New Mobile Weather Observing System (CLAMPS) from NOAA

Direct link to September 9th post from NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

While perusing Facebook today I came across an interesting post from NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research about a new mobile fire weather system known is the Collaborative Lower Atmospheric Mobile Profiling System (aka CLAMPS) that is currently being tested. If you follow the link in the Facebook post about CLAMPS that I embedded above (or go here to access the referenced document) you will see a short document about the development of this new mobile unit. I am always intrigued by any systems that will help improved fire weather forecasting and observations before, during and after wildfires. I hope that you take a little time to go and read this short document. According to this document about CLAMPS:

CLAMPS provides a novel combination of observations from multiple instruments designed to simultaneously observe the surface and lower atmosphere—specifically the boundary layer, where the surface interacts with it—and can be deployed quickly to wildfire-prone regions in the U.S. The data it collects will be used to improve our understanding of how changing conditions in the atmosphere influence fire weather in these areas, and how fires influence the atmosphere.”

The CLAMPS system is equipped with an array of instruments that were selected by experts at the participating labs. A primary aim is collecting measurements along a vertical profile from the surface upward into the atmosphere. For some of these instruments, CLAMPS utilizes GSL’s Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation (TROPoe) software to retrieve the desired profiles from the observed data. ...

The instruments, several of which are part of ARL’s innovative collapsible, mobile observing tower, installed in CLAMPS include:

• Doppler lidar wind profiler, providing vertical profiles of wind speed and direction, as well as profiles of turbulent mixing
• Infrared spectrometer, providing vertical profiles of temperature and humidity from the surface to 3km, and cloud properties
• Ceilometer, measuring the height of aerosols, smoke, and cloud layers
• Surface radiometers, measuring downward shortwave and longwave radiation, which help observe the impacts of clouds, smoke, and aerosols on the surface radiation budget
• Sonic anemometers and moisture probes, which measure turbulent fluxes of heat, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and momentum
• Surface meteorology sensors, which measure near-surface temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, precipitation amount, and wind speed and direction
• Soil moisture probes, which measure soil moisture at different depths, allowing for a better understanding of the relationship between atmospheric conditions and the evolution of soil properties
• Trace gas and aerosol detectors, measuring concentrations in the air just above the top of the trailer of particulate matter (below 2.5 microns in size), carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, thereby providing key measures of unhealthy air quality"

Obtained on September 15, 2025 from https://gsl.noaa.gov/news/new-mobile-noaa-research-fire-weather-observing-facility-undergoes-testing-in-colorado 

I look forward to learning more about CLAMPS in the future, according to the referenced document about CLAMPS, one CLAMPS system is currently deployed in Colorado and a second will be available in 2026.