The LES ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) Workflow Pilot Project
Poster PDF
Category
ARM next generation – Megasite and LES activities
Authors
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William I. Gustafson — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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Satoshi Endo — Brookhaven National Laboratory
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Heng Xiao — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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Zhijin Li — University of California
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Andrew M. Vogelmann — Brookhaven National Laboratory
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Xiaoping Cheng — National University of Defense Technology
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Tami Fairless — Brookhaven National Laboratory
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Description
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility has begun a pilot project to design a workflow for generating ongoing, routine large-eddy simulations (LES) to supplement ARM’s extensive measurement network. This pilot project, called the LES ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) Workflow, is initially being implemented at the ARM Southern Great Plains megasite, and is being optimized for shallow cloud conditions. The pilot project lasts through April 2017, after which the workflow will transition to become an ongoing part of the ARM infrastructure. The long-term vision is for LASSO to be expanded to do simulations for multiple cloud types and at other ARM locations.
The goal of LASSO is to provide additional data to researchers regarding the context in which ARM’s observations occur. Many details cannot be, or are too expensive, to collect. For example, understanding the spatial variability around measurements is important for developing suitable parameterizations for climate models, yet most observations occur at point locations, or at best, as part of a radar scan that only measures certain details of the environment. By constraining the LES through an ensemble of forcings, including those incorporating local ARM observations via data assimilation, additional statistical detail can be gained to understand the connection between observations to better depict processes and to inform parameterization development. This poster presents an overview of the LASSO workflow and a timeline of deliverables. Specifics regarding the forcing ensemble are presented by Endo et al., and the “data cube” concept being developed to interact with the LASSO products is presented by Vogelmann et al.
