Monterey California is selected as the site for the first deployment of the ARM Mobile Facility

The Monterey region of the central California coast has been selected as the site for the first deployment of the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF). A project entitled `MArine Stratus Radiation, Aerosol, and Drizzle--Intensive Observation Period (MASRAD)' to use the facility was proposed by Mark A. Miller, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Anthony Bucholtz, Naval Research Laboratory; and Bruce Albrecht and Pavlos Kollias, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami. The purpose of the project is to study the microphysical and radiative characteristics of marine stratus clouds, one of the most prevalent forms of clouds on the planet Earth. The proposed research received high praise from the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Science Board, a respected group of scientists who reviewed proposals for the first AMF deployment. The ARM Mobile Facility, with instrumentation and data systems similar to ARM remote sites in NSA and TWP, has been designed to address science questions beyond those addressed by current fixed sites. The AMF can operate in any environment, from the cold of the Arctic to the heat of the tropics. Instrument capabilities include the standard meteorological instrumentation, broadband and spectral radiometer suite, and remote sensing instruments. With this suite of instruments, the AMF will be able to provide researchers with data from various climatic regimes not previously explored. The study of marine stratus clouds has two main scientific objectives: (1) to investigate the general relationship between cloud mesoscale structure, aerosols, cloud microphysics, drizzle, and radiation in marine stratus clouds, and (2) the specific effects of aerosols on the discrepancy between the measured and modeled amount of solar radiation absorbed by these clouds. The effects of aerosols on the amount of solar radiation absorbed by marine stratus will be quantified using similar methods supplemented by state-of-the-art in-cloud radiation measurements made from aircraft. These combined measurements will improve on previous studies addressing the discrepancy between models and observations of the solar absorption of clouds by direct and accurate observation of the ambient aerosols, surface albedo, and downwelling solar flux. The project is expected to leverage existing experimental activities being conducted in the Monterey area during the summer of 2005 in conjunction with ongoing and planned research supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and, potentially, the Naval Research Laboratory, and DOE's Atmospheric Science Program that was reconfigured to focusing on aerosol forcing of climate beginning in FY 2005.

High Speed Internet Service Established at Oliktok, Alaska

Thanks to a collaboration with Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC), Starband satellite internet service to Oliktok — located on the eastern side of ARM’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site — is being established to support the ARM Program’s Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (M-PACE). With various modes of 50kb up/500kb down data transfer available, this new internet service will substantially enhance data transfer rates during the M-PACE, scheduled to begin in Fall 2004. M-PACE will provide critical measurements to aid in understanding mixed-phase (ice and water) clouds wherever they occur, leading to improvements in cloud models used in simulating global climate. BASC is providing the hardware for the link, and the service rates are inexpensive. This internet service may also be available for Atqasuk (another ARM locale at NSA) and Deadhorse (M-PACE headquarters) in the future, and is already in place at the Toolik Field Station, another locale where M-PACE research will be conducted. A not-for-profit organization based in Barrow, Alaska, BASC is dedicated to the encouragement of research and educational activities pertaining to Alaska’s North Slope and the adjacent portions of the Arctic Ocean. Arctic residents and scientists are seeing and experiencing environmental changes that include increased thawing of permafrost, changes in the extent and thickness of sea ice, shifts in patterns of rainfall and snowfall, and changes in tundra growth. The ARM NSA Site Manager was recently elected chair of the BASC Scientific Management Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the BASC Board of Directors regarding research projects, educational outreach, and management of the Barrow Environmental Observatory.