Doppler wind LiDAR observations and temperature structure evolution in a deep open-pit copper mine

The University of Utah doppler wind LiDAR was deployed in the 1200-m-deep open-pit Bingham Canyon Copper Mine during the winter seasons of 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The differing evolution of the temperature structure within the mine basin and in the adjacent Salt Lake Valley basin were studied during the two winters. In addition to several automatic weather stations distributed around the mine topography, pseudo-vertical temperature and humidity profiles were collected using inexpensive automatic dataloggers in a transect through the mine and valley basins. This presentation will introduce the LiDAR observations and scanning strategies in the mine and illustrate the different circulation and wave patterns within and above the mine basin. The paper will focus on the relationship between the wind patterns and the temperature structure evolution, using case study examples from the winter datasets.