BaSE_CaMP_II: Boundary Structure Experiments with Central Minnesota Profiling II

Summary

In the fall of 2012, Saint Cloud State University was visited by a Mobile Integrated Sounding System (MISS) provided by NCAR’s Earth Observing Laboratory. The deployment was termed Boundary Structure Experiments with Central Minnesota Profiling (BaSE CaMP). Within one week, the MISS was deployed to five different locations, was visited by forty-nine students, and collected datasets of features including a cold pool breakup, a subsidence inversion, a cold frontal passage, and a small graupel event. The first of these cases has been a subject of research by the PI and two students which was presented as a poster at the 2014 AMS Mountain Meteorology conference. Due to the success of BaSE CaMP I, a larger follow-up project for the MISS was requested, and BaSE CaMP II was funded for the Fall of 2014.

The method by which this second project was expanded was to add an additional three weeks of operations at a fixed-site, in addition to another week of mobile operations. Since the MISS was not moved after the first week, NCAR personnel were only required to remain in Saint Cloud for a similar amount of time as in the first project. The mobile phase of the project was closely modeled on the original BaSE CaMP, though some variations were required based on site availability. After this, the MISS would always be located on property occupied by the MN Highway Safety Research Center (MHSRC), which is part of SCSU. This report summarizes the results of BaSE CaMP II and discusses some of the future value of these observations.