NCAR

Steve is working East Coast hours, so yesterday after work we went to the Visitor Center at NCAR Mesa Lab, headquarters for the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research.

NCAR is a federally funded research center managed by a nonprofit consortium of 120+ universities in North America. NCAR provides the academic scientific community with state-of-the art facilities and technologies for collecting, interpreting, and using observation data at scale, to address global challenges with atmosphere, weather, and climate.

NCAR Mesa Lab sits on Table Mesa at the foot of the Boulder Flatirons. We didn’t see anything until after we had driven up the long, winding road to the top of the mesa. There it was: an intriguing collection of geometric buildings designed by the iconic Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei.

The Visitor Center (free and open to the public) was a science museum with excellent interactive exhibits. There was also an exhibit about I. M. Pei’s design - it was inspired by Stonehenge and the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. After exploring the Visitor Center, we hiked the Weather Trail behind the building, with interpretive signs about Boulder’s weather and climate. We even experienced a brief afternoon rain shower and a mini-dust devil while on the trail - it was a multi-sensory experience!

NCAR North Tower

Tornado chamber

Climate model

Dropsondes and parachutes - dropped from airplanes flying through hurricanes

These devices gather and transmit measurements of temperature, wind, air pressure, and humidity.

I. M. Pei's 1:200 scale model of Mesa Lab site

Looking south from Weather Trail

Looking north from Weather Trail

Fun facts:

• In 1976, NCAR became Cray Research’s first official customer when they purchased the Cray-1 supercomputer for $8.8 million. It weighed 5.5 tons! (The Cray-1 was recently moved from Boulder to Cheyenne, Wyoming.)

• NCAR played an important role in the development of Lidar technology, which uses lasers to generate high-resolution maps.

• NCAR does not issue public weather forecasts (that’s done by NOAA’s National Weather Service); they do develop increasingly sophisticated models used for forecasting, in collaboration with NOAA and others.

• NCAR operates two research aircraft that are flying laboratories for collecting data for meteorologic research projects.

• Mesa Lab was I. M. Pei’s first work to receive major recognition. He later designed the Louvre pyramid in Paris, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and much more. Click HERE to see gorgeous photos of Mesa Lab.