Overview of ARM cloud and precipitation observations during the AMIE/DYNAMO/CINDY field campaign

In association with the DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation) and CINDY-2011 (Cooperative Indian Ocean experiment on intraseasonal variability in the Year 2011) campaigns, the US Department of Energy funded the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) MJO Investigation Experiment (AMIE) that included measurements with the second ARM mobile facility (AMF2) in Addu City, Maldives and at the permanent ARM site on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. The dual-pronged nature of the AMIE experiment allowed observation of both MJO initiation in the Indian Ocean (at the Maldives site) and the mature phase of the MJO as it passes over the maritime continent (at the Manus site).

In the Maldives, the AMF2 was located on Gan Island, at the Addu airport. The AMF2 consists of a full suite of atmospheric instrumentation including surface meteorological instruments, radiometers, vertically pointing ceilometer, cloud radar and lidar, and a 2D video disdrometer. As part of the AMF2 deployment, the dual-wavelength Scanning ARM Cloud Radar (SACR) was also deployed 9 km from the airport to document the 3D spatial characteristics of the cloud field. At Manus, a similar suite of instruments is available at the permanent ARM facility.

In this presentation, we give an overview of the ARM cloud and precipitation observations during AMIE, including dataset availability, instrument performance, and initial results.