Campaign : Marine ARM GPCI Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC)

2012.10.01 - 2013.09.30

Website : http://www.arm.gov/sites/amf/mag/

Lead Scientist : Ernie Lewis

For data sets, see below.

Description

Clouds remain a major source of uncertainty in climate projections. In this context, subtropical marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds play a key role in cloud-climate feedbacks that are not well understood yet play a large role in biases both in seasonal coupled model forecasts and annual mean climate forecasts. In particular, current climate models do not accurately represent the transition from the stratocumulus (Sc) regime, with its high albedo and large impact on the global radiative balance of Earth, to shallow trade-wind cumulus (Cu), which play a fundamental role in global surface evaporation and also albedo. Climate models do not yet adequately parameterize the small-scale physical processes associated with turbulence, convection, and radiation in these clouds. Part of this inability results from lack of accurate data on these clouds and the conditions responsible for their properties, including aerosol properties, radiation, and atmospheric and oceanographic conditions.

In MAGIC, the Marine ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) GPCI Investigation of Clouds, the Second ARM Mobile Facility, AMF2, will be deployed on the Horizon Lines cargo ship Spirit traversing the route between Los Angeles, CA and Honolulu, HI for one full year, from October, 2012, through September, 2013, during which the unique capabilities provided by AMF2 will be utilized to observe and characterize the properties of clouds and precipitation, aerosols, and atmospheric radiation; standard meteorological and oceanographic variables; and atmospheric structure. Additionally, two Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs) will be conducted January and July of 2013 during which more detailed measurements of the atmospheric structure will be made.

This first marine deployment of AMF2 will yield an unparalleled and extremely rich data set that will greatly enhance the ability to understand and parameterize clouds and precipitation, aerosols, and radiation and the interactions among them; the processes that determine their properties; and factors that control these processes. Deployment of AMF2 on a ship that routinely traverses this route provides an opportunity to collect a long-term data set over a vast cloud region which is of intense interest to climate modelers. Specifically, the proposed transect lies closely along the cross section used for the GPCI, and the data collected will provide constraint, validation, and support for this modeling effort, and for associated modeling efforts such as the CGILS and EUCLIPSE. The founders of ARM recognized the importance of these marine cloud regimes and the original document recommending locales for ARM sites explicitly called for sites in the Eastern North Pacific or Eastern North Atlantic Ocean. The proposed deployment would, at long last, meet the identified requirement for ARM measurements in this region.

Other Contacts

Co-Investigators
Bruce Albrecht
Geoffrey Bland
Charles Flagg
Stephen Klein
Pavlos Kollias
Michael Reynolds
Stephen Schwartz
A. Siebesma
Joao Teixeira
Warren Wiscombe
Robert Wood
Minghua Zhang

Routine Operations Data Sets

Instrument Archived Data
AOS Aerosol Observing System
Order Data
AOSMET Meteorological Measurements associated with the Aerosol Observing System
Order Data
ASSIST Atmospheric Sounder Spectrometer for Infrared Spectral Technology
Order Data
CCN Cloud Condensation Nuclei Particle Counter
Order Data
CPC Condensation Particle Counter
Order Data
CSPHOT Cimel Sunphotometer
Order Data
HSRL High Spectral Resolution Lidar
Order Data
HTDMA Humidified Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer
Order Data
IRT Infrared Thermometer
Order Data
KAZR Ka ARM Zenith Radar
Order Data
LDIS Laser Disdrometer
Order Data
MET Surface Meteorological Instrumentation
Order Data
MPL Micropulse Lidar
Order Data
MWACR Marine W-Band (95 GHz) ARM Cloud Radar
Order Data
MWR Microwave Radiometer
Order Data
MWR3C Microwave Radiometer, 3 Channel
Order Data
NEPHELOMETER Nephelometer
Order Data
OZONE Ozone Monitor
Order Data
PRP Portable Radiation Package
Order Data
PSAP Particle Soot Absorption Photometer
Order Data
RWP Radar Wind Profiler
Order Data
SASZE Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Zenith
Order Data
SONDE Balloon-Borne Sounding System
Order Data
SPN Sunshine Pyranometer
Order Data
STABLE Stabilized Platform
Order Data
TSI Total Sky Imager
Order Data
UHSAS Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer
Order Data
VCEIL Vaisala Ceilometer
Order Data