Mark D. Ivey

An Overview of ARM Program Climate Research Facility Data Quality Assurance.

We present an overview of key aspects of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Climate Research Facility (ACRF) data quality assurance program. Processes described include instrument deployment and cali- bration; instrument and facility maintenance; data collection and processing infrastructure; data stream inspection and as- sessment; problem reporting, review and resolution; data archival, display and distribution; data stream reprocessing; en- gineering and operations management; and the roles of value-added data processing and targeted field campaigns in speci- fying data quality and characterizing field measurements. The paper also includes a discussion of recent directions in ACRF data quality assurance. A comprehensive, end-to-end data quality assurance program is essential for producing a high-quality data set from measurements made by automated weather and climate networks. The processes developed dur- ing the ARM Program offer a possible framework for use by other instrumentation- and geographically-diverse data col- lection networks and highlight the myriad aspects that go into producing research-quality data.

Quality Assurance of ARM Program Climate Research Facility Data

This report documents key aspects of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF) data quality assurance program as it existed in 2008. The performance of ACRF instruments, sites, and data systems is measured in terms of the availability, usability, and accessibility of the data to a user. First, the data must be available to users; that is, the data must be collected by instrument systems, processed, and delivered to a central repository in a timely manner. Second, the data must be usable; that is, the data must be inspected and deemed of sufficient quality for scientific research purposes, and data users must be able to readily tell where there are known problems in the data. Finally, the data must be accessible; that is, data users must be able to easily find, obtain, and work with the data from the central repository. The processes described in this report include instrument deployment and calibration; instrument and facility maintenance; data collection and processing infrastructure; data stream inspection and assessment; the roles of value-added data processing and field campaigns in specifying data quality and haracterizing the basic measurement; data archival, display, and distribution; data stream reprocessing; and engineering and operations management processes and procedures. Future directions in ACRF data quality assurance also are presented.

Design and Test of a Polar Nephelometer

This paper describes the design, calibration, and testing of a prototype polar nephelometer that uses a diode laser as the light source. The instrument continuously extracts a stream of aerosol into a sensing head. The scattering of an ensembles of aerosol particles illuminated by a laser beam is measured simultaneously at 15 polar angles from 23° to 128°. Absolute calibration of the nephelometer is obtained using Freon-12 as the scattering medium and the geometry of the sensing head. The prototype has been used successfully to retrieve particle size and refractive index from a monodisperse nonabsorbing aerosol and determine the angular scattering response of atmospheric aerosols with scattering coefficients to 10−6 m−1. Problems and limitations encountered with the prototype in long term unattended operation are discussed.

Unmanned Platforms Monitor the Arctic Atmosphere

In the Arctic, drones and tethered balloons can make crucial atmospheric measurement to provide a unique perspective on an environment particularly vulnerable to climate change. Climate is rapidly changing all over the globe, but nowhere is that change faster than in the Arctic. The evidence from recent years is clear: Reductions in sea ice (Kwok and Unstersteiner, 2011) and permafrost (Romanovsky et al., 2002), in addition to modification of the terriestrial ecosystem through melting permafrost and shifting vegetation zones (burek et al., 2008; Sturm, et al., 2001), all point to a rapidly evolving.

A Bird’s-Eye View: Development of an Operational ARM Unmanned Aerial Capability for Atmospheric Research in Arctic Alaska

AbstractThorough understanding of aerosols, clouds, boundary layer structure, and radiation is required to improve the representation of the Arctic atmosphere in weather forecasting and climate models. To develop such understanding, new perspectives are needed to provide details on the vertical structure and spatial variability of key atmospheric properties, along with information over difficult-to-reach surfaces such as newly forming sea ice. Over the last three years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has supported various flight campaigns using unmanned aircraft systems [UASs, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and drones] and tethered balloon systems (TBSs) at Oliktok Point, Alaska. These activities have featured in situ measurements of the thermodynamic state, turbulence, radiation, aerosol properties, cloud microphysics, and turbulent fluxes to provide a detailed characterization of the lower atmosphere. Alongside a suite of active and passive ground-based sensors and radiosondes deploy...

Arctic Climate Systems Analysis

This study began with a challenge from program area managers at Sandia National Laboratories to technical staff in the energy, climate, and infrastructure security areas: apply a systems-level perspective to existing science and technology program areas in order to determine technology gaps, identify new technical capabilities at Sandia that could be applied to these areas, and identify opportunities for innovation. The Arctic was selected as one of these areas for systems level analyses, and this report documents the results. In this study, an emphasis was placed on the arctic atmosphere since Sandia has been active in atmospheric research in the Arctic since 1997. This study begins with a discussion of the challenges and benefits of analyzing the Arctic as a system. It goes on to discuss current and future needs of the defense, scientific, energy, and intelligence communities for more comprehensive data products related to the Arctic; assess the current state of atmospheric measurement resources available for the Arctic; and explain how the capabilities at Sandia National Laboratories can be used to address the identified technological, data, and modeling needs of the defense, scientific, energy, and intelligence communities for Arctic support.

New Capabilities for Arctic Research Through the Use of Unmanned Aircraft

Airborne measurements are crucial to observing and understanding atmospheric climate processes. Starting in the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (ARM) program pushed the frontiers of atmospheric research with aerial campaigns in Oklahoma and later on the North Slope of Alaska. That work addressed a long-standing priority of the program, namely, improving the representation of clouds in climate models.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facilities on the North Slope of Alaska

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provides scientific infrastructure and data archives to the international Arctic research community through a national user facility, the ARM Climate Research Facilities (ACRF), located on the North Slope of Alaska. ACRFs role is to provide infrastructure support for climate research, including Arctic research, to the global scientific community. DOEs climate research programs, with a focus on clouds and aerosols and their impact on the radiative budget, define the research scope supported by the Facility. This paper discusses the scientific infrastructure, data streams and archives, planned field campaigns, and opportunities for future collaborative research on the North Slope of Alaska.

Preliminary systems engineering evaluations for the National Ecological Observatory Network.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is an ambitious National Science Foundation sponsored project intended to accumulate and disseminate ecologically informative sensor data from sites among 20 distinct biomes found within the United States and Puerto Rico over a period of at least 30 years. These data are expected to provide valuable insights into the ecological impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species in these various biomes, and thereby provide a scientific foundation for the decisions of future national, regional, and local policy makers. NEONs objectives are of substantial national and international importance, yet they must be achieved with limited resources. Sandia National Laboratories was therefore contracted to examine four areas of significant systems engineering concern; specifically, alternatives to commercial electrical utility power for remote operations, approaches to data acquisition and local data handling, protocols for secure long-distance data transmission, and processes and procedures for the introduction of new instruments and continuous improvement of the sensor network. The results of these preliminary systems engineering evaluations are presented, with a series of recommendations intended to optimize the efficiency and probability of long-term success for the NEON enterprise.