Reference measurements for WMO/CIMO SPICE and on-going projects at the Formigal-Sarrios field site

Abstract

A WMO-SPICE (Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment) site has been set up by AEMET (Spanish State Meteorological Agency) at Formigal-Sarrios in the Pyrenees range in 2013. The field site is located at 1800 m asl in a flat area in a subalpine environment with no vegetation, except for small amounts of grass. A DFIR (Double Fence Intercomparison Reference) was installed in 2014. Thanks to this infrastructure, unique in Spain and in the Pyrenees range, AEMET can participate in international solid precipitation intercomparisons. This experimental site represents the efforts of AEMET to contribute to improve the accuracy of the measurement of solid precipitation and to analyze the performance of observation devices in extreme conditions such as mountainous environments. The site will be also used as a long-term reference to monitor the changes in precipitation and to test and to compare new instruments in close collaboration with national and international partners. The site is at present equipped with numerous automatic devices measuring snow depth, snow water equivalent, total precipitation, air temperature, wind, air pressure, visibility, type of precipitation and radiation. This work gives an overview of the on-going projects and some preliminary results of interest for WMO-SPICE as well as for national interests such as hydrology, climatology and nowcasting.