SLTEST Site Location

The SLTEST facility is located on the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near the southern end of the Great Salt Lake Desert of western Utah. This desert, previously the floor of Lake Bonneville, is characterized by an extremely flat playa composed of a mud/clay/salt mixture.

During the late Spring, the naturally high water table recedes, leaving  a relatively stable and essentially dust free surface about 1m thick. Surface  vegetation, in the form of sparse grass clusters, can sometimes be seen about  a mile north (upstream) of the measurement site. Local variations in the desert surface typically range between 1 mm and 3 mm.

For the study of the atmospheric surface layer under near-neutral conditions,  measurements are conducted during the time period before and after sunset.  Under this condition the winds are typically out of the north. Given the north-south orientation of the Great Salt Lake Desert, boundary layer development occurs over a more than 110 km fetch of playa. Over this distance, a maximum surface variation of about 6m occurs about 23 km upstream and east of the measurement site. Typical elevation variations on the playa are less than 1m per kilometer
 

     The following is a map to the site.

Site Map
Site Photo
Site Schematic

 

   Copyright© 2001,    Last Updated 08/15/01