Department of Atmospheric Physics

On the meteorological observatories in Stará Lesná and Skalnaté Pleso there are the following measurements of solar and terrestrial radiation performed:

EMEP air quality monitoring station Stará Lesná is situated in foothill of the High Tatra Mts. (49°09´N, 20°17´E, 810 m a.s.l.). It is the background area without industrial sources, surrounded mostly by forests and pastures.

Measurement of ground level O3  concentration is provided by Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMI) that is national participating institute in EMEP project. Continuously operating air monitoring station measures O3 concentration by analyzer Horiba APOA360 and mean hourly O3 are registered in EMEP database under code SK04 (www.emep.int). Automatic O3 analyser is regularly calibrated and data are validated in data centre of SHMI. Experimental workplace at Stará Lesná carries out meteorological observations since 1988. Evaluation of meteorological measurement for period 1988-2013 indicate that climate of this location is moderately cool with average annual air temperature 5.9°C that seasonally varies from -3.5°C (DJF) to 15.2°C (JJA). Air temperature extremes range between -26.5 and 34.2 °C. Growing season length is about 195 days. Mean annual sum of   precipitation is 744 mm, seasonal comparison shows nearly two times more precipitation amount in summer than winter half year. Snow depth is on average 35 cm, extraordinary over 50 cm. Relative air humidity is about 78%. Wet periods lasted from 5 to 13 consecutive wet days; substantially longer are dry periods from 14 to 39 days. Average sunshine duration is 1806 hours per year. Number of sunny days is clearly lower than number of cloudy days. Surface air pressure 920.4 hPa relates to altitudinal position of site. Wind blows mostly from the more open southern side. Although average wind speed is low (2.1 m/s), occurrence of strong wind gusts above 40 m/s can cause such spatial destruction of natural environment as in November 2004.