Meetings > PI / Science Team Meeting

Breakout Summary Report

 

ARM/ASR User and PI Meeting

SAIL and SPLASH: Coordinated Observations and Atmospheric Process Studies in High-Altitude Complex T
23 June 2021
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
93
Daniel Feldman, Gijs de Boer, Scott Collis

Breakout Description

This breakout session presented an overview of two upcoming, collocated field campaigns to collect observations and advance atmospheric process studies in the high-altitude complex terrain of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The Surface Atmosphere Integrated field Laboratory (SAIL) Campaign involves the deployment of an entire AMF2 instrument package along with a scanning X-band precipitation radar to the East River Watershed near Crested Butte, Colorado starting in September 2021 and ending in 2023. The Study of Precipitation, the Lower Atmosphere and Surface for Hydrometeorology (SPLASH) will also occur in the East River Watershed, starting in September 2021 and extending for one year. SPLASH is supported by NOAA and includes atmospheric surface flux stations, snow-level radars, disdrometers, and other NOAA observing systems including the Cooperative Lower Atmosphere Mobile Profiling System (CLAMPS), the Airborne Gamma Radiation Snow Survey, RADSYS instrumentation, eddy covariance towers, reference precipitation systems, and an additional scanning X-band precipitation radar.

Speakers discussed science and application opportunities in high-altitude complex terrain that SAIL and SPLASH separately and jointly can enable, with a focus on the characterization of precipitation processes, aerosol-precipitation interactions, aerosol processes, surface-atmosphere interaction processes, and radiation. Almost half of the session was reserved for questions and discussion with the attendees.

Main Discussion

The breakout session started with overview presentations by the SAIL Principal Investigator (PI) (Daniel Feldman) and the SPLASH PI (Gijs de Boer) to ensure that attendees were familiar with campaign goals. Next, Chandra of Colorado State University, the lead for the SAIL Precipitation Process Sub-Group, and Rob Cifelli of NOAA, the lead for SPLASH Precipitation Science, delivered a joint presentation summarizing the two X-band precipitation radars. The third presentation was delivered by SAIL Aerosol Process Sub-Group lead, Allison Aiken of Los Alamos National Laboratory, regarding the details of aerosol observations and science that SAIL will include and enable. The fourth presentation focused on the surface-atmosphere interface, with discussions and presentation from Dave Gochis of NCAR and Tilden Meyers of NOAA on surface radiation and turbulent flux measurements of sensible and latent heat. The fifth presentation provided a perspective of surface and sub-surface observations and modeling capability supported by Watershed Function SFA from Ken Williams of LBNL. The final presentation, delivered by Scott Collis of ANL and Haruko Wainwright of LBNL, provided perspectives on where mountainous hydrology research interfaces with the Artificial Intelligence for Earth System Processes (AI4ESP) program.

Following those presentations, very active discussion involved many dozen attendees of the session. The attendees crossed many disciplinary boundaries, as indicated in the session chat, where individuals first introduced themselves before diving into substantive details in earnest. These focused on establishing an Intensive Operational Period (IOP) for SAIL, coordinated scanning strategies, and managing spatial heterogeneity and SAIL/SPLASH data integration.

Key Findings

Key findings from the session:
1. There is substantial interest in the ARM/ASR scientific community for using SAIL and SPLASH data simultaneously.
2. The ARM/ASR community needs a good system for highlighting all the multi-agency data being collected in the SAIL and SPLASH study areas.
3. There is substantial interest by the attendees to propose and then participate in a SAIL IOP.
4. The active discussions on Slack that were initiated by the breakout session and continued throughout the week highlighted the value of Slack for campaign coordination and awareness across the many researchers and many disciplines encompassed by SAIL and SPLASH.

Issues

None

Needs

1. The need for a sustained effort to advance data coordination and integration between SAIL and SPLASH is apparent, including regular meeting, point people, and a clear understanding by SAIL researchers of SPLASH data policies and vice versa.
2. The need for interagency coordination, especially to provide mechanism(s) to enable and support data analysis by researchers who are new to ARM and NOAA data, is also apparent.

Decisions

1. Slack is a solution to coordinating the SAIL and SPLASH campaigns.
2. Coordination between the radar and lidar scan strategies and snow process observations offers a unique opportunity and is necessary to advance process studies in complex terrain beyond current levels.
3. A SAIL IOP should be planned and proposed to occur after the TRACER IOP, likely in later 2022 or into 2023.
4. The attendees will convene after the session to plan and propose a SAIL IOP that would occur after the TRACER IOP, likely in later 2022 or into 2023.

Future Plans

1. SAIL will continue to coordinate with SPLASH to ensure that both campaigns remain in close communication to advance co-observation and modeling.
2. SAIL and SPLASH plan to establish a joint SAIL/SPLASH Slack channel.
3. SAIL and SPLASH plan to coordinated precipitation and snowpack observations.
4. Those who are interested will plan and propose an IOP for SAIL in late 2022/2023.

Action Items

1. The SAIL and SPLASH teams will work with ARM data team to stand up a Slack channel for SAIL/SPLASH
2. The SAIL and SPLASH teams will continue regular biweekly teleconferences to ensure researchers are up to date on the campaigns.
3. SAIL and SPLASH scientists will develop planning documents for radar scan strategies and snowpack observations.
4. Interested attendees will establish a follow-up schedule to plan/coordinate an IOP proposal for SAIL.