New Virtual Tour Takes ARM Users to the “Top of the World”

 
Published: 7 December 2015
Featured in the virtual tour, the Great White Instrument Platform houses the most instruments of any installation at ARM's NSA site, including five radiometers, two radars, two lidars, a total sky imager, and an infrared thermometer.
Featured in the virtual tour, the Great White Instrument Platform houses the most instruments of any installation at ARM’s NSA site, including five radiometers, two radars, two lidars, a total sky imager, and an infrared thermometer.

In addition to virtually touring the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, climate researchers planning arctic research campaigns can now see ARM’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site and all its instruments with a click of the mouse—just as if they were actually standing there on a clear day.

Located 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle and a mile south of the Arctic Ocean, the ARM site at Barrow has been gathering climate data continuously since 1997 with instruments adapted to temperatures well below negative 40 degrees. The tour provides detailed views of the site both outside and inside instrument installations. Videos and photos in the tour were taken by an ARM communications team member and a Vivid Learning Systems photographer, who visited during a rare three-day stretch of sunny skies and balmy 40-degree weather.

After clicking “Launch Tour,” viewers get a slowly revolving 360-degree view of the entire NSA site. Clicking arrows provides a closer look at each instrument location. Three photos were taken at each location with a special camera and fish-eye lens on a tripod. When “stitched” together using computer software they provide a 360-degree view of each location.

Where indoor facilities exist, a click of the mouse takes the user inside for a 360-degree view of the interior and its contents. Each view enables users to see exactly what they’ll find on site. Viewing the instrumentation and workspaces allows scientists to determine if additional instruments will be needed for their specific campaign—and whether space is available to house them.

A click of the mouse takes users on a virtual tour of the entire North Slope of Alaska site.
A click of the mouse takes users on a virtual tour of the entire North Slope of Alaska site.

When planning a campaign, users can also obtain near-real-time data recorded the day of their virtual visit to identify the type of data provided at the NSA site and determine if it meets the needs of their specific studies. If special instrumentation is needed, users can arrange to get it to the site.

Nearly 30 instruments are available on site, including an autosonde launcher that releases two balloons daily, a radar wind profiler, an aerosol observing system, and an eddy correlation flux measurement system. The “Great White” Instrument Platform provides five different radiometers, a total sky imager, and a variety of other instruments.

The NSA virtual tour is the second of three to be completed for the ARM Facility. In addition to the first at the SGP site, the third will be available next year for ARM’s Eastern North Atlantic site in the Azores.

Visit these virtual tours now.

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The ARM Climate Research Facility is a national scientific user facility funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The ARM Facility is operated by nine Department of Energy national laboratories.