Collaborations in Atmospheric Science and Observations Discussed in Germany

 
Published: 10 July 2012
Susanne Crewell (center) is flanked by Jimmy Voyles (left) and Shaocheng Xie (right) during a tour of the Research Center Juelich and the university’s Jülich ObservatorY for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE) site. Crewell explained that JOYCE, like ARM facilities, was designed for long-term continuous measurements of cloud, radiation, boundary humidity, and precipitation, using active and passive remote sensing instruments.

In early June, ARM personnel visited the University of Cologne in Germany at the invitation of Susanne Crewell, Professor of Meteorology at the university. The purpose of the visit was to explore noted similarities and potential collaborative opportunities between major German research programs and the ARM Facility. The meeting included a number of thought-provoking discussions and presentations from ARM Facility representatives and the European scientific colleagues.

Jimmy Voyles, ARM Chief Operating Officer from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, provided an overview of current ARM efforts to measure and study aerosol-cloud interaction in the Azores and North Slope of Alaska. He also discussed strategies for scanning cloud radars, data validation and analysis, as well as data publication. Of great interest to the European attendees were ARM’s strategies and approaches for measuring important climate parameters and transforming detailed field data into a form that can be easily used in climate model development.

Shaocheng Xie, ARM data translator from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, described the modeling strategies used by ARM and DOE’s Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program to link field data to global climate model development. These include single-column model, cloud-resolving model, and running climate models in short-range weather forecasts. He also discussed the “variable resolution” modeling approach used in DOE’s Climate Science for a Sustainable Energy Future (CSSEF) project. These modeling approaches, as well as the associated metrics, provide useful information for improving the design, modeling, and observational strategies for the High Definition Clouds and Precipitation for Climate Prediction [HD(CP)2] project discussed by Crewell.

  • Crewell discussed HD(CP)2, an upcoming project in Germany. HD(CP)2 is intended to develop high-definition modeling with a resolution of 100 meters and integrate observations to improve the representation and understanding of clouds and precipitation for climate prediction.
  • Kerstin Ebell, University of Cologne, described the Blind Test on Cloud Retrieval Inter-comparison project within the European Ground-based Observations of Essential Variables for Climate and Operational Meteorology (EG-CLIMET) program. A shared goal with ARM/ASR is the development of an optimized retrieval product with uncertainties that are well-characterized and quantified.
  • Andreas Wahner, Director of the Institute for Energy and Climate Research, spoke about their unique observational strategy to build up their research infrastructure. It includes partnering with airlines to permanently install instruments on airplanes to capture both regional and global aerosol measurements.
  • Heye Bogena from the Agrosphere Institute at the Research Center Juelich (FZJ) introduced the Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO). This integrated ground, air, and spaceborne observing system monitors changes in the hydrosphere, biosphere, pedosphere, lower atmosphere, and anthroposphere over various spatial and temporal scales. TERENO features a wireless network, “Soilnet,” which transmits soil moisture and temperature data over wireless transmitters and relays it to a receiver, which in turn sends the data to the FZJ.

Further details on future collaboration opportunities will be discussed at a joint DOE/German workshop to be held in November 2012.