Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility US Department of Energy
 
 

Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE)

24 April 2016 - 23 September 2016

Lead Scientist: Jerome Fast

Observatory: sgp, sgp

Cumulus convection is an important component in the atmospheric radiation budget and hydrologic cycle over the southern Great Plains and many other regions of the world, particularly during the summertime growing season when intense turbulence induced by surface radiation couples the land surface to clouds. Current convective cloud parameterizations contain uncertainties resulting partly from insufficient coincident data that couple cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to inhomogeneities in boundary layer and aerosol properties. The Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) field campaign was designed to provide a detailed set of measurements needed for a more complete understanding of the life cycle of shallow clouds by coupling cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties to land surface properties, ecosystems, and aerosols. HI-SCALE consisted of two four-week intensive observational periods, one in the spring and the other in the late summer to take advantage of different stages and distribution of greenness for various vegetation near the ARM Climate Research Facility's Southern Great Plains Megasite (SGP), as well as aerosol properties that vary during the growing season. Most of the instruments were deployed on the ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream-159 (G-1) aircraft, including those that measure atmospheric turbulence, cloud water content and drop size distributions, aerosol precursor gases, aerosol chemical composition and size distributions, and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. Aerosol microphysical property measurements supplemented routine ARM aerosol measurements made at the surface. The G-1 completed transects over the SGP Central Facility at multiple altitudes within the boundary layer, and within and above clouds. The extensive measurements collected during the campaign will be coupled with routine ARM SGP measurements as well as large-eddy simulation (LES), cloud-resolving, and cloud-system-resolving models. Through integrated analyses and modeling studies, scientists will be able to quantify the influence of inhomogeneities in land use, vegetation, soil moisture, convective eddies, and aerosol properties on the evolution of shallow clouds. This includes the feedbacks of clouds on the downwelling radiation reaching the surface and associated changes in the surface heat, moisture, and momentum fluxes, and on aerosol photochemical processes. Findings from the data analyses and modeling studies will be used to develop improved parameterizations for the next generation of climate models that are expected to have grid spacing of approximately 10 kilometers. In addition, the aircraft and surface measurements provided critical in situ measurements of the boundary layer, cloud microphysics and dynamics, and aerosol properties that can be used to evaluate the new routine LES modeling activity at the SGP site and various current and new ARM retrievals. Campaign periods: 2016.04.24--2016.05.21 2016.08.28--2016.09.23

Co-Investigators

Larry Berg Maoyi Huang James Smith
Jiwen Fan Chongai Kuang Joel Thornton
Zhe Feng Alexander Laskin David Turner
Pierre Gentine Ryan Moffet Jian Wang
Mary Gilles Arthur Sedlacek Alla Zelenyuk-Imre
Alex Guenther John Shilling
Samson Hagos Manishkumar Shrivastava

Timeline

  • Child Campaign

2024

Mei F and K Gaustad. 2024. ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Merged Value-Added Product Report for Historical G-1 Field Campaigns. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-TR-299. 10.2172/2335708.

Dorsey KS, CB Ireland, ME Mundy, RA Stafford, KK Palmer, MR Wasem, ME Prichard, JM Comstock, and I Silber. 2024. 2023 Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Annual Report. Ed. by Robert Stafford, ARM user facility. DOE/SC-ARM-23-047. 10.2172/2281709.

2023

Chen J, S Hagos, H Xiao, J Fast, C Lu, A Varble, Z Feng, and J Sun. 2023. "The Effects of Shallow Cumulus Cloud Shape on Interactions Among Clouds and Mixing With Near‐Cloud Environments." Geophysical Research Letters, 50(24), e2023GL106334, 10.1029/2023GL106334.
Research Highlight

Tang S, A Varble, J Fast, K Zhang, P Wu, X Dong, F Mei, M Pekour, J Hardin, and P Ma. 2023. "Earth System Model Aerosol–Cloud Diagnostics (ESMAC Diags) package, version 2: assessing aerosols, clouds, and aerosol–cloud interactions via field campaign and long-term observations." Geoscientific Model Development, 16(21), 10.5194/gmd-16-6355-2023.

Lu C, L Zhu, Y Liu, F Mei, J Fast, M Pekour, S Luo, X Xu, X He, J Li, and S Gao. 2023. "Observational study of relationships between entrainment rate, homogeneity of mixing, and cloud droplet relative dispersion." Atmospheric Research, 293, 106900, 10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106900.

Xiao H, M Ovchinnikov, L Berg, and J Mülmenstädt. 2023. "Evaluating Shallow Convection Parameterization Assumptions with a qt-w Quadrant Analysis." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15(8), s2022MS003526, 10.1029/2022MS003526.

Katz D, A Abdelhamid, H Stark, M Canagaratna, D Worsnop, and E Browne. 2023. "Chemical identification of new particle formation and growth precursors through positive matrix factorization of ambient ion measurements." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(9), 10.5194/acp-23-5567-2023.
Research Highlight

Chen J, S Hagos, H Xiao, J Fast, and Z Feng. 2023. "Multiscale Analysis of Surface Heterogeneity–Induced Convection on Isentropic Coordinates." Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 80(4), 10.1175/JAS-D-21-0198.1.
Research Highlight

Chen J, S Hagos, Z Feng, J Fast, and H Xiao. 2023. "The Role of Cloud–Cloud Interactions in the Life Cycle of Shallow Cumulus Clouds." Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 80(3), 10.1175/JAS-D-22-0004.1.
Research Highlight

Kulkarni G, F Mei, J Shilling, J Wang, R Reveggino, C Flynn, A Zelenyuk, and J Fast. 2023. "Cloud Condensation Nuclei Closure Study Using Airborne Measurements over the Southern Great Plains." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(5), e2022JD037964, 10.1029/2022JD037964.
Research Highlight


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Campaign Data Sets

IOP Participant Data Source Name Final Data
Eleanor Browne Time-of-Flight Ambient Ion Mass Spectrometer Order Data
Susanne Hering Water Condensation Particle Counter Order Data
John Hubbe Ambient Winds- AIMMS Order Data
Andrew Kalukin Calibration Objects - Lat/Long Order Data
Andrew Kalukin Data Logger and Radiometer Order Data
Andrew Kalukin Imaging Sensors Order Data
Michael Lawler Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer Order Data
Chuck Long Radiometer Order Data
Alyssa Matthews Cloud Droplet Probe Order Data
Alyssa Matthews High Volume Precipitation Spectrometer - Images Order Data
Alyssa Matthews Two Dimensional Stereo (2DS) Particle Imaging Probe Order Data
Alyssa Matthews Video - G1 Aircraft Order Data
Alyssa Matthews Water Content Monitor Order Data
Fan Mei 2D-S Particle Size Order Data
Fan Mei Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter Order Data
Fan Mei Condensation Particle Counter Order Data
Fan Mei Condensation Particle Counter (CVI inlet) Order Data
Fan Mei Fast Cloud Droplet Probe (FCDP) Order Data
Fan Mei High Volume Precip Spectrometer Order Data
Fan Mei Merged-2dsfcdphvps Order Data
Fan Mei meteorology/state/position parameters Order Data
Mikhail Pekour Aerosol Size Distribution Best Estimate by airborne measurements Order Data
Mikhail Pekour Counterflow Virtual Impactor (CVI) Order Data
Mikhail Pekour Optical Particle Counter - Counterflow Virtual Impactor Order Data
Mikhail Pekour Optical Particle Counter - Isokinetic Order Data
John Shilling NO/NOx Analyzer Order Data
John Shilling Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometer Order Data
John Shilling Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer Order Data
John Shilling Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer Order Data
Stephen Springston Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide Order Data
Jason Tomlinson Cloud Aerosol Precip Spectrometer(CAPS)/Cloud Imaging Probe (CIP) Order Data
Jason Tomlinson Cloud Spectrometer and Impactor (CSI) Order Data
Jason Tomlinson Cloud and Aerosol Spectrometer Order Data
Jason Tomlinson Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Order Data
Jason Tomlinson Ultra High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer- G1 Aircraft Order Data
Jian Wang Fast Integrated Mobility Spectrometer Order Data
Alla Zelenyuk-Imre Mini Single Particle Mass Spectrometer Order Data
Alla Zelenyuk-Imre Single Particle Mass Spectrometer (Ground) Order Data