ARM

Category: North Slope of Alaska

  • Light Fantastic: Measuring Sunlight During the Snow ALbedo eVOlution (SALVO) Field Campaign

    Editor’s note: David Clemens-Sewall, a research physical scientist at NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, provided the following blog post. Figure 1: Aerial photos of tundra (top) and sea ice (bottom) illustrate the patchy nature of the snow cover during the spring melt transition. Ponds and tundra patches are both on the order of 10 to 50…

  • ARM Staff Engage in Community Science Events in Alaska and Tasmania

    Helena Buurman (blue shirt) from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Alaska Satellite Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, teaches children in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, how to assemble small uncrewed aircraft at the Barrow Arctic Research Center (BARC) Science and Culture Fair in August 2024. This photo is courtesy of Valerie Sparks, an…

  • Student Seizes SALVO Opportunity

    Editor’s note: Zac Espinosa, a PhD student at the University of Washington, recently participated in an ARM field campaign in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Espinosa wrote the following blog post about his experience. I am standing in a pond of melt water on sea ice in Elson Lagoon in mid-June 2024. Atmospheric and radiative heating…

  • Special Guests Tour North Slope of Alaska

    Editor’s note: Mark Ivey, former manager of ARM’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory and senior engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, provided the following post. Mark Ivey (left) talks with DOE Office of Science Director Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe (middle) at ARM’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory. Photos are…

  • E12 Is Hot! New ARM Site Collecting Data in Alaska

    Editor’s note: After the summer 2021 closure of the third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) at Oliktok Point, Alaska, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) precipitation mentor team of Matthew Sturm, Jennifer Delamere, Matthew Mockaitis, and Ken Irving suggested moving the snow instruments to another site in Alaska. Along with staff from Sandia National Laboratories, they…

  • My Experience Doing Arctic Fieldwork at the Top of the World

    Editor’s note: Serina Wesen, the education and outreach designer for the Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Group at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, recently participated in an ARM field campaign in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Wesen wrote the following blog post about her experience. I am sitting on a snow machine while wearing bunny…

  • North Slope of Alaska Welcomes a Famous Visitor

    Editor’s note: To learn more about earth system changes in the Arctic, Al Roker, broadcast meteorologist for the NBC morning show “TODAY,” traveled to the Alaskan town of Barrow, officially known as Utqiaġvik. Roker interviewed Mark Ivey, manager of ARM’s North Slope of Alaska atmospheric observatory, and launched a weather balloon for a segment that…

  • The Team of the Arctic Eyes in the Sky

    Editor’s note: Joseph Hardin and John Hubbe, ARM infrastructure staff from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, sent in this update. The May 2017 ICARUS Team were (from left to right) Joseph Hardin, John Hubbe, Pete Carroll, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Al Bendure, Todd Houchens, Darielle Dexheimer, Casey Longbottom, Monty Apple, Sandia National Laboratories. The ARM Facility…

  • Radar Calibration, Grooming, and Alignment at the ARM Oliktok Point Site

    Editor’s note: Joseph Hardin, a radar engineer at the ARM Climate Research Facility, sent this update. Hans Verlinde, Pennsylvania State University, overlooks the instrumentation at Oliktok Point, Alaska. Before a radar site is “turned on” to the public, there are many steps required to make sure the data are of the highest quality, and satisfies…

  • Top of the World

    Me, standing in between whale skulls and in front of the sign that labels the northernmost point of the United States. Stepping off the plane in Barrow, Alaska, feels like stepping into someone’s family reunion. The single-terminal airport was packed with people, but not with passengers flying south; family and friends flooded the small room,…