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MFRSR

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mfrsr: Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer

The visible multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) is a passive instrument that measures global and diffuse components of solar irradiance at six narrowband channels and one open, or broadband, channel. Direct irradiance is not a primary measurement, but is calculated using diffuse and global measurements.

To collect one data record, the MFRSR takes measurements at four different shadowband positions. The first measurement is taken with the shadowband in the nadir (home) position. The next three measurements are, in order, the first side-band, sun-blocked, and second side-band. The side-band measurements are used to correct for the portion of the sky obscured by the shadowband. The nominal wavelengths of the narrowband channels are 415, 500, 615, 673, 870, and 940 nm.

From such measurements, the atmosphere’s aerosol optical depth at each wavelength can be inferred. In turn, these optical depths may be used to derive information about the column abundances of ozone and water vapor, as well as aerosol and other atmospheric constituents.

Measurements

Aerosol optical depth Shortwave broadband diffuse downwelling irradiance Shortwave narrowband total downwelling irradiance
Aerosol particle size Shortwave narrowband diffuse downwelling irradiance Surface albedo
Cloud optical depth Shortwave narrowband direct normal irradiance

Locations

  • Fixed
  • AMF1
  • AMF2
  • AMF3

Active Instrument Locations

Facility Name Instrument Start Date
Central Facility, Lamont, OK 1997-01-08
Newkirk, OK (Extended) 2011-09-27
Byron, OK (Extended) 1997-08-23
Waukomis, OK (Extended) 2011-11-02
Ashton, KS (Extended) 1998-02-06
Peckham, OK (Extended) 2016-04-07
Tryon, OK (Extended) 2011-09-28
Ringwood, OK (Extended) 1997-08-26
Lamont, OK (Extended and Co-located with C1) 1997-08-26
Omega, OK (Extended) 2011-11-01
Marshall, OK (Extended) 2011-10-18
Andenes, Norway; AMF1 (main site for COMBLE) 2019-10-03
Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal 2014-04-10
Maple City, KS (Extended) 2011-09-28
Morrison, OK (Extended) 2015-11-12
Pawnee, OK (Extended) 2015-11-13
Pawhuska, OK (Extended) 1997-11-06
Central Facility, Barrow AK 1998-03-18
Oliktok Point, Alaska; AMF3 2015-08-01
Anthony, KS (Extended) 2011-10-13
Medford, OK (Extended) 2011-10-05

2020

Berg L, C Long, E Kassianov, D Chand, S Tai, Z Yang, L Riihimaki, S Biraud, J Tagestad, A Matthews, A Mendoza, F Mei, J Tomlinson, and J Fast. 2020. "Fine Scale Variability of Observed and Simulated Surface Albedo over the Southern Great Plains." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125(7), e2019JD030559, 10.1029/2019JD030559.

Marchand R. 2020. Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE) Field Campaign Report. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-20-005.

Riihimaki L, C Flynn, and A McComiskey. 2020. ARM Shortwave Spectral Radiometry Strategy Review Report. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-20-003.

Lubin D, D Zhang, I Silber, R Scott, P Kalogeras, A Battaglia, D Bromwich, M Cadeddu, E Eloranta, A Fridlind, A Frossard, K Hines, S Kneifel, W Leaitch, W Lin, J Nicolas, H Powers, P Quinn, P Rowe, L Russell, S Sharma, J Verlinde, and A Vogelmann. 2020. "AWARE: The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, , 10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0278.1. ONLINE.

2019

Neher I, T Buchmann, S Crewell, B Pospichal, and S Meilinger. 2019. "Impact of atmospheric aerosols on solar power." Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 28(4), 10.1127/metz/2019/0969.

Varble A, S Nesbitt, P Salio, E Avila, P Borque, P DeMott, G McFarquhar, S van den Heever, E Zipser, D Gochis, R Houze, M Jensen, P Kollias, S Kreidenweis, R Leung, K Rasmussen, D Romps, and C Williams. 2019. Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) Field Campaign Report. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-19-028.

Lim K, L Riihimaki, Y Shi, D Flynn, J Kleiss, L Berg, W Gustafson, Y Zhang, and K Johnson. 2019. "Long-term retrievals of cloud type and fair-weather shallow cumulus events at the ARM SGP site." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 36(10), 10.1175/JTECH-D-18-0215.1.

Yang W, A Marshak, and G Wen. 2019. "Cloud edge properties measured by the ARM shortwave spectrometer over ocean and land." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124(15), doi: 10.1029/2019JD030622.
Research Highlight

Terai C, Y Zhang, S Klein, M Zelinka, J Chiu, and Q Min. 2019. "Mechanisms behind the extratropical stratiform low‐cloud optical depth response to temperature in ARM site observations." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124(4), doi:10.1029/2018JD029359.
Research Highlight

2018

Kassianov E, J Monroe, L Riihimaki, C Flynn, E Cromwell, G Hodges, and A McComiskey. 2018. Climatology of aerosol optical depth at mid-continental US site: ground-based observations. In SPIE Remote Sensing, 2018, Berlin, Germany, .

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