Members of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s science team are major contributors to radiation and cloud research. Scientists and investigators using ARM publish about 150 peer-reviewed journal articles per year, and ARM data are used in many studies published by other scientific organizations. These documented research efforts represent tangible evidence of ARM’s contribution to advances in almost all areas of atmospheric radiation and cloud research.
Research Highlights
Recent Highlights
Thermals, thermal chains, and plumes: what controls the basic structure of cumulus convection?
9 April 2021
Morrison, Hugh Clifton; Peters, John Michael
Supported by:
Research area: Vertical Velocity
Two basic conceptual models have traditionally served as a basis for understanding moist convection in the atmosphere: plumes and thermals. Plumes consist of a “chimney” of rising air, while thermals are discrete rising bubbles. Whether cumulus convection is more plume-like or thermal-like has important implications for how clouds entrain and [...]
Anthropogenic aerosols prolong fog lifetime
8 April 2021
Liu, Yangang
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
Aerosol-cloud interactions, especially aerosol effects on cloud lifetime, remain uncertain and pose great challenges to the scientific community. Challenges stem from the lack of long-term measurements and covariation of aerosol and meteorological variables that can mask aerosol effects. This study addresses these problems by analyzing decades-long measurements in China of [...]
AI scales up processed-based aerosol modeling
6 April 2021
Riemer, Nicole; West, Matthew
Supported by:
Research area: Aerosol Processes
This study produced global maps that show how the chemicals in atmospheric aerosols are more or less mixed within particles. These maps were produced by a machine-learning model that was first trained on expensive high-detail simulations of aerosols and then applied to global Earth system model output.