AMIE: A two-pronged campaign to study the MJO in collaboration with DYNAMO and CINDY2011

A large, international field campaign focused on the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) has been organized starting October 1, 2011. The DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program is conducting the ARM MJO Investigation Experiment (AMIE) in collaboration with the DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation) and CINDY2011 (Cooperative Indian Ocean experiment on intraseasonal variability in the Year 2011) campaigns as part of the over-arching MJO study. AMIE has two components, one located on the Addu Atoll, Maldives in the Indian Ocean, with the main site on Gan Island where the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) is deployed (the AMIE-Gan campaign). The other component is located at the ARM Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) site on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (AMIE-Manus). Data gathered at these two sites will allow studies of the initiation, propagation, and evolution of convective clouds within the framework of the MJO, including comparisons of characteristics between the newly formed and more mature phases experienced at the two locations. The AMIE campaigns run six months, from October 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012.

Both the AMIE-Gan and AMIE-Manus sites feature a full suite of atmospheric instruments including surface radiation and meteorological measurements, as well as measurements of atmospheric state and cloud and precipitation characterization. In particular, a continuous 8/day series of radiosondes will be launched throughout the entire six months at both sites. In this presentation, we will give a brief overview of the AMIE campaign, including examples of atmospheric state, radiation, and cloud macrophysical results, and preliminary comparisons of these variables between the two sites.