Engineering topics

Comstock, Jennifer M. (ORCID:0000000241837355)

Publications and source records attributed to Comstock, Jennifer M. (ORCID:0000000241837355).

3 records

DOE OSTI2026

A Novel Segmentation Algorithm for the ARM User Facility All-Sky Imagers Using Machine Learning Applications

Cloud cover plays a pivotal role in modulating the Earth's energy budget through the reflection of incoming solar radiation and the trapping of outgoing longwave radiation. Ground-based all-sky imagers offer an objective assessment of cloud cover that can be used to estimate solar irradiance, classify cloud types, track cloud movement, and serve as a benchmark 10 for the evaluation of satellite and reanalysis data products. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has utilized all-sky imagers for more than 25 years to monitor cloud cover and augment its comprehensive suite of atmospheric measurements. Following the retirement of its Total Sky Imager (TSI), ARM recently deployed the TSI’s successor, the All Sky Imager (ASI-16 camera systems). To provide a smooth transition and continuity to the vast amount of knowledge gathered by the TSI over the years, while addressing typical deployment issues, we developed a novel pixel segmentation algorithm, 15 the ASI Sky Cover (ASISKYCOVER). ASISKYCOVER builds on the different strengths and properties of the TSI processing algorithm while integrating machine learning techniques, ensuring data validity and accuracy across diverse atmospheric conditions. It enhances cloud cover characterization with new features such as artifact detection and uncertainty quantification. ASISKYCOVER also includes cloud cover estimates for near-zenith (narrow field-of-view) and reduces susceptibility to false detections. This study introduces ASISKYCOVER, details its algorithm framework, and demonstrates its capabilities using a 20 year-long dataset from the ARM Southern Great Plains site. Comparisons with co-located TSI data and other ARM measurements, such as zenith-pointing radars and lidars, are presented, underscoring the ASISKYCOVER’s potential to improve cloud cover analyses and data evaluation efforts, as well as to be integrated into higher-level data products that synergize instrument suites to generate new and insightful information

Silber, Israel↗

DOE OSTI2026

Improving the Confidence in Retrievals of Vertical Distributions of Cloud Condensation Nuclei Number Concentration from ARM Supported by Aircraft In Situ Observations

Accurate quantification of the vertical distribution of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentrations is critical for improving our understanding of aerosol–cloud interactions. Ground-based Raman lidars operated by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, together with surface CCN measurements, are used to retrieve vertically resolved CCN number concentrations (Retrieved Number concentration of CCN, RNCCN). These retrievals rely on several assumptions, including that aerosol composition is vertically homogeneous. To assess this assumption, we developed and tested a framework to infer the dominant aerosol classes/types at different altitudes. This was done by applying a k-Nearest-Neighbors (kNN) algorithm to lidar ratio and linear depolarization ratio measurements from Raman lidar. We evaluated the framework using aircraft aerosol and CCN measurements from the ARM Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) field campaign. The results show that RNCCN performance degrades as vertical aerosol complexity increases, i.e., RNCCN agrees with the aircraft CCN in vertically homogeneous conditions, but closure decreases in layered aerosol structures. To generalize beyond individual examples, we introduce a metric (heterogeneity index) that quantifies the vertical complexity by assessing the variation of inferred aerosol classes/types. Case-level statistics show a tendency for RNCCN and aircraft differences to increase with this metric. By detecting retrievals that are likely compromised by aerosol vertical heterogeneity, the proposed framework improves the interpretability and effective use of RNCCN used for long-term evaluation of models and aerosol–cloud interactions.

Tian, Jingjing↗

DOE OSTI2025

Wet-radome attenuation in ARM cloud radars and its utilization in radar calibration using disdrometer measurements

Abstract. A relative calibration technique has been developed for the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility Ka-band ARM Zenith Radars (KAZRs). This method uses the signal attenuation caused by water on the radome to estimate reflectivity factor (Ze) offsets. The wet-radome attenuation (WRA) is assumed to follow a log-linear relationship with rainfall rate during light and moderate rain, as measured by a collocated surface disdrometer. The technique has an uncertainty of approximately 3 dB, due to factors such as disdrometer measurement error, rain variability between radar and disdrometer sample volumes, and the fitting function's uncertainty for the WRA behavior. A practical advantage of this WRA-based approach to shorter-wavelength radar monitoring is that, while it requires a reference disdrometer, it proves feasible for a wider range of collocated disdrometer measurements compared to traditional direct disdrometer comparison at the onset of light rain. This technique thus offers a cost-effective monitoring tool for remote or long-term radar deployments. This calibration technique was applied during the ARM Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) from October 2021 through September 2022. The estimated Ze offsets were compared against traditional radar calibration and monitoring methods using available datasets from this campaign. Results show that the WRA-based offsets align closely with mean offsets found between cloud radars and from direct disdrometer comparison near the onset of rain, while also reflecting similar offset and campaign-long trends when compared to collocated, independently calibrated radar wind profilers. Nevertheless, overall, the KAZR Ze offsets estimated during TRACER remained stable at approximately 2 dB lower than the disdrometer estimates from the campaign start until the end of June 2022; afterward, the offsets increased to around 7 dB by the campaign's end. This increase is linked to a drop of about 1 dB in transmitter power toward the end of the project.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗