ARM has been monitoring the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in the United States. We hope you and your families are staying healthy.

ARM is currently planning for the TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER), scheduled to start next year in the Houston, Texas, area. However, with COVID cases increasing, we are concerned about keeping TRACER participants safe. Also, COVID continues to affect travel and operations at DOE national laboratories and many research institutions. Because of these impacts, ARM is postponing the start date of the TRACER field campaign from April 15 to June 1, 2021.

At this time, there are no changes to the dates of the TRACER intensive operational period (IOP), still scheduled from June 1 to September 30, 2021. A final decision on a possible delay to the IOP start date will be made in late January.

As with all decisions related to fieldwork, ARM’s primary consideration in maintaining or delaying the IOP start date will be the safety of staff and collaborators. We will provide an update on the IOP status once a decision is made.

Operations continue at ARM atmospheric observatories, though most sites are closed to visitors. (The Southern Great Plains observatory will consider visit requests on a case-by-case basis.) Most instruments are operating normally, but our sites remain vulnerable to instrument outages because of staff travel restrictions. We are closely watching the situation.

We will continue to share information with you as conditions change, but please contact us if you have questions about the status of the facility.

Thank you for your flexibility and patience during this time.

Jim Mather
ARM Technical Director