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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318610
Title: In-situ measurement of dust devil activity at La Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, USA

Author
item LORENZ, RALPH - Johns Hopkins University
item NEAKRASE, LYNN - New Mexico State University
item ANDERSON, JOHN - New Mexico State University

Submitted to: Aeolian Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2015
Publication Date: 12/15/2015
Citation: Lorenz, R., Neakrase, L.D., Anderson, J.P. 2015. In-situ measurement of dust devil activity at La Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, USA. Aeolian Research. 19:183-194.

Interpretive Summary: Observations of dust devil vortices were made in the summer of 2013 using a linear array of 10 miniature pressure- and sunlight- logging stations at the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range in the southwestern USA. These data provide a count of vortex and dust-devil activity at this site. The simultaneous spatially-distributed measurements provide the horizontal pressure structure of several dust devil encounters. These data fit well with an analytic model, giving independent measures of vortex size and intensity.

Technical Abstract: We document observations of dust devil vortices using a linear array of 10 miniature pressure- and sunlight-logging stations in summer 2013 at La Jornada Experimental Range in the southwestern USA. These data provide a census of vortex and dust-devil activity at this site. The simultaneous spatially-disturbed measurements resolve the horizontal pressure structure of several dust devil encounters, and the data can be fit well with an analytic model, giving independent measure of vortex size and intensity.