AOS Harmonized Path: a unified processing model for ARM AOS data with dual goals of rapid QA and robust science-quality output

 

Authors

Connor J. Flynn — University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology
Douglas L Sisterson — Argonne National Laboratory
Brian D Ermold — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Annette S. Koontz — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Gunnar I. Senum — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Allison C. McComiskey — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Stephen R. Springston — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Anne Jefferson — NOAA- Earth System Research Laboratory
Joshua Matthew King — University of Oklahoma
Arthur J Sedlacek — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Chongai Kuang — Brookhaven National Laboratory

Category

General Topics – Aerosol

Description

ARM has collected measurements with “Aerosol Observing Systems” (AOS) at more than a dozen geographic locations around the globe. The AOS (and MAOS) are key components of fixed and mobile ARM facilities providing critical measurements of ground-based in situ aerosol properties (chemical, microphysical, and optical properties). The TCAP field campaign (at Cape Cod) and the ongoing Go-AMAZON field campaign (in Brazil) included collocated deployment of both the AMF1 and AMF2 AOS systems. Initial efforts to demonstrate agreement between measurements from these two systems at Cape Cod were hampered by a variety of factors including configuration differences, ill-timed hardware failure, and differences in data collection and processing methodologies. To capitalize on the collocation at GoAmazon and to develop a uniform processing code suite for all ARM AOS data, we have begun implementing a “harmonized” AOS processing path using a uniform code set on the ARM Data Management Facility (DMF). This harmonized processing path has two key aspects: 1) data is processed on same-day basis to rapidly identify instrument problems, and 2) data is post-processed with robust calibrations and confident screening to produce science-ready final products. Although this “harmonized” processing path is still in the midst of implementation, several products have been processed for rapid QA. We will present collocated measurements from several key AOS instruments including aerosol number density from CPC, CPCf (fine), CPCu (ultrafine), scattering from “dry” 3-wavelength nephelometers, and filter-based absorption measurements from PSAP and CLAP, as well as other measurements of interest at the Brazil MAO AMF site.