Experiments
The SPARC & SPARClet facilities have been regularly involved in field campaigns focusing on various topics in atmospheric science
Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ)
2014-07-16 to 2014-08-18
Organizer: NCAR
Location: Colorado Front Range
The Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ) field campaign will take place from July 16-August 16, 2014. FRAPPÉ investigators are seeking to quantify components affecting air quality in the Colorado Front Range, and use the measurements gathered during the experiment to study summertime ozone pollution. Measurements will come from airborne instruments as well as ground-based instruments, such as those in Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC).
FRAPPÉ is a collaborative effort between the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, UC Berkeley, and other university collaborators, local projects and agencies including local school districts, NASA, NOAA, and NCAR. The mission will be closely coordinated with the NASA DISCOVER-AQ project, which has agreed to conduct its final aircraft deployment in the Colorado Front Range.
DISCOVER-AQ brings three aircraft to Colorado: The NASA P-3 is instrumented for comprehensive in-situ measurements, the NASA King Air will measure aerosol parameters with a downward looking LIDAR and make integrated column measurements of some tracers, and the NASA Falcon will carry the GeoTASO instrument, which also measures column amounts of a number of tracers. We will also be joined by the Mooney TLS aircraft, which will measure CH4 and NMHC emissions at low altitudes, bringing the number of research aircraft to five.
Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN)
2015-06-01 to 2015-07-05
Organizer: NSF
Location: Hays, Kansas
The PECAN (Plains Elevated Convection at Night) campaign was envisioned as a multi-agency project (NSF, NOAA, NASA, DOE) designed to advance the understanding of continental, nocturnal, warm-season precipitation. PECAN was focused on nocturnal convection in conditions over the Southern Great Plains with a stable boundary layer (SBL), a nocturnal low-level jet (NLLJ) and the largest CAPE (Convectively Available Potential Energy) located above the SBL. Thunderstorms are most common after sunset across this region in summer and much of the resulting precipitation falls from mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Nocturnal MCSs may produce heavy rainfall; their intensity is correlated with the NLLJ. To date, an accurate prediction and an in-depth understanding of elevated convection in this environment remains an elusive goal.
Combined HSRL and Raman lidar Measurement Study (CHARMS)
2015
Organizer: DOE
Location: DOE ARM SGP site, Lamont, Oklahoma
Recent advances in both lidar retrieval theory and algorithm development demonstrate that vertically resolved retrievals using such multi-wavelength lidar measurements of aerosol backscatter and extinction can help constrain both the aerosol optical (e.g., complex refractive index, scattering, etc.) and microphysical properties (e.g., effective radius, concentrations) as well as provide qualitative aerosol classification. Based on this work, the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) HSRL group developed automated algorithms for classifying and retrieving aerosol optical and microphysical properties, demonstrated these retrievals using data from the unique NASA/LaRC airborne multi-wavelength HSRL-2 system, and validated the results using coincident airborne in situ data. The CHARMS data set was collected to attempt similar retrievals using ground-based lidar data at SGP.
Lake Michigan Ozone Study (LMOS)
May – June 2017
Organizers: NASA, NOAA, NSF
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
The 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Study (LMOS 2017) was a collaborative, multi‐agency field study of ozone chemistry and meteorology along the Wisconsin‐Illinois Lake Michigan shoreline using a combination of aircraft, ground‐based and ship‐based measurements. The Lake Michigan region has persistently high ozone concentrations that are impacted by complex meteorology and significant transport of pollutants. The overall goal of the study was to better understand ozone formation and transport around Lake Michigan to assist researchers and air quality managers who study, predict, and manage ozone concentrations in the region. Two particularly challenging study areas are understanding the factors that determine the size, location, timing, and intensity of ozone-rich air masses, and understanding the details of the chemistry and meteorology that create the sharp gradients in ozone concentrations often observed between the lakeshore and nearby inland locations.The collection of measurement assets deployed is conceptually illustrated on the right.
Field activities were conducted from May 22‐June 22, 2017 and included two aircraft (one for remote sampling and one for in situ profiling), two ground based super sites (Sheboygan, WI and Zion, IL) outfitted with remote sensing and in situ measurements, three mobile sampling platforms measuring lakeshore‐inland ozone concentration gradients or conditions on the lake surface, and additional ground‐based remote sensing instruments collocated at several other shoreline monitoring locations. Air quality and meteorological forecasts provided flight planning guidance and in‐field evaluation of model prediction skill during the study.
Land – Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE)
August 2017
Organizer: DOE
Location: DOE ARM SGP site, Lamont, Oklahoma
The Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE) will deploy several state-of-the-art scanning lidar and remote sensing systems to the ARM Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains Megasite (SGP). These instruments will augment the ARM instrument suite to collect a data set for studying feedback processes between the land surface and the atmosphere. The novel synergy of remote sensing systems will be applied for simultaneous measurements of land-surface fluxes as well as horizontal and vertical transport processes in the atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL). The impact of spatial inhomogeneities of the soil-vegetation continuum on land surface atmosphere (LSA) feedback will be studied using the scanning capability of the instrumentation.
Propagation of Intra-Seasonal Tropical Oscillations (PISTON)
2018-2019
Organizer: Office of Naval Research
Location: South China Sea
While numerous tropical intra-seasonal oscillations exist, PISTON will primarily target the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO). The BSISO defines the northward and eastward movement of the Asian monsoon during northern-hemispheric (boreal) summertime. This oscillation has been observed to impact weather across the Maritime Continent and into the southeastern portions of continental Asia, and even weather within the United States. The BSISO is rather complex, and PISTON is therefore an extensive field campaign, involving both intensive numerical modeling and observational activities. Namely, the PISTON campaign emphasizes two scientific questions:
- How do localized features such as island orography and individual thunderstorms influence tropical intraseasonal oscillations?
- How does variability in large-scale atmospheric circulations over the South China Sea influence the diurnal cycle, synoptic systems, and interactions between the atmosphere and ocean within the Maritime Continent?
Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors (CHEESEHEAD)
2019-06-24 to 2019-10-11
Organizer: NSF
Location: Park Falls, Wisconsin
The Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors (CHEESEHEAD) is an intensive field campaign designed specifically to address long-standing puzzles regarding the role of atmospheric boundary-layer responses to scales of spatial heterogeneity in surface-atmosphere heat and water exchanges. A high-density observing network will be coupled to large-eddy simulation experiments to advance spatiotemporal scaling methods for heterogeneous land surface properties and fluxes, evaluate realistic large eddy simulations in complex landscapes, and test theories on the scales at which the lower atmosphere responds to surface heterogeneity. The proposed experiment generates knowledge relevant to many scientific applications in the national interest such as numerical weather prediction, energy resources, and computational fluid dynamics. Field support outreach and teacher training is included via middle, high school, and undergraduate student involvement at nearby schools and colleges.
Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER)
2022-06-01 to 2022-09-30
Organizer: DOE
Location: Houston, Texas
During the TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER), scientists will use the first ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1), the second-generation C-Band Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (CSAPR2), and a small satellite (ancillary) site with radiosonde and aerosol measurements to learn more about cloud and aerosol interactions in the deep convection over the Houston, Texas, area.
The Houston region offers a unique environment where isolated convective systems are common and experience a spectrum of polluted aerosol conditions from urban and industrial areas. In addition, surrounding areas also show significantly lower background aerosol concentrations.
TRACER also will include a four-month intensive operational period (IOP). A climatological analysis of radar observations from the Houston/Galveston-area NEXRAD (KHGX) shows that convective initiation occurs in this area on 40 to 55 percent of the days each month of the year. The total number of convective events is strongly peaked during the months of June through September. To capture these events, the TRACER IOP will run from June 1 to September 30, 2022.