DOE ARM Climate Research Facility – Cloud, Atmosphere, Aerosol, and Surface Measurements for Climate Model Evaluation and Advancement

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility, a DOE national scientific user facility, has recently enhanced its observational capabilities at its fixed and mobile sites as well as its aerial facility. New capabilities include scanning radars, several types of lidars, an array of aerosol instruments, and in situ cloud probes. All ARM sites have been equipped with dual frequency scanning cloud radars that will provide three-dimensional observations of cloud fields for analysis of cloud field evolution. Sites in Oklahoma, Alaska, and Papua New Guinea have also received scanning centimeter wavelength radars for observing precipitation fields. This combination of radars will provide the means to study the interaction of clouds and precipitation. New lidars include a Raman lidar in Darwin, Australia and High Spectral Resolution Lidars in Barrow and with the second ARM Mobile Facility. Each of these lidars will provide profiles of aerosol extinction while the Raman will also measure profiles of water vapor. Scanning Doppler Lidars have been added to our Southern Great Plains, Darwin, and our first Mobile Facility. ARM has also expanded its capabilities in the realm of aerosol observations. ARM is adding Aerosol Observing Systems to its sites in Darwin and the second mobile facility. These aerosol systems principally provided measurements of aerosol optical properties. Additionally, a new Mobile Aerosol Observing System has been developed that includes a variety of instruments to provide information about aerosol chemistry and size distributions. Many of these aerosol instruments are also available for the ARM Aerial Facility. The Aerial Facility also now includes a variety of cloud probes for measuring size distribution and water content. Building on these new capabilities, ARM is adding two new research sites based on our expanded observational strategy and multidimensional measurements. A permanent research site will be added in the Azores and a third Mobile Facility will be deployed at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The new array of ARM instruments and sites are intended to build upon the existing ARM capabilities to better study the interactions among aerosol, clouds, and precipitation. Data from these instruments are now available and the development of advanced data products is underway.