OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A comprehensive look at Olympic Peninsula weather will be shared when preliminary results of a weather mapping project are presented at a public forum at 7 p.m today.
Lessons learned from the Olympic Mountain Experiment, known as OLYMPEX, will be explained by Angela Rowe, a University of Washington researcher, at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Road in Port Angeles.
Entry to the presentation will be free.
A two-minute preview video is available online at www.tinyurl.com/PDN-OLYMPEX.
OLYMPEX is a NASA and University of Washington project to calibrate new weather satellites by measuring precipitation across the Olympic Peninsula on the ground and in the air — detailing the actual weather behavior as storms come ashore then hit the Olympic Mountains.
The data collected here can be compared to what the satellites measure, allowing scientists and engineers to calibrate their systems.
Peninsula stats
The Peninsula typically receives more than eight feet of rain on the coast, up to about 15 feet of snow in the mountains and has reliable patterns of rainfall.
Additionally, the landscape helped scientists model several different terrain and climate models, as the elevation rises from sea level to a peak of 7,980 feet in only 30 miles, offering scientists a variety of landforms for weather modeling.
OLYMPEX flew three aircraft through storms — NASA’s customized DC-8 flying science laboratory, NASA’s Lockheed ER-2 high altitude aircraft and a Cessna Citation II Research Aircraft owned by the University of North Dakota — and set up ground radar systems and mobile weather stations deep in the Olympic Mountains to gain a full picture of how storms behave as they arrive on shore and when they meet the mountains.
Some of the radar systems and mobile weather stations had to be hiked in or carried in by mule train.
The project began Nov. 2, flights over the Olympic Peninsula ended Dec. 18 and the ground-based radar made its last scan Jan. 15.
The weather stations, radar and aircraft collected detailed atmospheric data to be assembled in a three-dimensional picture from the ocean and across the Olympic Mountains.
Volunteers in the region also contributed rainfall data from backyard rain gauges.
OLYMPEX also worked closely with the Quinault Nation, Environment Canada, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
