11th Symposium on Education

P1.43

The Mount Washington Observatory: Home Of The Worlds Worst Weather

Charlie Lopresti, Mount Washington Observatory, North Conway, NH

The Mount Washington Observatory is a private non-profit scientific and educational institution whose purpose is to maintain a permanently staffed Observatory atop Mount Washington. The mountain presents the most severe combination of wind and cold temperatures found anywhere on earth. For this reason, in combination with holding the world record wind of 231mph, Mount Washington has been named "Home Of The Worlds Worst Weather." The mountain's high winds can be attributed to two major factors. It lies in the path of three major storm tracks, and experiences increased wind velocities over the summit cone due to the Bernoulli effect. The combination of severe weather conditions, a mountain top location, and a permanently staffed facility attracts many from the research community. Some current projects include: AIRMAP (Atmospheric Investigation, Regional Modeling, Analysis and Prediction.), which is an air quality study funded by NOAA and run by UNH, ASOS(Automatic Surface Observing System) testing, Cosmo (measuring cosmic radiation), Drizzle ( FAA project testing a visibility meter, radiometer, and ceilometer), Groundwinds, (UNH, Mount Washington Observatory, and Michigan Aerospace testing of LIDAR system), Lotusan (CRELL paint experiments), Multicylinders(Funded by FAA and now run by Plymouth State College testing ice accumulations), and Geonor Snow gauge and hot plate experiments(run by NCAR).

Poster Session 1, University Outreach Activities and K-12 Educational Initatives
Sunday, 13 January 2002, 4:00 PM-4:00 PM

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