About the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF)
ACRF Laboratory Partners
The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF), supported by the DOE Office of Science, unites the expertise of nine national laboratories:
| Argonne | Lawrence Livermore | Oak Ridge |
| Brookhaven | Los Alamos | Pacific Northwest |
| Lawrence Berkeley | National Renewable Energy | Sandia |
This partnership supports the DOE mission to provide for the energy security of the nation. This mission includes climate impacts of current and future energy production and developing solutions based on a sound energy strategy.
Through the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded the development of several highly instrumented ground stations, two mobile facilities, and an aerial facility 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 available for use by scientists worldwide through the ARM Climate Research Facility. This user facility has enormous potential to advance scientific knowledge in a wide range of interdisciplinary Earth sciences.
Mission Statement
The ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) is a DOE national user facility for the study of global change by the national and international research community. Research at this facility includes 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.
Using the Facility
The ACRF Science Board reviews proposals for use of the facility and makes recommendations on scientific research projects to be conducted at the fixed and mobile ACRF sites. While the ACRF does not provide direct funding for scientific research, small amounts of funding may be provided to assist with logistics, the development of datastreams and archiving, and other infrastructure activities associated with using the facility.
