Operations Updates
ARM Climate Research Facility Operations Update - March 31, 2005
This bimonthly report provides a brief summary of significant accomplishments and activities in the operations area of the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF).
15th Annual ARM Science Team Meeting Begins with a Roar
Talk about a change of scenery. Scientists replaced Harley riders as the 15th Annual ARM Science Team Meeting began March 14-18, 2005, in Daytona Beach, Florida, just as thousands of motorcycles involved in Daytona's 64th Annual "Bike Week" roared out of town. Almost 300 participants from 10 countries came together for this once-a-year opportunity to discuss their findings with program counterparts and plan for upcoming atmospheric research and field campaigns. In addition to formal presentations by invited speakers and breakout sessions covering specific research areas, more than 221 posters were on site for scientists to review and discuss results emerging from cloud and radiation measurement and modeling research.
At the Monday evening reception of the 2005 ARM Science Team Meeting, Dr. Ferrell presented Dr. Ackerman with a plaque-signed by Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, Director of DOE's Office of Science- recognizing his years of service as Chief Scientist of the ARM Program. Dr. Ackerman steps down from this role at the end of 2005.
Dr. Wanda Ferrell, ARM Program Manager, opened the plenary session on March 15 with statements regarding the Program's accomplishments since the 2004 Science Team Meeting. In addition to recognizing the completion of the ARM Mobile Facility, Dr. Ferrell also highlighted a successful infrastructure review and the award of funding to nine new principal investigators. She then delivered the welcome news of a proposed increase to the ARM science budget in 2006-the first increase in 10 years.
"An increase in the science budget request is a reflection of the positive view that the Office of Science and the Office of Management and Budget have for the ARM Program," said Dr. Ferrell.
Following Dr. Ferrell's address, Dr. Tom Ackerman reviewed the "state of ARM" by reviewing his first presentation as Chief Scientist six years ago. Notable advances made during his tenure include the establishment of an ARM site in the Tropical Western Pacific locale; testing of ARM parameterizations in climate and weather prediction models; development of stronger connections with the international atmospheric community; and publication of a new Science Plan to guide ARM into the next five years.
Speedier Data Delivery Assists Storm Forecasters
SuomiNet is an international network of global positioning system (GPS) receivers, configured and managed to generate near real-time estimates of precipitable water vapor in the atmosphere, total electron content in the ionosphere, and other meteorological and geodetic information. Last fall, scientific collaborators at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Forecast Systems Laboratory identified a time-delay in the availability of SuomiNet data from the ACRF's Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma. This delay was impacting short-range weather forecasts used by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Data from the SGP Extended Facilities was being collected in half-hour increments and delivered about 15 minutes later to the SuomiNet data repository. In contrast, SuomiNet data collected by other organizations in the region were being delivered 3 to 5 minutes after the same half-hour collection increment. Because the SGP hosts a large concentration of GPS receivers-15 to be exact-dedicated to atmospheric research, this lag in data availability created a major gap in regional coverage.
The plot on the left shows all GPS-Met observations for a given time period, with black dots indicating missing data. One hour later, the plot on the right shows those same observations with most of the missing data filled in. (Image courtesy of the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory.)
Recently completed communication upgrades now deliver SuomiNet data from the SGP Extended Facilities to an ftp server at the SGP Central Facility within 1 to 2 minutes from collection. These data are then automatically picked up by NOAA through a routine acquisition process. By improving the data delivery system of the SGP SuomiNet installations, ACRF data can now be included in the Forecast Systems Laboratory's weather forecast model and will improve their ability to accurately forecast severe storms in the region.
Since 1993, NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory, other government agencies, and universities have relied on SGP facilities and resources to help develop ground based GPS water vapor observing systems. They also use the site to perform data intercomparisons in assessing the systems' characteristics and evaluating their suitability for climate research and observing system (primarily radiosonde and satellite) calibration and validation.
DeskPRO Database Streamlines Data Status
On a given day, the ACRF Data Management Facility (DMF) handles anywhere from 2.4 to 2.9 gigabytes of raw atmospheric data collected by instruments from sites around the globe. Once at the DMF, the data is processed into meaningful data sets that scientists can use to conduct their research. The DMF will soon implement a new reporting system called DeskPRO that will allow users to notify DMF staff of problems with the data or inquire about the status of specific data. Once installed, DeskPRO will allow DMF staff to track these issues in a database, rather than the current inefficient method of sifting through emails.
Because data collected by the DMF enables the research conducted by ARM scientists and collaborators, timely information about its quality and availability is critical. DeskPRO is an advanced customer relationship management "ticket" system with a wide range of tracking features, and imposes no limits on the number of users or entries. The application supports custom fields in each ticket for each user. Those custom fields can be searched, reported on, graphed, and referenced in emails. DeskPRO has been used with great success since 2002 at the ACRF Southern Great Plains site to track operational issues; it will now help the DMF track data issues more efficiently, saving time and money in the process.
