Campaigns

Current open call: The deadline to submit preliminary proposals for ARM tethered balloon system (TBS) missions in fiscal year 2026 has been extended to Monday, February 10, 2025. View the TBS proposal guidelines.

ARM provides the scientific community with the operational and logistical resources to conduct field campaigns using the ARM observatories that focus on advancing research in support of the ARM mission.

Priority will be given to proposals that make comprehensive use of ARM facilities, focus on strategic goals of the DOE Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program, and have the ability to improve regional or global earth system models.

Proposals that coordinate with other BER community capabilities (e.g., Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, AmeriFlux Network, Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments in the Arctic and Tropics, Energy Exascale Earth System Model) or that support the goals of the Global Energy and Water cycle Exchanges (GEWEX) project are encouraged.

The timing for submitting a proposal depends on the size and complexity of the proposal and the timing of the request relative to the review cycle. For example, a small (level 1) campaign may take approximately 1.5 to 6 months from submission to implementation depending on those factors. If a guest instrument is involved, an instrument support request (ISR) form must be submitted before review will begin. We have provided a proposal deadlines calendar to estimate when you should submit a proposal to begin a campaign by a particular date.

Refer to the Field Campaign Guidelines document for the full campaign process, including estimated time frames needed for reviews, roles and responsibilities, and contact information.

ARM accepts proposals for the following types of field campaigns:

• Small Campaigns – These campaigns cost ARM less than $300K and may include deployment of guest instruments at ARM observatories, use of instruments for offsite deployments, or special operations, such as enhanced radiosonde or special scanning strategies.
• Annual Facility Call Campaigns – These campaigns typically exceed $300K cost to ARM and include a large fixed-location atmospheric observatory campaign and/or deployment of ARM Mobile Facilities (AMF).
• Tethered Balloon System (TBS) Missions – In a typical year, ARM expects to conduct approximately six to eight TBS missions, with each mission lasting two weeks.
• ArcticShark Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Missions – Information on the next open call is expected in early 2025. Flights for this call would take place in summer 2025 at the earliest.

Before proposing a field campaign, principal investigators (PIs) should read expectations for PIs and review the ARM Field Campaign Guidelines to ensure they understand all responsibilities and determine if their campaign fits the parameters defined by ARM. The guidelines also describe the proposal review process and timeline.

Proposals are reviewed monthly to annually depending on the size of the proposed campaign.

To propose a campaign, PIs must first submit a preproposal. Read the field campaign preproposal instructions for detailed information on how to fill out and submit the preproposal form.

The initial review of preproposals and responses to PIs will normally be communicated within four weeks of submission and may include requests for clarifying information, an abbreviated or a full proposal, and/or information regarding the review timeline.

Before a campaign begins, the PI must submit an abstract, suitable for posting on the ARM website. Based on the scope of the field campaign, a science plan may also be required. The PI should work closely with the appropriate site manager regarding mutual expectations during the execution phase of the campaign.

When closing out a field campaign, the PI has six months after completion of the campaign to prepare and submit the following items:

1. Final Report – The PI is required to submit a brief, final report of the outcome to the ARM Field Campaign Administrator to complete ARM documentation. Download the template/instructions.
2. Data Submission – The PI is required to submit the final quality-assured data for all non-ARM instruments to ARM.