Operations Updates
ARM Climate Research Facility Operations Update - April 15, 2004
This bimonthly report provides a brief summary of significant accomplishments and activities in the operations area of the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF).
Record Crowd Attends ARM 14th Annual Science Team Meeting
Dr. Ari Patrinos answers questions from the audience at the conclusion of his plenary address during the ARM Science Team Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in March 2004.
Shattering previous attendance records, 316 ARM Program participants (and a few interested visitors) from across the globe met in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 21-25 for the fourteenth ARM Science Team Meeting. With representation from 22 countries, scientists from as far away as Australia, Japan, and India took advantage of this once-a-year opportunity to discuss their findings with program counterparts in many areas of atmospheric research.
Highlights of the meeting included a DOE perspective provided by Dr. Ari Patrinos, Associate Director of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research for the DOE Office of Science; and noteworthy retirement announcements for long-time ARM technical director Ted Cress, ARM lead science translator Ric Cedarwall, and Jim Teske, site operations manager for the Southern Great Plains (Oklahoma) locale since the program began. In addition to formal presentations by invited speakers and breakout sessions covering specific research areas, more than 200 posters were on site for scientists to review and discuss emerging developments in cloud and radiation measurement and modeling research. The meeting also provided a forum for scientific input into the overall implementation of ACRF operations and instrumentation.
This meeting, held annually since 1990, brings together ARM scientists to review progress and plan the future of research aimed at refining the treatment of clouds and radiation in models used to simulate climate. Improved climate models will help decision makers to develop policy for programs related to climate change and its environmental, societal, and economic impacts. As Dr. Patrinos stated in his plenary address, "ARM is doing science that is very relevant and important. Keep up the good work!"
Eddy Correlation Deployments Completed
In mid-March, the last of a series of new eddy covariance or "eddy correlation" (ECOR) systems was installed at the ACRF Southern Great Plains (SGP) extended facility at Cyril, Oklahoma. This completes the replacement of the original ECOR systems initiated in 2002. In all, nine new ECOR systems have been deployed, including one on the 18-meter tower at the SGP forest locale at Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
The new ECOR systems use proven technology selected on the basis of successful deployments of similar systems at SGP by other organizations. ARM's ECOR instrument mentor (the technical point of contact for the instrument) adapted software originally developed for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment systems to minimize software development time and cost, as well as to ensure accuracy and consistency of the measurements. Since the first of these new ECOR systems became operational in September 2003, they have proven both reliable and accurate.
The new ECOR systems provide measurements of the fluxes of heat (sensible and latent), moisture, momentum, and carbon dioxide (CO2) from adjacent crop fields or forest canopy. These measurements complement the heat and moisture flux measurements from the Energy Balance Bowen Ratio systems located at fourteen SGP pasture sites, thereby filling a critical gap in the measurements of the surface energy balance over the SGP domain. The addition of CO2 flux measurements to the new ECOR systems will also benefit investigators involved in the DOE Carbon Cycle Program and related scientific efforts that contribute to the understanding of radiative effects of clouds in simulating global climate.
Instrument States Database Up and Running
At the three ACRF locales (Southern Great Plains, Tropical Western Pacific, and North Slope of Alaska), more than 260 instruments and 1,500 individual sensors operate continuously to provide uninterrupted streams of data to the ARM research community. Existing principle metrics provide information on what data is or is not available, but doesn't explain the reason for any missing data. In early April, a new web-based information tool was implemented that will greatly improve operations performance by gathering quantitative instrument information that will help identify issues, set priorities, and guide decisions objectively.
The Instruments States Database gathers information from maintenance reports, shipping and receiving reports, calibration reports, and problem reports to track the operational states of instrument systems, computer systems, and facilities along with their components. Combining the diagnostic metrics gathered from the Instruments States Database with the principle metrics derived from data files delivered to the ARM Data Archive will enable the user to assess what data are available and when. Because the metrics are easily accessible and clearly presented via a website, any negative trends can be quickly identified and actions taken to correct the situation in a timely manner.
The Instrument States Database fills a critical gap in the overall picture of instrument operation, by providing the answer to "why" certain data is not available. It allows operations personnel to track the status of every component of each instrument, including during repair (e.g., what stage it's at and how much time it's taking), frequency of repair, shipping, etc. This level of detailed information allows operations managers to determine, for example, the need for spares for specific instruments, and to account for this information during budget planning.
