In the latest newsletter of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), the opening commentary features the use of data acquired from the ARM Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains site. The detailed data sets are described as a “benchmark against which [global climate model] GCM developers can compare their model codes for cloud-free,…

As of October 1, Dr. Mark Ivey officially became the ARM Climate Research Facility’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) Site Manager. From 1993 to 2000, Mark worked for the ARM Program as manager of the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Atmospheric Radiation and Cloud Station (ARCS) engineering team and ARCS integration site at Sandia National Laboratories.…

Extremely low temperatures and humidity in the northern hemisphere make it very difficult to obtain accurate precipitation measurements. However, because the impacts of climate change are shown to occur most rapidly in the sensitive Arctic environment, these measurements are needed for characterizing boundary layer (surface to 1000-m altitude) conditions and simulating cloud formation as input…

Because Earth’s atmosphere is comprised almost entirely of nitrogen and oxygen (78% and 21% by volume, respectively), the remaining 1% of the gases are referred to as “trace gases.” Trace gases include harmless inert gases, such as helium and neon, but also radiatively active gases, like methane and carbon dioxide. These latter gases, especially carbon…

Microscopic airborne particles are commonly referred to as “aerosols.” Every one of the trillions of droplets in a cloud originates on one of these tiny “cloud condensation nuclei” (CCN). Through their role as CCN, aerosols affect cloud properties by altering the concentration of cloud droplets, and the brightness (reflectivity) and lifetime of clouds. These “indirect…

In the far northern reaches of Alaska, extended periods of both darkness and daylight occur throughout the year. Additionally, extremely cold weather conditions contribute to a harsh operating environment for research equipment. Therefore, broadband radiometers at the ARM North Slope of Alaska (NSA) site are equipped with electric heaters inside the ventilators to keep frost…

As reported in May, all the ARM sites are benefiting from new and upgraded micropulse lidars. This month, the new lidar was received in Darwin, Australia, with training provided by a representative of Sigma Space Corporation, the manufacturer of the instrument. The other two sites in ARM’s Tropical Western Pacific locale—Manus and Nauru Island—will receive…