This liquid water plot from SSM/I global data shows long cloud bands and areas of scattered convection (red), including a fairly extensive cloud system in the vicinity of Manus Island in the Tropical Western Pacific (indicated by the white rectangle). ARM file image. For several years, the ARM Program has collected global satellite data for…

With a new school year looming, ARM Climate Research Facility staff involved in the Education and Outreach Program worked with the ARM communications team to develop and implement an updated Education website. The redesigned website includes updated content and a fresh look to complement the recent ARM website redesign. For continuity, the website still features…

The SuomiNet software integrates a network of global positioning systems to distribute spatially and temporally dense atmospheric data in real-time from broad and diverse regions. ARM file photo. ARM Program scientists are concentrating on developing techniques for obtaining the best possible water vapor measurements under a wide range of conditions (clear/cloudy, day/night, etc.). In 2001,…

Thanks to quick actions on the part of numerous ARM Climate Research Facility operations staff, an Extended Range Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (ER-AERI) is on its way to Oliktok Point, Alaska. As part of an ongoing instrument comparison, two ER-AERIs (one a permanent ARM instrument, the other a “visitor”) have been operating side by side…

Development of the new 2-channel NFOV (right) benefited greatly from a comparison with the original 1-channel version (left). ARM file photo. Development of a new, two-channel narrow field of view (NFOV) radiometer for the ARM Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains site is nearly complete. The two-channel NFOV replaces a similar single-channel instrument that was…

Summary of the ARM Climate Research Facility User Site Visits, Archive Accounts, and Research Computer Accounts for the Period of October 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004. ARM image. Far exceeding the established milestone of 800 users in fiscal year 2004, at the end of June the ARM Climate Research Facility reported a cumulative total…

As shown in this aerial photo of Oliktok Point, Alaska, the USAF Long Range Radar Station—also known as Dew Line Station—is situated at the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Instrumentation for the ARM Program’s M-PACE experiment will be located just south of the station, near the aircraft hangar. (Photo courtesy of Aeromap U.S.) After more…

As shown in this partial screen capture, the Real Time Monitoring and Control feature displays data that allows local observers to quickly check the status of the instrument system. ARM file image. As part of ongoing effort to upgrade data loggers and logging systems throughout the ARM Climate Research Facility, new Campbell Loggers (version CR23X)…

April was a record month for the ARM Climate Research Facility Data Archive, with 1.2 terabytes (or 1.2 trillion bytes) of data delivered to customers, and about 1 terabyte of data delivered and stored in the Archive. This impressive statistic represents 450,000 files retrieved—roughly double the largest previous month of data distribution! This trend continued…

In April, operations personnel completed a series of cost-saving data communication changes at the ARM Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) locale. The T-1 telephone lines at the four SGP boundary facilities were replaced with satellite dish technology. This change still allows large data sets to be transferred at acceptable bandwidth but at substantial…