What is AWAKEN?
Welcome to the field campaign that will be the birth of my dissertation research,
the American WAKE ExperimeNt (AWAKEN)! Simply put, many researchers from atmospheric sciences and engineering fields
will study the meteorological impacts of wind farms in the
Southern Great Plains. Personally, I will be diving into
the effects these farms may (or may not) have on the boundary layer, the lowest few kilometers of the atmosphere.
What will the boundary layer's evolution throughout the day look like? Does the timing
in the day-to-evening transition change? Is there
variation in convection-related patterns from before the farms were built compared to after?
I won't go too
deeply into detail yet (let's keep some of it a surprise),
but know there lots of neat plans underway for this 2022 fall project.
Here's a few pictures from site visits at the various locations near Lamont, Oklahoma we plan to deploy :D