Operations Updates
ARM Climate Research Facility Operations Update - November 30, 2006
This bimonthly report provides a brief summary of significant accomplishments and activities in the operations area of the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF).
Radar Wind Profiler Upgrades Optimize Performance, Increase Reliability
The RWP associate instrument mentor Tim Martin shows the new amplifier, interface, processor, and display of the upgraded 915 MHz RWP at the SGP Central Facility.
Radar wind profilers (RWPs) provide hourly measurements of wind speed and direction from 100 m to 5 km above the ground. Between 1992 and 1996, four 915 MHz 9-panel radar wind profilers (RWPs) were deployed at the ACRF Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, followed by one more at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site in Barrow in 2001. As these systems have aged, hardware repair costs have increased significantly and parts have become more difficult to obtain. To overcome these problems, all the components other than the antenna on each RWP system are being upgraded, at a cost of only about 20% of a new system.
The upgrade includes a new computer with the latest version of Vaisala's Lower Atmosphere Profiler (LAP) operating software, as well as new digital receivers based on the PC-Integrated Radar AcQuisition System (PIRAQ-III) processor. Also licensed through Vaisala, the PIRAQ-III processor provides enhanced performance and increased reliability, while the LAP-XM® software allows site specific optimization of system performance, depending on the application. With one vendor supplying both the processor and operating software, technical support is expected to be much more efficient. RWPs at the SGP Central Facility and the SGP intermediate facility at Meeker, Oklahoma were upgraded in September 2006. In 2007, the SGP's sites remaining two RWPs (at Beaumont and Medicine Lodge, Kansas) will be upgraded, as well as the system in Barrow.
Mapping It Up With Google
"Thumbtacks" help ARM website users identify where the ACRF sites are, including the ARM Mobile Facility deployments.
The online ACRF sites map was recently integrated with Google™ Maps API technology to enhance ARM website user's experience. Web visitors and ARM Data Archive subscribers can now not only see where ACRF facilities are located around the world and link to associated web pages, but use Google mapping technology to zoom in-sometimes close enough to actually see ACRF facilities in the satellite images. Google technology also makes it easier to add ACRF site markers to the map, as the ARM Mobile Facility continues its travels and new datasets arrive at the Archive.
In addition to the new sites map, individual Southern Great Plains (SGP) maps have been updated and integrated into the worldwide sites map. By selecting the main SGP marker, users can select extended, boundary, and intermediate facilities markers to view additional maps and web pages. This feature gives users a better visual representation of the extensive facilities available in the SGP locale. A detailed overview map of the SGP Central Facility has also been updated and made available. Additional mapping activities are planned, including updating the instrument deployment map for the Central Facility as well as creating instrument deployment maps for the other ACRF locales.
