How mountain meteorology profitted from field experiments: A condensed view from seven decades of research

Physics has experiments as one foundation of its insights and progress. Atmospheric physics has field experiments (or campaigns) instead. For the subdiscipline of mountain meteorology we undertake a quick march through a number of smaller and larger campaigns between 1937 and 2006 at the mountain ranges of the 'Riesengebirge', the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas and the Sierra Nevada.

Prominent sample results are used to infer the subtle interplay of pre-conceived hypotheses and available technology, as well as cooperations between academia and weather services from a single or several countries. A focus is placed on the consolidated findings from the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) and its field campaign in 1999.

A brief look ahead to the Convection and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS), a field campaign planned for summer 2007 in the Black Forest region, concludes the presentation together with some thoughts about the future rôle of field experiments in mountain meteorology.