Interferometers Compared for ARM Mobile Facility Deployment in China

 
Published: 30 November 2007

During the 2-week instrument comparison, the AERI planned for Linze was rolled outside of the SGP Guest Instrument Facility each day—weather permitting—to obtain its measurements. The SGP AERI took its measurements through a special window from inside the facility.

One instrument scientists use to obtain measurements important for climate studies is an atmospherically emitted radiance interferometer, or AERI. This sophisticated instrument measures the absolute infrared spectral radiance of the sky directly above the instrument. Two AERIs will be deployed with the ARM Mobile Facility in 2008 for a field campaign to study Aerosol Indirect Effects in China. One will be deployed at the primary ARM Mobile Facility site in Shouxian, and the other will be located with an ancillary facility to the northeast, at Linze. For 2 weeks in mid-November, the AERI planned for Linze operated continuously next to the AERI at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site for calibration and comparison purposes prior to deployment in China. This comparison will ensure that AERI data obtained at the northern and southern locations are comparable and allow scientists to quantify regional differences in aerosol, cloud, and atmospheric properties.

As part of the AMF baseline instrument suite, an AERI is currently deployed in Germany for the Convective and Orographically Induced Precipitation Study. At the conclusion of that campaign in December, the AMF will be packed up and shipped to China for its 9-month deployment at Shouxian beginning in March 2008. Meanwhile, the second AERI and other ancillary facility instruments are scheduled to begin operating at Linze in February for 4 months, then move west to Xianghe for 4 more months of operation. Both AERIs will provide important data about the microphysical, optical, and radiative properties of Asian dust aerosols, which in turn will assist scientists in studying the long-range transport of heavy dust and pollution from East Asia over the Pacific Ocean and North America.