A representative from Sigma Space Corporation demonstrates the operation of the new micropulse lidar to ARM instrument mentors and site operations technicians. ARM file photo. On May 3, the first of seven new and upgraded micropulse lidars (MPLs) was deployed at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site’s Central Facility. These seven identical systems (including…

This spring, a 915 MHz radar wind profiler (RWP) was successfully installed at the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) site in Niamey, Niger, West Africa, for the remainder of the 1-year RADAGAST field campaign which started in January. The RWP will provide information about wind speed, wind direction, and wind shear, and also enable measurements of…

Sets of rain and stream gauges like this one will provide information about water level and flow rates from 14 different sites throughout the Whitewater River watershed during the HydroKansas field campaign. ARM file photo. Beginning in May, the Whitewater River watershed in south-central Kansas is the setting for a 3-year field campaign hosted by…

At the SGP site, the disdrometer is installed near the site’s main instrument cluster, approximately 50 feet east of the Central Facility. To avoid secondary splash contamination, the disdrometer’s sensor cone is surrounded by splash-resistant material. ARM file photo. This spring, a pair of new distrometers began collecting data at the ARM Southern Great Plains…

To validate the space-based carbon dioxide retrievals by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) through comparative carbon dioxide measurements, ARM’s Tropical Western Pacific site in Darwin, Australia, is hosting a ground-based solar-viewing Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) mobile laboratory, sponsored by the OCO Science Team. Between January 15 and February 7, 2006, overflights of the FTS site,…

Most of the WACR is mounted on top of one of the AMF shelters. The WACR computer and chiller (used to keep the WACR cool in temperatures up to 47 degrees C) are located in the shelter below the radar. ARM file photo. A W-band ARM Cloud Radar (WACR) recently joined the suite of baseline…

The balloon-borne sounding system consists of a small sensor package—called a radiosonde—attached by a long string to a large balloon. As the balloon rises, atmospheric measurements recorded by the radiosonde are picked up via an antenna on the ground. ARM file photo. In April, ARM operations staff at the North Slope of Alaska will begin…

With a new Chief Scientist at the helm, just over 300 ARM scientists and ARM infrastructure staff took part in the 16th ARM Science Team meeting held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 27-31, 2006. After an initial day of focused meetings among the ARM Working Groups, Dr. David Thomassen, Acting Associate Director of DOE’s…

Red dots indicate extended facilities at SGP with the new IRTs installed; green dots indicate future installations. ARM file image. As reported in April 2005, a network of infrared thermometers (IRT) is being installed throughout the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site for the purpose of measuring cloud base temperature and inferring cloud base height…

Titled “Climate Change: Science and Traditional Knowledge,” ARM’s latest education kiosk is now on permanent display at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin. ARM file photo. A handful of ARM scientists involved in the Tropical Warm Pool – International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) field campaign took time out from their research…