Tarmachan Automatic Weather Station (National Trust for Scotland/University of Dundee)

• Main Authors: Black, Andrew, Watson, Dan
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Arctic; Dundee; Tay; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10797155

Mountain weather station on the south-facing slopes of Meall nan Tarmachan on the National Trust for Scotland's National Nature Reserve (NNR). The site is at 710 m above sea level, overlooking Loch Tay. Snowcover has historically been an important part of the climate of the site, but in recent years has become increasingly transient. The NNR is the most important in Scotland for its arctic alpine flora, we are noticing changes in species distribution and to habitats indicative of the effects of climate change. Hence the establishment of this weather station to allow changes in climate at altitude to be monitored. This site installed May 2018 ~20 m beyond the headwall of a disused quarry. Winds may cause undercatch of rainfall (though the gauge is of an aerodynamic design) and more particularly snow. Recorded wind speeds may underestimate winds generally around the mountain owing to effects of the quarry wall. An earlier site was operated nearby in the early 2000s but sadly data have been lost. Data are recorded on a Campbell Scientific CR1000 data logger, running with 10 s scan rate and 15 min logging interval. Snow depths may be inferred by examining TCDT (temperature-corrected depth to target) data - obtained from a SR50A sensor on an arm c. 2.3 m above ground. These are available only for limited periods in 2019 and again winter 2021/22, and are now discontinued. However, snow cover can be inferred by examining the differential between air temperature and ground temperature: the ground sensor is insulated when snow covers the ground. Sensor details: see metdata Real-time data are displayed graphically at https://hydro-data.dundee.ac.uk/tarmachan (no downloads)