The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, created in 1989 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), developed several highly instrumented ground stations to study cloud formation processes and their influence on radiative transfer. Instruments include measurements of aerosol and precipitation, and the original ground sites were supplemented with three mobile facilities and an aerial facility. ARM’s scientific infrastructure with data archives were designated by DOE as a scientific user facility—the ARM Climate Research Facility—in 2003, and are used by scientists worldwide. The lists below covers most of the instruments used in the AWARE Mission. Instruments Page at the ARM Program
The following two tables list the instruments deployed at WAIS and McMurdo for the AWARE Mission. Much of the WAIS equipment contains duplicate (additional) instruments of their counterparts with the main AMF2 at McMurdo. Some instruments (indicated by an asterisk) are singles that will be deployed first at WAIS and then reinstalled at McMurdo when the WAIS container is removed by late January 2016.
Table 1. Instruments Deployed to West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS):
Instrument Name | Instrument Acronym | Quantities Measured |
Upward-looking precision spectral pyranometer | SKYRAD PSP | Downwelling total shortwave irradiance |
Upward-looking Eppley model 8-48 diffuse pyranometer | SKYRAD 8-48 | Downwelling diffuse shortwave irradiance |
Upward-looking precision infrared radiometer | SKYRAD PIR | Downwelling longwave irradiance |
Upward-looking Infrared thermometer | SKYRAD IRT | Sky equivalent blackbody temperature |
Downward-looking precision spectral pyranometer | GRNDRAD PSP | Upwelling shortwave radiation reflected by surface |
Downward-looking precision infrared radiometer | GRNDRAD PIR | Upwelling longwave radiation emitted by surface |
Downward-looking Infrared thermometer | GRNDRAD IRT | Surface equivalent blackbody temperature |
Cimel sunphotometer | CSPHOT | Multispectral direct solar irradiances |
Multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer | MFRSR | Direct normal, diffuse horizontal, and total horizontal irradiances at six standard wavelengths |
Analytical Spectral Devices FieldSpec Pro shortwave spectroradiometer (SIO) | ASD | Downwelling spectral shortwave irradiance 350-2200 nm |
Eddy correlation flux measurement system | ECOR | Surface turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, latent heat, and carbon dioxide |
Total sky imager | TSI | Cloud fraction |
Vaisala ceilometer | VCEIL | Cloud base height |
Parsivel optical disdrometer | PARSIVEL | Precipitation particle size distribution and fall speed |
Vaisala present weather detector | PWD | Visibility, precipitation detection |
G-band vapor radiometer | GVRP | High-time-resolution water vapor and temperature profiling, and column-integrated liquid water and water vapor |
Microwave radiometer, two channel | MWR, 2C | Column-integrated liquid water and water vapor |
Balloon-borne sounding system | SONDE | Vertical profiles of T, P, RH, wind speed and direction |
Meteorological instrumentation at AMF | MET | Near-surface (2 m) T, P, RH, wind speed and direction |
Table 2. Instruments Deployed to Ross Island (McMurdo Station CosRay Site). Instruments marked with asterisk are deployed first at WAIS November 2015-January 2016 then redeployed to CosRay for the remainder of the field program.
Instrument Name | Instrument Acronym | Quantities Measured |
X-band and Ka-band scanning ARM cloud radar | SACR | Cloud particle co-polar and cross-polar radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity, linear depolarization ratio, differential reflectivity |
Scanning W-band ARM cloud radar | SWACR | Cloud particle radar reflectivity, Doppler power spectrum |
Ka-band ARM zenith radar | KAZR | Cloud particle Doppler moments (reflectivity, vertical velocity, spectral width) at high (30 m) range resolution |
Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer | AERI | Absolute thermal infrared spectral radiance emitted by the atmosphere down to the instrument |
High spectral resolution lidar | HSRL | Aerosol optical depth, volume backscatter, cross section, cloud and aerosol depolarization |
Micropulse lidar | MPL | Altitude of cloud layers |
Vaisala ceilometer | VCEIL | Cloud base height |
Beam-steerable radar wind profiler | BSRWP | Wind and virtual temperature profiles |
Parsivel optical disdrometer | PARSIVEL | Precipitation particle size distribution and fall speed |
Cloud condensation nuclei counter | CCN | Cloud condensation nuclei as function of supersaturation |
Condensation particle counter | CPC | Total aerosol particle concentration down to diameter 10 nm |
Hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer | HTDMA | Aerosol size, mass, or number distribution as function of RH |
Ambient nephelometer | NEPH AMB | Aerosol light scattering coefficient at ambient RH |
Dry nephelometer | NEPH DRY | Dry aerosol light scattering coefficient |
Ozone | O3 | Ozone concentration |
Particle soot absorption photometer | PSAP | Optical transmittance of aerosol particles |
Aerosol filter sampling (SIO) | AER FLTR | Aerosol chemical composition |
Upward-looking precision spectral pyranometer | SKYRAD PSP | Downwelling total shortwave irradiance |
Upward-looking Eppley model 8-48 diffuse pyranometer | SKYRAD 8-48 | Downwelling diffuse shortwave irradiance |
Upward-looking precision infrared radiometer | SKYRAD PIR | Downwelling longwave irradiance |
Upward-looking Infrared thermometer | SKYRAD IRT | Sky equivalent blackbody temperature |
Downward-looking precision spectral pyranometer | GRNDRAD PSP | Upwelling shortwave radiation reflected by surface |
Downward-looking precision infrared radiometer | GRNDRAD PIR | Upwelling longwave radiation emitted by surface |
Downward-looking Infrared thermometer | GRNDRAD IRT | Surface equivalent blackbody temperature |
Cimel sunphotometer | CSPHOT | Multispectral direct solar irradiances |
Multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer | MFRSR | Direct normal, diffuse horizontal, and total horizontal irradiances at six standard wavelengths |
(*) Analytical Spectral Devices FieldSpec Pro shortwave spectroradiometer (SIO) | (*) ASD | Downwelling spectral shortwave irradiance 350-2200 nm |
Eddy correlation flux measurement system | ECOR | Surface turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, latent heat, and carbon dioxide |
Total sky imager | TSI | Cloud fraction |
Vaisala present weather detector | PWD | Visibility, precipitation detection |
Hotplate total precipitation sensor | TPS | Precipitation amount |
Microwave radiometer, two channel | MWR, 2C | Column-integrated liquid water and water vapor |
Balloon-borne sounding system | SONDE | Vertical profiles of T, P, RH, wind speed and direction |
Meteorological instrumentation at AMF | MET | Near-surface (2 m) T, P, RH, wind speed and direction |
Local meteorology at top of AOS stack | AOS MET | Wind speed, direction, T, RH, P |
Instruments Operating – AMF2 CosRay Site McMurdo Station