Current Projects

Air Quality and Climatology

Climate Change and Air Pollutant Impacts to New England's Rare Alpine Zone
Observatory researchers, in collaboration with the Appalachian Mountain Club and Plymouth State University, are assessing climate and air pollutant trends and their influence on New England's high-elevation alpine ecosystems. Made possible by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this work builds on the Observatory's unique hourly climate record and the deployment of the Mount Washington Regional Mesonet, as well as the AMC's long-term air quality and alpine ecosystem monitoring.

Icing

Assessing Icing Conditions in the High Elevations of the Northeast
Predicting the severity of icing conditions for aviation interests has been a challenge for decades, and increased interest in wind power in the Northeast brings a new motivation to improve our understanding of how icing conditions occur and to develop new techniques to forecast icing. A three year project, in collaboration with the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, NASA Glenn Research Center, Plymouth State University, and NASA Langley, aims to observe and improve predictions of icing conditions in the Northeast.

Instrument Siting and Operation

Mount Washington Regional Mesonet
Since early in its history the Observatory has operated and maintained equipment for research, testing and environmental monitoring purposes at its facility on the summit and since the late 1990s at a site in Bartlett, N.H. Since the mid-2000s, the Observatory has been developing and deploying a wide network of remote sites that monitor environmental data. This new "Mesonet" includes a vertical transect of the atmostphere at 1,000-foot intervals along the Mt. Washington Auto Road and an assortment of high elevation sites at ski area summits, Appalachian Mountain Club huts and other facilities.

Global Positioning System Integrated Precipitable Water Vapor Instrument
A Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna in a fixed position measures the delay in the reception of signals from a network of GPS satellites in orbit. The analysis of the time delay in the reception of the signals from space can determine the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. This surface-based instrument is located in Bartlett, N.H. and delivers data into the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory's Ground-Based GPS Meteorology Network.

Intern Research

Part of the experience of being a Mount Washington Observatory intern is learning more about the weather and climate of the White Mountains by performing original scientific research. The goal of intern research is to discover something new that will advance our understanding of the weather and climate of the White Mountains and/or develop a new forecasting tool for Observatory scientists. Interns have access to the summit's climate record and our Mesonet data. They practice fundamental research skills and learn new statistical functions and computer programming languages. Current intern research projects are listed on the intern page.