifford F., Nijssen, Bart, Rutledge, Steven A., Hudak, David R., Tanelli, Simone, Mace, Gerald G., Poellot, Michael R., Lettenmaier, Dennis P., Zagrodnik, Joseph P., Rowe, Angela K., DeHart, Jennifer C., Madaus, Luke E., Barnes, Hannah C., and Chandrasekar, V. The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX). United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0182.1.
Copy to clipboard
Houze, Robert A., McMurdie, Lynn A., Petersen, Walter A., Schwaller, Mathew R., Baccus, William, Lundquist, Jessica D., Mass, Clifford F., Nijssen, Bart, Rutledge, Steven A., Hudak, David R., Tanelli, Simone, Mace, Gerald G., Poellot, Michael R., Lettenmaier, Dennis P., Zagrodnik, Joseph P., Rowe, Angela K., DeHart, Jennifer C., Madaus, Luke E., Barnes, Hannah C., & Chandrasekar, V. The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX). United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0182.1
Copy to clipboard
Houze, Robert A., McMurdie, Lynn A., Petersen, Walter A., Schwaller, Mathew R., Baccus, William, Lundquist, Jessica D., Mass, Clifford F., Nijssen, Bart, Rutledge, Steven A., Hudak, David R., Tanelli, Simone, Mace, Gerald G., Poellot, Michael R., Lettenmaier, Dennis P., Zagrodnik, Joseph P., Rowe, Angela K., DeHart, Jennifer C., Madaus, Luke E., Barnes, Hannah C., and Chandrasekar, V. Mon . "The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX)". United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0182.1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1430723.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1430723,
title = {The Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX)},
author = {Houze, Robert A. and McMurdie, Lynn A. and Petersen, Walter A. and Schwaller, Mathew R. and Baccus, William and Lundquist, Jessica D. and Mass, Clifford F. and Nijssen, Bart and Rutledge, Steven A. and Hudak, David R. and Tanelli, Simone and Mace, Gerald G. and Poellot, Michael R. and Lettenmaier, Dennis P. and Zagrodnik, Joseph P. and Rowe, Angela K. and DeHart, Jennifer C. and Madaus, Luke E. and Barnes, Hannah C. and Chandrasekar, V.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0182.1},
journal = {Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society},
number = 10,
volume = 98,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Oct 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0182.1
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 121 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Radar observations of wind-shear splitting within evolving atmospheric kelvin-helmholtz billows
journal, July 1997

  • Chapman, D.; Browning, K. A.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 123, Issue 541
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.49712354114

Independent Evaluation of Frozen Precipitation from WRF and PRISM in the Olympic Mountains
journal, October 2017

  • Currier, William Ryan; Thorson, Theodore; Lundquist, Jessica D.
  • Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 18, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-17-0026.1

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission
journal, May 2014

  • Hou, Arthur Y.; Kakar, Ramesh K.; Neeck, Steven
  • Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 95, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00164.1

Orographic effects on precipitating clouds
journal, January 2012

Radar observations of precipitation and airflow on the Mediterranean side of the Alps: Autumn 1998 and 1999
journal, October 2001

  • Houze, Robert A.; James, Curtis N.; Medina, Socorro
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 127, Issue 578
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.49712757804

The variable nature of convection in the tropics and subtropics: A legacy of 16 years of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite: CONVECTIVE VARIABILITY SEEN BY TRMM
journal, September 2015

  • Houze, Robert A.; Rasmussen, Kristen L.; Zuluaga, Manuel D.
  • Reviews of Geophysics, Vol. 53, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1002/2015RG000488

The TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA): Quasi-Global, Multiyear, Combined-Sensor Precipitation Estimates at Fine Scales
journal, February 2007

  • Huffman, George J.; Bolvin, David T.; Nelkin, Eric J.
  • Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 8, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1175/JHM560.1

S-Band Dual-Polarization Radar Observations of Winter Storms
journal, April 2011

  • Kennedy, Patrick C.; Rutledge, Steven A.
  • Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 50, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1175/2010JAMC2558.1

Synoptic and Topographic Variability of Northern California Precipitation Characteristics in Landfalling Winter Storms Observed during CALJET
journal, August 2006

  • Kingsmill, David E.; Neiman, Paul J.; Ralph, F. Martin
  • Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 134, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1175/MWR3166.1

Microphysics and dynamics of clouds associated with mesoscale rainbands in extratropical cyclones
journal, January 1980

  • Matejka, Thomas J.; Houze, Robert A.; Hobbs, Peter V.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 106, Issue 447
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.49710644704

K elvin– H elmholtz waves in extratropical cyclones passing over mountain ranges
journal, February 2016

  • Medina, Socorro; Houze, Robert A.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 142, Issue 696
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.2734

Vertical Structures of Precipitation in Cyclones Crossing the Oregon Cascades
journal, October 2007

  • Medina, Socorro; Sukovich, Ellen; Houze, Robert A.
  • Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 135, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1175/MWR3470.1

The climatology of small‐scale orographic precipitation over the Olympic Mountains: Patterns and processes
journal, April 2008

  • Minder, Justin R.; Durran, Dale R.; Roe, Gerard H.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 134, Issue 633
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.258

Mesoscale Controls on the Mountainside Snow Line
journal, September 2011

  • Minder, Justin R.; Durran, Dale R.; Roe, Gerard H.
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 68, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-10-05006.1

The Airborne Snow Observatory: Fusion of scanning lidar, imaging spectrometer, and physically-based modeling for mapping snow water equivalent and snow albedo
journal, October 2016

  • Painter, Thomas H.; Berisford, Daniel F.; Boardman, Joseph W.
  • Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 184
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2016.06.018

High-Resolution Vertical Profiles of X-Band Polarimetric Radar Observables during Snowfall in the Swiss Alps
journal, February 2013

  • Schneebeli, Marc; Dawes, Nicholas; Lehning, Michael
  • Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 52, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-12-015.1

On the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)
journal, January 1996

  • Simpson, J.; Kummerow, C.; Tao, W. -K.
  • Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, Vol. 60, Issue 1-3
  • DOI: 10.1007/BF01029783

A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 3
text, January 2008

  • Skamarock, William; Klemp, Joseph; Dudhia, Jimy
  • UCAR/NCAR
  • DOI: 10.5065/D68S4MVH

Where are the most Intense Thunderstorms on Earth?
journal, August 2006

  • Zipser, E. J.; Cecil, Daniel J.; Liu, Chuntao
  • Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 87, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-87-8-1057
    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's scientific achievements and societal contributions: reviewing four years of advanced rain and snow observations
    journal, November 2018

    • Skofronick‐Jackson, Gail; Kirschbaum, Dalia; Petersen, Walter
    • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue S1
    • DOI: 10.1002/qj.3313

    Towards variational retrieval of warm rain from passive microwave observations
    journal, January 2018

    • Duncan, David Ian; Kummerow, Christian D.; Dolan, Brenda
    • Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 11, Issue 7
    • DOI: 10.5194/amt-11-4389-2018

    The importance of particle size distribution and internal structure for triple-frequency radar retrievals of the morphology of snow
    journal, January 2019

    • Mason, Shannon L.; Hogan, Robin J.; Westbrook, Christopher D.
    • Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 12, Issue 9
    • DOI: 10.5194/amt-12-4993-2019

    Retrieval of snowflake microphysical properties from multifrequency radar observations
    journal, January 2018

    • Leinonen, Jussi; Lebsock, Matthew D.; Tanelli, Simone
    • Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 11, Issue 10
    • DOI: 10.5194/amt-11-5471-2018

    Potential of Sentinel-1 Surface Soil Moisture Product for Detecting Heavy Rainfall in the South of France
    journal, February 2019

    • Bazzi, Hassan; Baghdadi, Nicolas; El Hajj, Mohammad
    • Sensors, Vol. 19, Issue 4
    • DOI: 10.3390/s19040802

    The Microphysics of Stratiform Precipitation During OLYMPEX: Compatibility Between Triple‐Frequency Radar and Airborne In Situ Observations
    journal, August 2019

    • Tridon, Frédéric; Battaglia, Alessandro; Chase, Randy J.
    • Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
    • DOI: 10.1029/2018jd029858

    The Impact of the Radar-Sampling Volume on Multiwavelength Spaceborne Radar Measurements Using Airborne Radar Observations
    journal, September 2019

    • Pfitzenmaier, Lukas; Battaglia, Alessandro; Kollias, Pavlos
    • Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 19
    • DOI: 10.3390/rs11192263

    Precipitation characteristics and associated weather conditions on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies during March–April 2015
    journal, January 2018

    • Thériault, Julie M.; Hung, Ida; Vaquer, Paul
    • Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 22, Issue 8
    • DOI: 10.5194/hess-22-4491-2018

    Terrain‐Enhanced Precipitation Processes Above the Melting Layer: Results From OLYMPEX
    journal, November 2018

    • McMurdie, L. A.; Rowe, A. K.; Houze, R. A.
    • Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 123, Issue 21
    • DOI: 10.1029/2018jd029161

    Validation of the Version 05 Level 2 precipitation products from the GPM Core Observatory and constellation satellite sensors
    journal, December 2017

    • Kidd, Christopher; Tan, Jackson; Kirstetter, Pierre‐Emmanuel
    • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue S1
    • DOI: 10.1002/qj.3175
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: