A New Meteorological Research Facility in the Shenandoah National Park

The Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in Virginia includes 750 square kilometers of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southern Appalachians. The park rises above the Virginia Piedmont to its east and the Shenandoah Valley to its west. The Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia has recently established a meteorological research facility on a mountain ridge at Pinnacles (1037-m elevation) in the north-central section of SNP (38° 37'N, 78°21'W). A 15-m walk-up tower is equipped with a suite of meteorological instruments including temperature, humidity, wind, and radiation sensors, sonic anemometers, and gas analyzers for the measurement of water and carbon dioxide concentration and fluxes. A portable eye-safe UV aerosol lidar is housed in a shed adjacent to the tower and continuously monitors boundary layer heights and aerosol loading of the atmosphere. The facility will be used for both research and educational purposes. Measurements are expected to start in May 2008 and initial analyses and interpretation of the measurements will be presented at the conference.