TRACER

Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER)

15 April 2021 - 14 April 2022

Lead Scientist: Michael Jensen

Observatory: AMF

During the Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER), scientists will use the first ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1), the second generation C-band ARM Scanning Precipitation Radar (CSAPR2), and a small satellite site with radiosonde and aerosol measurements to learn more about cloud and aerosol interactions in the deep convection over the Houston area.

The Houston region offers a unique environment where isolated convective systems are common and experience a spectrum of polluted aerosol conditions from urban and industrial areas. In addition, surrounding areas also show significantly lower background aerosol concentrations.

A climatological analysis of radar observations from the Houston/Galveston area NXRAD (KHGX) show that convective initiation occurs in this area on 40 to 55 percent of the days each month of the year. The total number of convective events is strongly peaked during the months of June through September. An intensive operational period will be held June 1, 2021, to September 30, 2021, to capture these events.

Co-Investigators

Sarah Brooks	Pavlos Kollias	Rebecca Sheesley
Don Collins	Chongai Kuang	Jeffrey Snyder
Scott Collis	Matthew Kumjian	Philip Stier
Eric Defer	Toshihisa Matsui	Sascha Usenko
Jiwen Fan	Greg McFarquhar	Sue van den Heever
James Flynn	Chris Nowotarski	Marcus van Lier-Walqui
Ann Fridlind	Richard Orville	Adam Varble
Scott Giangrande	Mariko Oue	Yuxuan Wang
Robert Griffin	Anita Rapp	Renyi Zhang
Jiaxi Hu	Daniel Rosenfeld	Guang Zhang
Robert Jackson	Alexander Ryzhkov

Related Publications

2020

Mei F, D Dexheimer, J Fast, M Diao, B Geerts, A Bucholtz, L Riihimaki, C Flynn, T Thornberry, T Campos, S Springston, C Kuang, J Tomlinson, and B Schmid. 2020. ARM Aerial Instrument Workshop Report. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-20-010.

2019

Dorsey K. 2019. Tracking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment. Ed. by Rolanda Jundt, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-19-024.

Jensen M, E Bruning, D Collins, A Fridlind, P Kollias, C Kuang, D Rosenfeld, A Ryzhkov, A Varble, SD Brooks, S Collis, E Defer, J Fan, J Flynn, S Giangrande, R Griffin, J Hu, R Jackson, M Kumjian, T Logan, T Matsui, G McFarquhar, C Nowotarski, J Quaas, M Oue, R Sheesley, J Snyder, P Stier, S Usenko, S van den Heever, M van Lier Walqui, Y Wang, Y Xu, and G Zhang. 2019. Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) Science Plan. Ed. by Robert Stafford, DOE/SC-ARM-19-017.

Fridlind A, M van Lier-Walqui, S Collis, S Giangrande, R Jackson, X Li, T Matsui, R Orville, M Picel, D Rosenfeld, A Ryzhkov, R Weitz, and P Zhang. 2019. "Use of polarimetric radar measurements to constrain simulated convective cell evolution: A pilot study with Lagrangian tracking." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12(6), doi:10.5194/amt-12-2979-2019.
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