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Chasing Down the Science of Thunderstorms
Dual campaigns are underway in Argentina, where the largest convective storms in the world gather and grow The video describes the work being done during ARM’s Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign in the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range of north-central Argentina. CACTI is designed to improve understanding of cloud life cycle…
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LASSO Case Study: Tapping ARM’s Doppler Lidars
To improve models, researchers tap Doppler lidars to estimate critical cloud-based updrafts and downdrafts that carry heat and moisture Cumulus clouds, low and rain-free, get their name from the Latin word for “heap.” With flat bases and puffy upper surfaces, such clouds appear to bubble into the sky, turning grey at the bottom and brilliant…
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UEC Profile: Postcards from the Clouds
One scientist, inspired early by world travel and the power of tropical storms, uses radar to investigate how large convective systems organize This is the ninth article in a series of profiles on members of the ARM User Executive Committee (UEC). For the past 15 years, Courtney Schumacher has been teaching atmospheric sciences and radar…
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Merged Multisensor Cloud-Precipitation Mask and Cloud Type Data Now Available for GoAmazon2014/15
A newly available ARM principal investigator product can be used by scientists to better characterize cloud and precipitation profiles of all conditions, including during heavy precipitation from storms, as well as to validate model simulations. The Merged RWP-WACR-ARSCL Cloud Mask and Cloud Type data set for the GoAmazon2014/15 field campaign has been released for the years…
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ICECAPS Gets the Last Word
The back-page “Back Scatter” feature in a recent Physics Today devoted a long note and a dramatic picture to ICECAPS, a project designed to better understand regional cloud and atmosphere processes above the Greenland ice sheet. ICECAPS, formally known as the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit project, is funded…
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The Impact of Soil Moisture on Rain
Two University of Arizona researchers solve an old puzzle about the prevalence of rain and agricultural activity A new paper, based on research funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), strongly demonstrates “the substantial scientific value” of comprehensive data from the Southern Great Plains (SGP) atmospheric observatory, which is part of the Atmospheric…
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EMSL Wants Your Atmospheric Proposals
EMSL’s call for FY 2019 General Cycle Proposals is open until Sept. 1 at 11 p.m. PDT. The General Cycle call is for small-scale research projects and targeted projects in specific ice nuclei or organic aerosol areas. Details are available on EMSL’s website.
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A Years-Long Storm of Good Papers
A 2011 field campaign on convective clouds has so far yielded 57 papers and some transformative science MC3E, or the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment, has a name almost as big as the Midwestern sky it investigated more than seven years ago. Then again, there was a lot to do. Improve what we know about…
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ARM Field Campaigns Add to Year of Polar Prediction Research
International effort seeks observations to help improve polar modeling and forecasting Right now, unmanned aerial systems are busy gathering data on atmospheric boundary layer properties, clouds, aerosols, and precipitation during an Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility field campaign at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The Profiling at Oliktok Point to Enhance YOPP Experiments (POPEYE) field campaign,…
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ARM Computation Clusters Meet the Needs of High-Volume Data Users
It wasn’t long ago that scientists downloading high volumes of data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility worked with that data locally using their own computing resources. However, with data volume and complexity escalating, user options for large-scale projects were needed. In 2017, ARM introduced a new capability for its scientific users—computation clusters…