ARM

Preparations Underway for 2007 ARM Mobile Facility Deployment in Germany

In the Black Forest region of Germany, the COPS field campaign will cover an area of about 700km2, as circled in red in the illustration above. The AMF will collect measurements from the floor of the Murg Valley. ARM file photo.
In the Black Forest region of Germany, the COPS field campaign will cover an area of about 700km2, as circled in red in the illustration above. The AMF will collect measurements from the floor of the Murg Valley. ARM file photo.

In collaboration with researchers from the University of Hohenheim (Germany), the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) will be deployed in 2007 as part of the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS), taking place in the Black Forest area of Germany. Orographic precipitation refers to rainfall resulting from atmospheric uplift (convection) in mountainous terrain. The COPS region is characterized by significant amounts of this type of precipitation, particularly in the summertime. Due to major challenges in predicting this type of precipitation, the area was chosen as a natural laboratory for a 9-month convection study within the 6-year duration of the German Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting (QPF) Program. The aim of this program is to identify the reasons for deficiencies in rainfall as predicted by the QPF. Beginning in March 2007, the AMF will collect data midway along the orographic path that, when combined with coincident radar and satellite observational data prior to significant convection and during maximum convection, will be used to improve the representation of convective clouds in models and to develop strategies for determining cloud climatologies in complex terrain.

Specific goals of the 6-year QPF program—funded by the German Research Foundation—are to:

  • Identify the physical and chemical processes responsible for deficits
  • Explore and apply existing and new data sets for improved representation of relevant processes
  • Determine the predictability of precipitation using statistical dynamical analyses.

As part of this broader program, the COPS field campaign will obtain data for single-column modeling over low-mountain complex terrain and for improving precipitation forecasting. Extensive efforts will focus on observing the 4-dimensional state of the atmosphere, from the pre-convective environment, to the initiation of convection, to the formation of clouds, to the development and decay of precipitation. These efforts involve the operation of four heavily instrumented “supersites” situated throughout the COPS region. The AMF is one of these supersites.

Site visits and planning are well underway by AMF scientists and operations staff to prepare for the 2007 campaign, after the AMF is moved from its present deployment location in Niamey, Niger, West Africa. Site layouts have been drafted and coordination is progressing smoothly with local landowners in the Black Forest region.

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