Acquiring data in mountainous and forested terrain brings about unique challenges and opportunities This is the eighth article in the yearlong “ARM30” series of stories on the evolution of ARM―its data, sites, science missions, field campaigns, and people. Complex terrain often refers to mountainous areas, where abrupt slopes and steep valleys make observing and modeling…

A California researcher with an appetite for studying atmospheric particles has big investigations underway on aerosols in marine clouds Lynn Russell, the principal investigator of ARM’s Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE), speaks with a journalist as part of the field campaign’s media day on February 13, 2023, in La Jolla, California. EPCAPE officially…

ARM has a tradition of locating logistically efficient atmospheric observatories and field campaigns on islands and coastlines This is the seventh article in the yearlong “ARM30” series of stories on the evolution of ARM―its data, sites, science missions, field campaigns, and people. ARM continues a tradition of coastal field campaigns with the Eastern Pacific Cloud…

A yearlong ARM field campaign launches in February 2023 to gather insights on the marine clouds that shade and cool the Earth The Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier in La Jolla, California, will serve as the main site for the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE). The yearlong campaign begins February 15, 2023. Photo…

Measurements taken aboard ships have added deep dimension to 30 years of atmospheric data This is the sixth article in the yearlong “ARM30” series of stories on the evolution of ARM―its data, sites, science missions, field campaigns, and people. ARM instruments peer out to sea during the 2017–2018 Measurements of Aerosols, Radiation, and Clouds over…

The Earth Model Column Collaboratory uses data and weather observations to create climate models and forecast predictions Editor’s note: In January 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy launched the Year of Open Science to advance national open science policies across the federal government. During the year, ARM is publishing a series…

Data will provide crucial details on cloud and precipitation properties in the region The Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania is expected to be the main site for ARM’s Cloud And Precipitation Experiment at Kennaook (CAPE-K). The CAPE-K campaign is scheduled from April 2024 to September 2025. Photo is courtesy of the Australian…

TRACER, an epic investigation of coastal convection, moves from observations to data analysis Houston, Texas, was the backdrop for ARM’s TRacking Aerosol Convection Interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER), which closed its yearlong observational phase September 30, 2022. In weather terms, convection is the process of conveying heat and moisture upward through a turbulent atmosphere. From there, convection…

Earth’s polar regions still hold much to be discovered by atmospheric scientists, many of them aided by ARM This is the fifth article in the yearlong “ARM30” series of stories on the evolution of ARM―its data, sites, science missions, field campaigns, and people. In late summer 2020, researchers and their shelters occupy an immensity of…

With 9 months of observation to go, researchers await additional surprises in the Rockies In September 2022, during the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign near Crested Butte, Colorado, technician Wessley King checks a combined instrument setup. An eddy correlation flux measurement system measures heat fluxes, which are then compared with surface energy measures…