AMF2 AMIE-Gan deployment at Addu City, Republic of Maldives

Description

The second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) deployed to Addu City, Republic of Maldives, in support of the ARM MJO Investigation Experiment (AMIE) beginning on August 15, 2011. The AMF2 and the AMIE campaign were also part of two other projects, CINDY2011 (Cooperative Indian Ocean experiment on intraseasonal variability in the year 2011) and DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation), occurring at the same time. The AMIE campaign had two components, one located in the Maldives (AMIE-Gan) and another site located at the ARM Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) site on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (AMIE-Manus). The science goals of AMIE-Gan required making measurements at two different geographical locations. The main site was located on Gan Island at the Gan International Airport directly adjacent the Maldive Meteorology Service Office. The second site was located on Hithadhoo Island on recently recovered land near the wharf. These two sites are approximately 9 kilometers apart by line of sight. The main site contained almost all of the AMF2 instrumentation, while the secondary (wharf) site contained the AMF2 scanning cloud radar. Local Maldivians were hired and trained to do the eight-per-day balloon launches required for the duration of the six-month deployment. An overview of the AMIE-Gan deployment and associated challenges for the AMF2’s first foreign deployment will be presented.