Breakout Summary Report
ARM/ASR User and PI Meeting
26 October 2022
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
95
Chongai Kuang, Shawn Serbin, Scott Giangrande
Breakout Description
The DOE ARM user facility is relocating the third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) to the SE U.S. for a five-year deployment starting in the fFall of 2023, with siting focused on northern Alabama. During the breakout session, the AMF3 site science team presented updates on facility siting, configuration, instrumentation, and sampling strategies in support of the aerosol, convection, and land-atmosphere interactions science drivers. The session was organized as follows:
1:00-1:30 PM Chongai Kuang/Patty Campbell - “The 3rd ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3): Future Plans in the Southeast U.S.”: This presentation covered a brief overview of the science drivers motivating the deployment, the science-driven siting criteria, the planned main site location and configuration, potential supplemental sites, partner facilities, and opportunities for novel measurement platforms.
1:30-2:00 PM Shawn Serbin - “Land-Atmosphere Interactions (LAI)”: This sub-breakout introduced the importance of studying land-atmosphere coupling in the SE U.S., presented the LAI-centric research goals, planned main tower configuration for LAI science (e.g., forest controls on boundary-layer dynamics), discussed the plans for LAI measurements at the extended facilities, the planned community flux product, and potential avenues to contribute to scaling, modeling, and machine-learning efforts.
2:00-2:30 PM Chongai Kuang - “Aerosol Processes”: This sub-breakout presented an overview of the aerosol science drivers, aerosol-centric siting criteria, planned aerosol instrumentation as part of the main site AOS03 deployment and tower site, the planned development and deployment of an aerosol sensor node network, and a series of questions to motivate discussion with the attendees targeting: critical (missing) aerosol/gas-phase measurements, the larger deployment “ecosystem”, modeling needs, how to address spatial heterogeneity, flux tower measurement needs/opportunities, emerging measurement technologies, and potential IOPs.
2:30-3:00 PM Scott Giangrande - “Convective Cloud Processes”: This sub-breakout introduced several of the motivations for cloud studies in the SE U.S., including questions on the potential drivers of cloud frequency and diversity in northern Alabama. The proposed site layout, instruments, and key measurements were discussed. A guest presentation followed on the factors that influence proposed “Supplemental Site” layouts for cloud process studies (T. Wagner). The session concluded with several examples of emerging SE U.S. technologies (i.e., new stereo camera advances) and concepts (ARM open-source PyART-driven notebooks and ADC “Data Workbench” for data processing).
Main Discussion
General interest was expressed in supporting high-resolution canopy-scale modeling, including as part of LASSO efforts. Desired measurement needs included: characterization of aerosol advection and variability in environmental thermodynamics via the supplemental sites, radiation transfer through the canopy, soil CO2/NOx emission, ammonia, biological aerosol, remote sensors (e.g., lidar, albedo) to connect surface measurements through the boundary layer, vertically resolved trace gas profiles through the canopy, branch-level measurements combined with satellite/airborne remote sensing of BVOCs/canopy structure, and isotopic fluxes for ecosystem partitioning. Discussion focused on potential PI measurement collaborations/IOPs included: size-resolved aerosol fluxes, speciated BVOC concentrations/fluxes (cartridge-based for tower/UAS, PTRMS), column-averaged carbon (TCCON), land-atmosphere dynamics around working forests (partner with logging companies to conduct flux chronosequence), biological aerosol (WIBS), and mining IMPROVE data for coarse mode/ammonia variability. There was excitement regarding unique science opportunities including: connecting land-surface characteristics/fluxes with atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, regional syntheses and campaign coordination (VORTEX-SE, NEON AOP flights), an ARM site with a vegetation canopy for surface energy balance modeling/turbulence studies, prototyping new flux measurements (e.g., nitrogen cycle). The Convective Cloud Processes discussion continued offline after the breakout and included discussion on SACR placement/operation options that may capture shallow to deep transitions, and IOP needs for spatial boundary-layer sampling. Two RDPP-funded PIs expressed interest in providing new measurement platforms (mobile transects for micrometeorology) and modeling activities (canopy turbulence impacts on boundary-layer development), leading to follow-on discussions regarding the ASR FOA component focused on the AMF3.
Key Findings
N/A
Issues
N/A
Needs
Along with the measurement needs expressed in the main findings, desired modeling activities include: application or development of (canopy) LES models that can use the unique AMF3 measurements and data products, increased engagement of the E3SM community, development of site/regional driver/model data for AMF3 domain-focused model simulations (e.g., single-column E3SM, ELM, etc.), and standardized benchmark data creation for E3SM and LES.
Decisions
N/A
Future Plans
We are planning a community workshop that will be organized around: site science team activities, constituent groups (e.g., GEWEX), science communities (e.g., ASR, ESS), user facilities/networks (e.g., ARM, EMSL, NEON, AmeriFlux), local universities (e.g., UAH, Alabama A&M), modeling groups/efforts (e.g., E3SM, SCREAM, LASSO), ASR SFAs and boutique projects (i.e., PNNL, LLNL, BNL, LANL, LBNL), and ESS SFAs (e.g., ORNL, LBNL).
Action Items
The site science team leadership are submitting ENGs for community-desired measurements/capabilities/data products, and will have further discussions on possible modifications for hybrid SACR placements (if available, unobstructed) outside the BNF and/or not collocated with the CSAPR2 that may accommodate both shallower to deeper convective themes and transitions (rather than prioritizing one over the other).