The Monitoring Network of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics PAUL JOE, 1 BILL SCOTT, 1 CHRIS DOYLE, 1 GEORGE ISAAC, 1 ISMAIL GULTEPE, 1 DOUGLAS FORSYTH, 2 STEWART COBER, 1 EDWIN CAMPOS, 3 IVAN HECKMAN, 1 NORMAN DONALDSON, 1 DAVID HUDAK, 1 ROY RASMUSSEN, 4 PAUL KUCERA, 4 RON STEWART, 5 JULIE M. THE ´ RIAULT, 6 TERESA FISICO, 5 KRISTEN L. RASMUSSEN, 8 HANNAH CARMICHAEL, 7 ALEX LAPLANTE, 7 MONIKA BAILEY, 1 and FAISAL BOUDALA 1 Abstract—An innovative monitoring network was imple- mented to support the operational and science programs for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. It consisted of in situ weather stations on custom-designed platforms. The sensors included an HMP45C for temperature, humidity and pressure, a tipping bucket rain gauge, an acoustic snow depth sensor, a Pluvio 1 precipitation gauge and an anemometer placed at gauge height and at 10 m height. Modifications to commercial automated precipitation gau- ges were necessary for the heavy snowfall conditions. Advanced or emerging technologies were deployed to support scientific and nowcasting studies into precipitation intensity, typing, visibility and wind. The sensors included an FD12P visibility and precipi- tation sensor, a precipitation occurrence sensing system (POSS) present weather sensor, a Hotplate precipitation sensor and a Par- sivel disdrometer. Data were collected at 1 min sampling intervals. A Doppler weather radar was deployed in a valley location and provided critical detailed low-level data. An X-band dual-polarized radar was deployed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor Vancouver and Cypress Mountain. Three remote sensing stations for vertical profiling were estab- lished. At the base of Whistler Mountain, a micro-rain radar, a 22-channel radiometer, a ceilometer, a Parsivel and a POSS were installed. At the base of Cypress Mountain, a micro-rain radar, a ceilometer, a low cost rain sensor (LCR by ATTEX) and a POSS were installed. At Squamish, a wind profiler and a POSS were installed. Weather sensors were mounted on the Whistler Village Gondola and on the Peak to Peak gondola. Sites were established along the Whistler Mountain slope and at other key locations. The combination of sites and instruments formed a comprehensive network to provide observations appropriate for nowcasting in winter complex terrain and investigate precipitation, visibility and wind processes. The contribution provides a detailed description of the network, their sensors, the innovations and some examples. 1. Introduction Environment Canada was responsible for provid- ing weather services support for both the safety and security of the Canadian public and their guests, as well as providing weather services to the Vancouver Olympic Committee for planning and for fair and safe competitions. These requirements posed considerable challenges, as forecasting and nowcasting in winter in the complex terrain in a coastal environment where the Olympic games were conducted had not been done before to the accuracy and precision required (DOYLE et al., 2010;JOE et al., 2010;ISAAC et al., 2012a). Routine public forecasts (12–24 h lead time) had also never been issued nor observations made for the several of the Olympic venues. One venue (Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley) was newly developed both for the Olympics and as a permanent legacy recreational facility for the public. Therefore, the public forecast program of Environment Canada needed to be modified, and a specific nowcasting program needed to be developed. As many of the requirements required research, innovation and development, an internal science program was formulated to support both of these aspects. The goals of the science component included providing enhanced monitoring, enhanced modeling, enhanced nowcast and forecast systems, verification and validation. It also focused on the science and understanding of precipitation intensity, type, visi- bility and wind. 1 Environment Canada, 4905 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada. E-mail: paul.joe@ec.gc.ca 2 National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, Norman, USA. 3 Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, USA. 4 National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA. 5 University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. 6 University of Que´bec a` Montre´al, Montreal, QC, Canada. 7 McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 8 University of Washington, Seattle, Canada. Pure Appl. Geophys. 171 (2014), 25–58 Ó 2012 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada DOI 10.1007/s00024-012-0588-z Pure and Applied Geophysics