Boundary layer Exploration of Aerosols and Clouds ON Ships (BEACONS)

Authors

Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Christensen, Matthew — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Bates, Timothy S. — NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Russell, Lynn M — Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Fernando, Harindra — Notre Dame University
Macdonald, Alison — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Strom, Kerry — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Sivaraman, Chitra — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Kulkarni, Gourihar — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Muelmenstaedt, Johannes — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Hudak, Rebecca — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Coffman, Derek — NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Quinn, Patricia — NOAA - Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory
Fast, Jerome D — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Berg, Larry — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Category

Warm low clouds, including aerosol interactions

The Boundary layer Exploration of Aerosols and Clouds ON Ships (BEACONS) project plans to enhance our understanding of marine atmosphere and aerosol-cloud interactions by deploying an autonomous ship-borne system for routine observations of critical aerosol and cloud properties. BEACONS will demonstrate the feasibility of capturing high-resolution and accurate observations from commercial ships, offering a unique dataset to improve process level understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions, enhance model accuracy, and validate satellite observations. The project's ambitious objectives include a minimum 6-month autonomous deployment, near real-time availability of high-quality data, and pioneering methods to reduce crew intervention. In this presentation, we will highlight the key anticipated outcomes from the project and current progress on:

• Deployment of Autonomous Ship-Borne Systems on a commercial ship from Pasha Group for continuous, high-resolution observation of aerosol and cloud properties.
• Methods for Autonomous Deployment for a minimum six-month autonomous observation campaign on a commercial ship, collecting valuable data with minimal crew intervention.
• Development of BEACONS Web Data Platform for near real-time data availability adhering to FAIR guidelines. Establishment of near real-time access to high-quality aerosol and cloud data.
• Development and Testing of Instruments in Two Phases starting with essential instruments in Phase 1, followed by the integration of more advanced, complex instruments in Phase 2.
• Validation of Key Scientific Hypotheses related to aerosol-cloud interactions and their impacts on climate and weather predictions.
• Development of Operational Expertise and Best Practices for deploying advanced aerosol and cloud measurement instruments on commercial ships in marine conditions.
• Advancement via Scientific Collaboration with multiple scientists across the DOE community through development of a scientific advisory board and use of these data for advancement of the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) scientific mission.

In summary, BEACONS will provide novel data and conduct insightful analyses to enhance BER’s ability to predict and understand aerosol-cloud interactions, better quantify how those interactions impact the Earth system model predictions, and guide future research endeavors.

Lead PI

Krishnamurthy, Raghavendra — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory