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Bosque del Apache Wilderness Area |
Visibility Monitoring Site
Name
IMPROVE:
BOAP1
Region
Mexican Highlands
Terrain
Terrain is shown in the 2 km terrain
map and the 20 km terrain
map.
The Bosque del Apache Wilderness Area is located on the northern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert of the Mexican Highlands region, in central New Mexico. It straddles the Rio Grande Valley
and ranges in elevation from approximately 1,400 to 1,900 m (4,500 to 6,300
ft). It is sheltered to the west by the Magdalena Mountains. To the east,
except for isolated low mountains (Pascual Mountains) east of the Rio
Grande, terrain is relatively flat across the Jornada del Muerto, some 30 to
40 miles wide. The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge comprises the
Rio Grande floodplain in this area.
The IMPROVE monitoring site representing the Bosque del Apache is BOAP1, at
the northern boundary near the Rio Grande, at an elevation of 1,383 m (4,536
ft).
Representativeness
Given the narrow range of elevations in the Bosque del Apache, the BOAP1
IMPROVE should be very representative of aerosol concentration and
composition within the class I area.
Nearby Meteorological Data Stations
Nearby meteorological monitoring network stations are shown in the data
network map.
Locations and data from nearby RAWS monitoring sites can also be accessed at
the RAWS station US Climate
Archive website. The
Bosque del
Apache COOP site and
Socorro New
Mexico site should provide representative climate data, excluding wind
data. There are no network stations with wind data within Wilderness
boundaries. Data from the
Truth or
Consequences Municipal Airport, 50 miles south along the Rio
Grande should be reasonably representative. Meteorological data from various
New Mexico sites is also available from the
New Mexico Air
Quality Bureau Meteorological Data site.
The Bosque del Apache is about 80 to 90 miles south of the Albuquerque RAOB
site along the Rio Grande, with no major intervening terrain. Twice daily
soundings from Albuquerque should be representative of upper air structure
regionally and within the Bosque del Apache.
Wind Patterns
Albuquerque wind roses show regional wind patterns. Most of the year but
especially in winter there is a strong northerly component that varies
according to the position of the jet stream. During summer the jet stream
migrates further north than usual, so that synoptic westerly winds aloft are
weaker and more southerly winds dominate, coinciding with the
North American
Monsoon. During this period moisture bearing winds move into the
region from the southwest at the surface, from the Gulf of California, and
aloft from the southeast, from the Gulf of Mexico. Southerly winds may also
transport airborne particulate material into the Wilderness from sources and
source regions to the south and southeast, including Mexican sources
Potential local transport routes into the Bosque del Apache Wilderness
include southerly flow via the Rio Grande valley from source regions to the
south, and northerly flow from the Albuquerque urban area 80 to 90 miles to
the north. Possible more distant source regions include Mexico and Gulf
Coast areas also to the south with transport into the Wilderness via upward
mixing in source regions and upper level transport to contribute to larger
scale regional haze.
Inversions/Trapping
Wang and Angell,
1999 describe two regions of the U.S. with high frequencies of regional
stagnation events, in the southwest and south-central U.S. The central New
Mexico region that includes the Bosque del Apache is midway between these
two regions and according to long term data should typically have one to two
stagnation episodes per month from May to October, where an air stagnation
episode is defined as stagnation conditions that persist for 4 days or
longer. During this period, pressure and temperature gradients in the region
are weakest, and wind circulations weakest. Subsidence inversions during
these conditions may trap regional haze with buildup over periods of several
days.
Terrain in the area is non-confining, and local terrain-induced diurnal
trapping inversions are unlikely.
Climatological Statistics
Albuquerque
Normal Means and Extremes are representative of regional climatology at
elevations typical of the Bosque del Apache. Climate data nearer to the
Wilderness is summarized at the
Socorro New
Mexico site
Meteorological Indicators for Local Sources
Keywords
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Last updated 15 November 2004
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