AMF Deployment, Los Angeles, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii
From October 2012 through September 2013, the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) will be deployed on the container ship Spirit, operated by Horizon Lines, for the Marine ARM GPCI* Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC) field campaign. During approximately 20 round trips between Los Angeles, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, AMF2 will obtain continuous on-board measurements of cloud and precipitation, aerosols, and atmospheric radiation; surface meteorological and oceanographic variables; and atmospheric profiles from weather balloons launched every six hours.
During two two-week intensive observational periods in January and July 2013, additional instruments will be deployed and balloon soundings will be increased to every three hours. These additional data will provide a more detailed characterization of the state of the atmosphere and its daily cycle during two distinctly different seasons.
The primary objective of MAGIC is to improve the representation of the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition in climate models. The MAGIC science team will use AMF2 data to document the small-scale physical processes associated with turbulence, convection, and radiation in a variety of marine cloud types. These variables are currently unrealistic in climate models due to a lack of adequate observational data.
Because the Los Angeles/Honolulu route lies closely along the cross-section used for the GPCI, the data collected will provide constraint, validation, and support for the GPCI modeling activities and other associated international modeling efforts.
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