The TEAMx‑PC22 Alpine field campaign – Objectives, instrumentation, and observed phenomena

Abstract

The multi‑scale transport and exchange processes in the atmosphere over mountains—programme and experiment (TEAMx) wants to advance the understanding of transport and exchange processes over mountainous terrain as well as to collect unique multi‑scale datasets that can be used, e.g., for process studies, model development and model evaluation. The TEAMx Observational Campaign (TOC) is planned to take place between 2024 and 2025. In summer 2022 a TEAMx pre‑campaign (TEAMx‑PC22) was conducted in the Inn Valley and one of its tributaries, the Weer Valley, to test the suitability and required logistics of measurement sites, to evaluate their value for the main campaign, and to test new observation techniques in complex terrain. Scientifically, this campaign focused on resolving the mountain boundary layer and valley wind systems on multiple scales. Through the combined effort of six institutions the pre‑campaign can be deemed successful. A detailed description of the setup at each sub‑target area is given. Due to the spatial distribution of instruments and their spatio-temporal resolution, atmospheric processes and phenomena like valley winds have been investigated at different locations and on different scales. Furthermore, scale interactions were detected and are discussed in detail in example cases. Additionally, observational gaps were determined which should be closed for the TOC. Data of the pre‑campaign are publicly available online and can be used for process studies, demonstrating the utility of new observation methods, model verification, and for data assimilation.