Operations Updates
ARM Climate Research Facility Operations Update - February 15, 2008
This bimonthly report provides a brief summary of significant accomplishments and activities in the operations area of the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF).
Science Board Welcomes Two New Members
Dr. Judy Curry (left) and Dr. Susanne Crewell joined the ACRF Science Board in January 2008.
In January, the ACRF Science Board welcomed two new members to its ranks—Dr. Judy Curry from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and Dr. Susanne Crewell from the University of Cologne, Germany. In replacing Dr. Zhang and Dr. Mary Barth, they round out the 11-member board and will serve on the board for a term of at least two years. The Science Board reviews proposals received by the ACRF to ensure the best quality science is conducted at the user facility.
Dr. Curry is the chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has been a professor for nearly 20 years and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has participated in a variety of steering committees and panels for the World Climate Research Program, the National Research Council, and numerous U.S. federal agencies. Her expertise includes polar meteorology and climatology; atmospheric physics; remote sensing; and air/sea/ice interactions.
Dr. Crewell is the chair of the Goescience Department at the University of Cologne. A professor of meteorology for the past 10 years, and she is currently an associate editor for Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. She has been an active member in numerous European research efforts and is currently involved with the German priority program on Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting, as well as several activities to harmonize European cloud observatories. Her expertise encompasses development of millimeter and submillimeter radiometers; remote sensing; stratospheric trace gases; cloud physics; and model evaluation.
User Group Provides Recommendations for Data Archive Improvements
Routine data from the ACRF sites and ACRF-sponsored field campaigns are stored in the Archive at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. During the past year, a number of improvements were made to link the Archive with the ARM web pages, add a shopping cart feature and expand on search parameters. In October 2007, the ACRF sponsored an all-day user group meeting to assess the current status of the Archive and entertain suggestions for further improvements. They discussed the usability of current functions at the Archive, plans for revisions and enhancements, and other new ideas for improving the user experience. Based on discussions from the meeting, the following efforts (in no particular priority) are planned:
- customized data extraction functions
- statistical views functions
- solicitation methods for user feedback
- revised Archive log-in strategies
- interface integration methodologies
- improved field campaign data discovery.
Meeting participants were spread across various types of scientific research (i.e., those involved in observations, modeling, and process studies, and others) from both universities and government laboratories, and ranged from those who used the Archive frequently to those who had seldom or never accessed the Archive. They were asked to complete several exercises before the meeting to help identify potential problems and shortcomings with the existing structure and to aid in recommending improvements. A report containing more details about each of the recommendations is in preparation and will be available on the ARM website under Program Documents.
