| Site Name
IMPROVE:
GUMO1 (Guadalupe Mountains NP)
Region
Mexican
Highlands
Terrain
Terrain is shown in the 2 km terrain
map and the 20 km terrain
map.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
occupies 46,435 acres at the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountains in
southeast New Mexico and is adjacent to the
Guadalupe Mountains National Park of
west Texas. The National Park area consists essentially of a southwest to
northeast oriented mountain range, with elevations ranging from about 1,100 m
(3,600 ft) at the northeastern end to near 1,900 m (~6,200 ft) at the crest
at the southwestern end. (Also, see Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the
Texas state assessment.)
The IMPROVE monitoring site representing Carlsbad Caverns National Park is
GUMO1 (Guadalupe Mountains), located about 25 km (15 mi) southwest in
mountainous terrain near the crest of the Delaware Mountain Range at an
elevation of 1,674 m (5,492 ft). It has good exposure to regional scale
winds and may be influenced by wind blown dust from the dry lake (bare
ground) in western Texas, as well as from the Mexican dry/barren region to
the southwest. Near the monitoring site ground cover is desert vegetation
(shrub land and grassland, etc).
Representativeness
Aerosol data collected at the GUMO1 IMPROVE site should be very
representative of aerosol characteristics within Carlsbad Caverns NP,
especially at higher elevations.
Nearby Population/Industrial Centers
Also, see Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the Texas state assessment.
Nearby Data Stations
This map
shows the location of the nearest air quality and meteorological monitoring
sites. The
Batdraw New Mexico RAWS site and the
Carlsbad Caverns
COOP site are both located within Park boundaries. The
Guadalupe Mountain RAWS site (elevation 7,755 ft) is also a good data
source.
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, located about 173 km (108 mi) to the west. Vertical temperature
profile data from Santa Teresa are probably the best routinely collected and
long-term data representative of conditions at Carlsbad Caverns National
Park.
Wind Patterns
The monitoring site is well exposed to prevailing synoptic wind patterns,
predominantly west to northwesterly in the winter and east to southeasterly
in the summer. To illustrate wind patterns of the area,
Guadalupe
Mountain RAWS site has wind records from July 1985 to present.
Guadalupe
Mountain Wind Roses show average wind patterns for January 1986 to January
2004. Wind roses show NW-SE flow on the average. El Paso wind roses also
show regional wind patterns. Very high winds are common in the early spring
and can be high during stormy weather year round.
Guadalupe Peak Texas RAWS wind rose
The annual average wind pattern in Guadalupe Mountain Peak
Potential local transport routes into the Carlsbad Caverns NP 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
The GUMO1 monitoring site is on the top of a mountain and terrain around the
monitoring site is not confining. Strong local trapping inversions are not
likely. North-westerly flow in the winter time can be affected by the higher
mountains of the Guadalupe Mountain range which is nearly 1 km higher than
the IMPROVE station. Local inversion/trapping is not likely to occur due to
year-round high winds. Stagnation and inversion/subsidence conditions, if
and when they occur, are more likely associated with synoptic high-pressure
systems. Wang and
Angell, 1999 describe two regions of the U.S. with high frequencies of
such regional stagnation events, in the southwest and south-central U.S. The
south central New Mexico region that includes the Carlsbad Caverns National
Park is well within the south-central U.S. region of high stagnation
frequency, and according to long term data should typically have close 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.
Meteorological Statistics
Meteorological/climatological data summaries are available from the
Batdraw New
Mexico RAWS site and the
Guadalupe
Mountain RAWS site. Long-term climate data is also available at the
El Paso NWS site.
Meteorological Indicators
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