Northern Alaska Site Science: Three years of tethered balloon activities for evaluation of Arctic aerosol-cloud interactions

 

Authors

Jessie Creamean — Colorado State University
Hagen Telg — Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
Darielle Dexheimer — Sandia National Laboratories
Fan Mei — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Gijs de Boer — University of Colorado
Amy Solomon — University of Colorado/NOAA- Earth System Research Laboratory
Matthew Shupe — University of Colorado
Allison C. McComiskey — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Jasper Hardesty — Sandia National Laboratories
Jennifer M. Comstock — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
James H. Mather — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Category

High-latitude clouds and aerosols

Description

Aerosols have a profound impact on climate through their interactions with clouds and subsequent effects on cloud radiative properties and precipitation formation. Such processes are particularly important in the Arctic, whereby aerosols and clouds can modulate the surface radiation budget over frozen surfaces. However, the ability to accurately simulate aerosol-cloud interactions inherently depends on the availability of in situ observations to improve model assimilation and validation, which are especially limited in the Arctic. Specifically, the need for more advanced observations of aerosols and clouds in the atmospheric vertical profile is apparent. In collaboration with the Northern Alaska Site Science team, ARM has successfully conducted three campaigns at the AMF3 in Oliktok Point, Alaska using a tethered balloon system (TBS), including Inaugural Campaigns for ARM Research using Unmanned Systems (ICARUS; spring through fall 2017), Aerosol Vertical Profiling at Oliktok Point (AVPOP; spring 2018), and Profiling at Oliktok Point to Enhance YOPP Experiments (POPEYE; summer 2018). In this poster, we provide an overview of the measurements from these campaigns, data preparation and evaluation from the TBS sensors, an initial science overview, drivers for modeling activities, plans for PI data products to be made available to the ARM and ASR communities, and highlight upcoming TBS deployments in 2019. Specifically, atmospheric state and aerosol size distribution data are being processed from over 100 flights during these campaigns and used in concert with routine ceilometer and radar measurements at the AMF3 to assess aerosol vertical profile statistics. These measurements will be used for forcing and evaluating Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model simulations to study aerosol cloud interactions, and aerosol vertical transport and processing. We will present our specific scientific objectives and investigations under the context of these evaluation activities, while additionally demonstrating the novelty and utility of these vertical distribution measurements. Data processed by our team will also be made available to the community as a PI product for future observational and modelling efforts of vertical aerosol distributions and aerosol-cloud interactions. Upcoming TBS deployments will be conducted in an effort to make ARM TBS measurements more routine and enhance the current dataset for the ASR and ARM communities and beyond.