ACRF Organization
Technical Coordination Office
The ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Technical Coordination Office coordinates the day-to-day technical activities, planning, budgeting, contracting, and interactions with the ACRF science community. The Technical Coordination Office oversees the implementation of user requirements with the Engineering group, Operations, and the Archive Managers, as well as for working with the DOE Program Manager, ARM Chief Scientist, and Science Liaison to coordinate and plan interactions with the science community.
The ACRF Technical Director is the primary point of contact for the ACRF. The ACRF Science Liaison, a member of the Technical Coordination Office, serves as the communication link between the Infrastructure Management Board (IMB) and the ACRF Science Board. The Science Liaison works with the IMB to manage and track field campaigns—referred to within the ARM Program as Intensive Operational Periods (IOPs)—and to promote the use of ACRF by the external scientific community. The Technical Coordinator and the Scientific Liaison work with communications and public relations specialists to promote outreach and to market the available resources at ACRF to the broad scientific community.
Operations
ACRF Operations has the responsibility to implement and operate instruments, collect and process the data, and provide the data to the data archive in a timely manner. ACRF Operations is managed by the Operations Manager. Instruments at the fixed and mobile ACRF sites provide researchers and numerical modelers with a continuous, long-term, quality data set that addresses a wide range of interdisciplinary sciences focused on assessing global climate change. The data collected from the fixed and mobile sites are processed and maintained at a user-friendly data archive.
Safety
The ACRF has implemented a safety management system that applies to work practices at all levels. It requires that feedback information on the adequacy of controls is gathered, opportunities for improving the definition and planning of work are identified and implemented, and line and independent oversight is conducted. The ACRF uses a process that evaluates and improves the program by which work is identified, planned, approved, controlled, and executed. Clear and unambiguous lines of authority and responsibility for ensuring safety are developed before work is performed, the associated hazards are evaluated, and an agreed upon set of safety standards and requirements are established. Readiness is confirmed and work is performed safely. Feedback information on the adequacy of controls is gathered, opportunities for improving the definition and planning of work are identified and implemented, and line and independent oversight is conducted. See our Safety Policy for more information.
Data Quality
The Data Quality (DQ) Office was established in July 2000 to help coordinate the continued evolution and implementation of efforts to ensure the quality of the data collected by ACRF field instrumentation. The DQ Office has the responsibility for ensuring that quality assurance results are communicated to 1) data users so that they may make informed decisions when using the data, and 2) ACRF's Site Operations and Engineers to facilitate improved instrument performance and thereby minimize the amount of unacceptable data collected.
Data Systems
Site Data Systems
The Site Data Systems are used to collect instrument data and transmit the data to the Data Processing Center, where data are processed and quality assured. These data systems include computers and data loggers in direct communications with the instruments and "centralized" systems that aggregate all of the data for a site. These centralized systems also provide on-site and immediate access to scientists conducting research at the field sites.
Data Reprocessing Center
When correctable problems are found in data, reprocessing requests are logged and prioritized for reprocessing at the Data Reprocessing Center. Reprocessing provides for the correction or improvement of existing ARM data. Tasks for reprocessing are largely identified from the problem identification form (PIF) process. Reprocessing provides improved and easier to use data products for the ARM user community. The Reprocessing Center is located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory adjacent to the Data Archive.
Data Archive
The ARM Climate Research Facility Data Archive provides long-term storage and access for all data generated by ARM or collected by ARM from related program (e.g., external data such as NASA satellite data). The Archive Center is located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Data Management Facility
The Data Management Facility (DMF) of ARM performs all of the initial data reception and data processing for ARM data streams. This includes the aggregation of RAW data into daily files and the processing of raw data into NetCDF files for ARM data streams and VAPS (additional derived data streams). The DMF also provides computational resources for VAP development and review. Near-term reprocessing (within a few weeks of the original processing) is also conducted at the DMF (with documentation provided to the reprocessing center). The DMF is located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
External Data Center
The External Data Center collects and processes data from other climate monitoring and research programs. The data are formatted similar to ARM data streams (in NetCDF) as a convenience to the ARM user community. The external data are stored and distributed by the Archive along with the ARM data streams. ARM provides these data from external sources because they are usually not easily accessible from their original source (e.g., not retained in an automated "on line system", not readily indexed for long-term access, are embedded in otherwise very voluminous data structures—satellite data, climate model output). The External Data Center is located at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Engineering
The Engineering team is responsible for development of systems, instruments, software, and hardware for the ACRF. This includes the processes and tools used to govern and guide the engineering development activities. The Engineering group tasks and direction is overseen by the Technical Coordinator and administered by the Engineering Administrators. See Engineering Support for more information.
