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Salt
Creek Wilderness Area
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Visibility Monitoring Site
Name
IMPROVE:
SACR1
Region
Southern Great Plains
Terrain
Terrain is shown in the 2 km terrain
map and the 20 km terrain
map.
The Salt Creek Wilderness occupies 8,500 wetland acres on the west bank of
the Pecos River in southeast New Mexico. It is on the northern edge of the
Chihuahuan Desert Physiographic Region. Terrain is relatively flat, with
elevations between 1,075 and 1,120 m (3,525 and 3,675 ft).
The IMPROVE monitoring site representing the Salt Creek Wilderness is SACR1,
located about 10 km (6 mi) south of the Wilderness at an elevation of 1,077 m
(3,533 ft).
Representativeness
The SACR1 IMPROVE should be very representative of aerosol concentration and
composition in the Salt Creek Wilderness since it is at the same elevation
with no intervening terrain.
Nearby Population/Industrial Centers and Local Sources
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 nearest
network station with complete meteorology monitoring is the
8 Mile Draw New
Mexico RAWS site, located < 10 km to the northwest, elevation 1,127 m.
The El Paso NWS
station also has long-term regional climate information.
For information on regional vertical structure, twice-daily upper air
sounding data are collected at the NWS upper air site at Santa Teresa, New
Mexico, approximately 280 km (170 mi) southwest. Vertical temperature profile data from
Santa Teresa are probably the best routinely collected and long-term data
representative of conditions in the Salt Creek Wilderness Area.
Wind Patterns
El Paso wind roses show regional wind patterns, which are consistent with
wind data from the
8 Mile Draw New
Mexico RAWS site. Most of the year but especially in winter there
is a 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 southeasterly 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 area from sources and
source regions to the south and southeast, including Mexican sources.
Terrain is relatively flat, so there should be little diurnal upslope/downslope
flow except for what may exist within the very broad Pecos River valley.
Potential local transport routes into the Salt Creek Wilderness Area include
southeasterly flow from northern Mexico and Gulf Coast areas, especially in
the spring and summer. Strong springtime winds may bring dust from nearby
desert areas.
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 south central
New Mexico region that includes the Salt Creek Wilderness Area is near the
northern reaches of the south-central U.S. region of high stagnation
frequency, 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.
Climatological Statistics
Albuquerque
Normals Means and Extremes, and
El Paso NWS
station data, are representative of regional climatology at Salt Creek
Wilderness elevations. Climate data nearer to the Wilderness is available
from the 8 Mile
Draw New Mexico RAWS site.
Meteorological Indicators for Local Sources
Keywords
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updated 15 November 2004
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