A new data epoch from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility captures a piece of history observed during a recent field campaign in La Jolla, California.
In August 2023, as ARM conducted the yearlong Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE), Southern California experienced its first tropical storm in 84 years. ARM instruments on the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier and Mount Soledad, about 2 miles away from the pier, collected data during Tropical Storm Hilary.
Data epochs consist of measurements from at least one location with well-characterized data quality, corrections and calibrations applied, over a specified time range of scientific interest. The EPCAPE epoch currently features 35 data products providing information about aerosols, atmospheric state, atmospheric carbon, cloud properties, surface energy budget, and surface properties during Tropical Storm Hilary from August 19 to 21, 2023.
The EPCAPE data epoch is the fourth assembled by ARM. The other epochs are:
- cold-air outbreak conditions observed in Norway during the 2019–2020 Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE)
- convective clouds and surface rainfall observed during the 2018–2019 Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) campaign in Argentina
- changes in atmospheric pressure at ARM sites after the January 2022 volcano eruption in Tonga.
More information about the data can be found in this September 2023 blog post from ARM data analyst Israel Silber.
Access the EPCAPE data epoch in the ARM Data Center. (To download the data, first create an ARM account.)
Data epochs can be also accessed by using ARM Data Discovery’s guided search function and selecting the Epoch option.
Feedback is welcome to improve the EPCAPE epoch. Please share your input with the ARM Data Center by clicking on the red Feedback tab on the right-hand side of Data Discovery. You may also contact ARM with any questions you have about the data.
# # #ARM is a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by nine DOE national laboratories.