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
Revisiting the deepening-warming decoupling theory
21 September 2021
Zheng, Youtong
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Processes
An important but poorly understood phenomenon about the stratocumulus (low-lying blanket-like clouds) is its tendency to transition to cumulus clouds (cauliflower-like clouds) as the sea surface warms, called the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition (SCT). The conventional wisdom is that the SCT is primarily driven by the enhanced evaporation of seawater. We revisit [...]
Detecting the unseen forces controlling thunderstorm formation
16 September 2021
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Distributions/Characterizations
The mountains of central Argentina generate some of the most intense thunderstorms in the world. Using weather radars, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility mapped the complex wind patterns responsible for the development of the clouds that grow into these intense thunderstorms. These [...]
Prediction for cloud spacing confirmed using stereo cameras
15 September 2021
Romps, David
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud Distributions/Characterizations
What sets the sizes of clouds and the spacing between them? For shallow cumulus, we can at least offer an order-of-magnitude answer to this question: the natural length scale in a field of shallow cumulus is the depth of the boundary layer. Unfortunately, this hand-waving is a bit uncomfortable. If [...]