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
A new route to studying how aerosols form ice crystals
1 March 2021
Fast, Jerome D
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
Atmospheric clouds, which contain a combination of small liquid droplets and frozen crystals, influence our weather and climate. Clouds are made up of unfrozen liquid droplets, supercooled water droplets, and/or ice crystals, depending on the altitude in the atmosphere. Effectively modeling atmospheric clouds requires understanding the fractions of these two [...]
Simulating the effects of surface energy partitioning on convective organization
23 February 2021
Williams, Ian N.
Supported by:
Research area: Surface Properties
Simulations reveal that wet soil can lead to better organized convection than dry, constituting a positive rainfall feedback, despite earlier triggering over dry soil. The effects of cold pools on convective organization vary with surface wetness and convective life cycle stage.
Competing aerosol effects trigger convection over the Indo-Gangetic Plain
17 February 2021
Li, Zhanqing
Supported by:
Research area: Cloud-Aerosol-Precipitation Interactions
Competing aerosol-induced thermodynamic and microphysical effects are examined using observational and modeling frameworks to characterize their relative roles in deep convection over the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This is an important science issue in the study of cloud-aerosol-precipitation interactions, especially in the highly populated Asian monsoon region.