About the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF)
ACRF Participates in IPY
Beginning March 1, 2007, the Department of Energy's ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) located in the North Slope of Alaska will participate in the International Polar Year (IPY) by hosting experiments and outreach activities.
To learn more about ACRF contributions to IPY, see the ACRF IPY web page.
Through the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has funded the development of several highly instrumented ground stations, a mobile facility, and an aerial vehicles program for studying cloud formation processes and their influence on radiative transfer, and for measuring other parameters that determine the radiative properties of the atmosphere. This scientific infrastructure, and resultant data archive, is a valuable national and international asset for advancing scientific knowledge of Earth systems. To provide more research capability for the global scientific community, these capabilities are now being made available for use by scientists worldwide through the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF). While the ACRF does not provide direct funding for scientific research, small amounts of funding may be provided to allow the facility to assist with logistics, the development of datastreams and archiving, and other infrastructure activities associated with using the facility. The ACRF has enormous potential to contribute to a wide range of interdisciplinary science in areas such as hydrology, ecology, and weather forecasting to name only a few. The ACRF Science Board reviews proposals for use of the ACRF and makes recommendations on scientific research projects to be conducted at the fixed and mobile ACRF sites.
Mission Statement
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) has been designated a national user facility for the purpose of providing this unique asset for the study of global change to the broader national and international research community. Research at this facility will include the study of alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. Global change research also includes the study, monitoring, assessment, prediction, and information management activities to describe and understand:
- The interactive physical, chemical, and biological processes that regulate the total Earth system
- The unique environment that the Earth provides for life
- The changes that are occurring in the Earth system and the environment and how these changes are influenced by human actions.
