The Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment: overview and emerging science

 

Authors

Gerald Mace — University of Utah
Gannet Hallar — University of Utah
Ian B. McCubbin — Desert Research Institute
Matthew Shupe — University of Colorado
Sergey Matrosov — University of Colorado
Arthur J Sedlacek — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chuck N. Long (deceased) — NOAA- Earth System Research Laboratory
Linnea Avallone — National Science Foundation

Category

Field Campaigns

Description

From December 2010 through April 2011, the second ARM Mobile Facility was deployed to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to take part in the Storm Peak Lab Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX). In collaboration with assets supported by NSF in the Colorado Airborne Muliphase Cloud Study (CAMPS) and the Desert Research Institute's Storm Peak Laboratory, a full suite of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, radiation, and environmental data was collected that provides a unique long-term view of one of the snowiest seasons on record in the Central Rocky Mountains. The combination of mid-mountain remote sensing from AMF2 and operational cloud property measurements at Storm Peak Lab augmented by airborne data collected by the University of Wyoming King Air is proving invaluable in documenting the processes that result in the development of precipitation in mixed-phase clouds. Combined with this, having near-identical measurements of aerosol properties at two locations on the mountain is revealing new information on the nucleation of aerosols. In this paper, we will give a broad overview of the STORMVEX campaign, the data set, and emerging science made possible by STORMVEX.