Operations Updates
ARM Climate Research Facility Operations Update - June 30, 2007
This bimonthly report provides a brief summary of significant accomplishments and activities in the operations area of the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF).
Science Teams Gather to Plan Arctic Field Campaigns in Fiscal Year 2008
The primary measurement platform for both campaigns is a Convair-580, a large twin-engine turboprop. (NRC photo)
With less than a year to prepare, scientists representing the ARM Program met in May in Ottawa, Canada, with colleagues from Environment Canada and the National Research Council of Canada to begin planning in earnest for two concurrent field campaigns taking place in Alaska next year. The Indirect and Semi-direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) begins in April 2008 and lasts for 1 month. This campaign is focused on obtaining in situ cloud and aerosol measurements from above the ACRF North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site in Barrow, to compare against similar measurements from the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment conducted in the fall of 2004. The other campaign called Routine In situ Cloud and Aerosol Measurements (RISCAM) also begins in April 2008, but lasts 4 months, through the end of July. The purpose of this campaign is to obtain a dataset of routine measurements of arctic cloud properties at the NSA to study their effects on downwelling radiation. These data will also be valuable for testing both model parameterizations as well as cloud property retrievals from the long-term measurements from the NSA.
For both campaigns, a Convair-580 aircraft, operated by the National Research Council and sponsored by the ARM Aerial Vehicles Program, will carry a payload of sophisticated instruments and probes to measure aerosol and cloud properties. For the month of April, plans are to fly the aircraft Monday through Friday to obtain the full complement of measurements to meet the science objectives of both campaigns. Once ISDAC is completed, the aircraft will fly 3 days a week to obtain the subset of measurements for RISCAM through the end of July.
The May meeting in Ottawa allowed the science team to discuss details on integrating instruments, flight plans, ground logistics plans, data protocol requirements, time lines, and action items associated with those activities. Another coordination meeting in Ottawa is planned for October, to discuss final logistics and integration details before installation of the aircraft payload begins in January 2008.
Update as of January 1, 2008: The field campaign RISCAM has been cancelled.
New Radar Wind Profiler Joins AMF Instrument Suite in Germany
The 1290 MHz wind profiler (foreground) joins the eddy correlation system (background) for the 9-month deployment in Germany.
A new 1290 MHz radar wind profiler has joined the ARM Mobile Facility instrument suite for the Convective and Orographic Precipitation Study (COPS) in Germany. This system operates similarly to a Doppler radar and provides measurements of backscattered (reflected) energy, horizontal wind speed, and vertical wind speed. In replacing the 915 MHz radar used in previous AMF deployments, the 1290 MHz's increased sensitivity to moisture allows the radar to operate better under moist conditions such as those often encountered in Europe. This capability is important for the science objectives of COPS, which include gaining a comprehensive dataset of precipitation to improve regional forecast models.
An operating frequency of 1290 MHz was selected to match European Union and other global frequency allocations for boundary layer (up to 1 km above the surface) radar profilers. The operating system for the new radar is the same as the upgraded systems at the ACRF Southern Great Plains site, so installation of the radar was straightforward for the AMF operations team. Since its installation, data returns indicate the system is operating successfully with no failures.
