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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

ECOSYSTEM IMPACTS OF GEOENGINEERING: A Review for Developing a Science Plan

Geoengineering methods are intended to reduce the magnitude of climate change. Climate change in some regions is already having demonstrable effects on ecosystem structure and functioning. Two different types of geoengineering activities have been proposed: carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which includes a range of engineered and biological processes to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, and solar radiation management (SRM, or sunlight reflection methods), whereby a small percentage of sunlight is reflected back into space to offset warming from greenhouse gases. In this review, we evaluate some of the possible impacts of CDR and SRM on the physical climate and their subsequent influence on ecosystems, including the risks and uncertainties associated with new kinds of purposeful perturbations to Earth. Specifically, we find evidence that, if implemented successfully, some CDR methods and continue use of some SRM methods) could alleviate some of the deleterious ecosystem impacts associated with climate changes that might occur in the foreseeable future.

Geoengineering, Ecosystems, Climate Change, Carbon↗
DOE OSTI2015

SCIENCE PLAN AND PROGRESS REPORT FOR THE TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE – SCIENTIFIC FOCUS AREA (TES SFA)

Climate Change Science Institute, Environmental Sciences Division, Biological Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Submitted to the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program, DOE Office of Science. February 27, 2015. Principal Investigators: Paul J. Hanson and Daniel M. Ricciuto. Oak Ridge National Laboratory

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Science Plan for Improving 3-D Seismic Velocity Models in the San Francisco Bay Region, 2019-24

This five-year science plan outlines short-term and long-term goals for improving 3-D seismic velocity models in the greater San Francisco Bay region as well as how to foster a community effort in reaching those goals. The short-term goals focus on improving the current USGS San Francisco Bay region geologic and seismic velocity model using existing data. The long-term goals focus on acquiring new data and leveraging better analysis tools to improve the model and characterize the uncertainty. The plan describes opportunities for contributions by members of the community to development of these seismic velocity models, provides current and potential users with general information on where efforts will likely be focused to improve these models and how new versions will be released, and outlines funding needs and obstacles for improving and maintaining such models. Several aspects of this plan, including how to foster a community effort, are independent of the geographic region and apply to other, similar efforts.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) Experiment Science Plan

The Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) experiment is a large field campaign that is being supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with contributions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Atmospheric and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The overarching goal of the PECAN experiment is to improve the understanding and simulation of the processes that initiate and maintain convection and convective precipitation at night over the central portion of the Great Plains region of the United States (Parsons et al. 2013). These goals are important because (1) a large fraction of the yearly precipitation in the Great Plains comes from nocturnal convection, (2) nocturnal convection in the Great Plains is most often decoupled from the ground and, thus, is forced by other phenomena aloft (e.g., propagating bores, frontal boundaries, low-level jets [LLJ], etc.), (3) there is a relative lack of understanding how these disturbances initiate and maintain nocturnal convection, and (4) this lack of understanding greatly hampers the ability of numerical weather and climate models to simulate nocturnal convection well. This leads to significant uncertainties in predicting the onset, location, frequency, and intensity of convective cloud systems and associated weather hazards over the Great Plains.

Turner, D↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurements of Aerosols, Radiation, and Clouds over the Southern Oceans (MARCUS) Science Plan

The Southern Ocean (SO) is the stormiest place on earth, buffeted by winds and waves that circle the ice of Antarctica, and sheathed in clouds that mantle a dynamic ocean with rich ecosystems. The remote and usually pristine environment, typically removed from anthropogenic and natural continental aerosol sources, makes the SO unique for examining cloud-aerosol interactions for liquid and ice clouds, and the role of primary and secondary marine biogenic aerosols and sea salt. There is strong seasonality in aerosol sources and sinks over the SO that are poorly understood. Weather and climate models are challenged by uncertainties and biases in the simulation of SO clouds, aerosols, and air-sea exchanges that trace to poor physical understanding of these processes, and by cloud feedbacks (e.g., phase changes) in response to warming. Models almost universally underestimate sunlight reflected by near surface cloud, particularly in the cold sector of cyclonic storm systems, and this may be due to difficulties in representing pervasive supercooled and mixed-phase boundary-layer (BL) clouds. Motivated by these issues, a large international multi-agency effort called the Southern Ocean Clouds Radiation Transport Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES) has been proposed to improve our understanding of clouds, aerosols, air-sea exchanges and their interactions over the SO. Coincident with SOCRATES, the Measurements of Aerosols, Radiation and CloUds over the Southern Oceans (MARCUS) experiment will be conducted where the second U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Mobile Facility (AMF2) will be installed on the Australian Antarctic supply vessel Aurora Australis (AA) as it makes routine transits between Hobart, Australia and the Antarctic, visiting the Australian Antarctic stations Mawson, Davis, and Casey, as well as Macquarie Island. During MARCUS, the AMF-2 will acquire comprehensive observations of aerosols (including cloud condensation nuclei [CCN] and ice nucleating particles [INP]) in the BL, vertical distributions of macrophysical and microphysical properties of liquid and mixed-phase clouds, and downwelling radiative fluxes over the SO during a 7-month period (September 2017 to April 2018) centered upon the Austral summer. The MARCUS observations will be self-standing and unique in that they will capture the variability in aerosol and cloud properties across the SO from spring to autumn, especially in cold waters at latitudes poleward 55° S, where supercooled and mixed-phase BL clouds in the cold sector of cyclones are frequent and where past and planned SO observations are most sparse.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Low-Yield Nuclear Monitoring (LYNM) Experimental Science Plan

The Low-Yield Nuclear Monitoring (LYNM) Program is a long-term NNSA research and development effort designed to improve the United States’ explosion monitoring capabilities, particularly with respect to low-yield and potentially evasive underground nuclear testing. The LYNM Program focuses on researching, discovering, and exploiting unique and useful signatures, from all available technologies and sensors (e.g., seismic, acoustic, electromagnetic, gases, and particulates (both stable and radioactive)). Four Department of Energy laboratories participate in LYNM and together are referred to as the ‘quad-lab’. The R&D program execution is performed under NNSA defined structures known as “ventures”. Four science ventures were established: 1) Explosion Source Functions; 2) Containment of Low-Yield Underground Tests; 3) Local Signatures; 4) Dynamic Monitoring Networks. To organize and execute the large field scale experiment a fifth venture was established: 5) Physics Experiment One (PE-1). As part of the LYNM Program, a series of experiments are planned at various scales and levels of venture involvement. These vary from those that involve a subset of labs and/or LYNM ventures (e.g., small experiments), to full quad-lab LYNM Program field-scale integrated experiments. Such experiments may involve chemical explosions with tracer materials or other means of simulating the expected signals from a nuclear explosion. The LYNM Program does not conduct actual nuclear explosions. Since 1992, the U.S. has observed a moratorium on underground nuclear explosions. This document is intended to provide the underlying scientific basis for the LYNM planned experimental work. Each specific LYNM experiment will develop a goals, objectives, and requirements (GOR) plan following the guidance in this document. The LYNM technical staff will define the numbers and types of experiments required over the course of the Program based on technical needs and within funding constraints. As with any scientific experiment series, the number and types of experiments may change based upon the experimental results obtained. An experiment that agrees with models/codes/software signature predictions may need fewer repetitions/variations, depending upon the level of statistical rigor desired, as compared to one in which the predictions and experimental data do not match. The large LYNM field-scale integrated experiments require the longest lead-time for planning, and these are discussed in more detail near the end of this document.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Desert-Urban System Integrated Atmospheric Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) in the Southwestern United States Science Plan

The Desert-Urban System Integrated Atmospheric Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) campaign is a groundbreaking, high-impact scientific mission that will transform how we understand and respond to energy and water challenges in one of America’s fastest-growing and most heat-stressed urban regions: Phoenix, Arizona. Starting in April 2026, this 18-month field campaign harnesses the full power of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility and an interdisciplinary science team including national laboratories, universities, and agencies with a broad range of subject-matter expertise. With cutting-edge instruments, active and passive ground-based sensors, radars, and integrated modeling, DUSTIEAIM will deliver the most comprehensive environmental data set ever collected for a desert-urban-agricultural interface.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cloud and Precipitation Experiment at Kennaook (Cape-K) Science Plan

The Cloud and Precipitation Experiment at Kennaook (CAPE-K) will augment ongoing measurements at the Kennaook/Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (KCG) with components of the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s second Mobile Facility (AMF2) in a deployment that is scheduled to extend from April 2024 through September 2025. Located at Kennaook/Cape Grim on the northwestern tip of Tasmania (40.68° S, 144.69° E), KCG has produced the longest and most consequential record of Southern Hemisphere aerosol and gas-phase chemistry; however, extensive cloud and precipitation measurements have not been collected at this site. CAPE-K is motivated by the fact that model uncertainty in the surface radiation budget due to clouds and precipitation remain significant in this region, where strong latitudinal gradients in cloud feedbacks are found and there are strong and well-documented seasonal variations in marine aerosol properties. Satellite data suggest that cloud properties co-vary with the seasonal cycle in aerosol in the Southern Ocean (SO), yet detailed vertically resolved measurements of cloud and precipitation in the marine boundary layer are sparse. CAPE-K will provide the first such seasonal cycle of measurements in this important latitude band. CAPE-K will provide detailed cloud and precipitation observations over two winter seasons and align with complementary high-value-add activities planned by Australian colleagues, including a voyage of the Research Vessel Investigator (RVI) in May 2025 that will conduct measurements just offshore of KCG.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

ARM Airborne Carbon Measurements VI (ACME VI) Science Plan

From October 1 through September 30, 2016, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerial Facility will deploy the Cessna 206 aircraft over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site, collecting observations of trace-gas mixing ratios over the ARM’s SGP facility. The aircraft payload includes two Atmospheric Observing Systems, Inc., analyzers for continuous measurements of CO2 and a 12-flask sampler for analysis of carbon cycle gases (CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, 13CO2, 14CO2, carbonyl sulfide, and trace hydrocarbon species, including ethane). The aircraft payload also includes instrumentation for solar/infrared radiation measurements. This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARM Climate Research Facility and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program and builds upon previous ARM Airborne Carbon Measurements (ARM-ACME) missions. The goal of these measurements is to improve understanding of 1) the carbon exchange at the SGP site, 2) how CO2 and associated water and energy fluxes influence radiative forcing, convective processes and CO2 concentrations over the SGP site, and 3) how greenhouse gases are transported on continental scales.

Biraud, S↗
DOE OSTI2015

ARM West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE) Science Plan

West Antarctica is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, and this warming is closely connected with global sea level rise. The discovery of rapid climate change on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has challenged previous explanations of Antarctic climate change that focused on strengthening of circumpolar westerlies in response to the positive polarity trend in the Southern Annular Mode. West Antarctic warming does not yet have a comprehensive explanation: dynamical mechanisms may vary from one season to the next, and these mechanisms very likely involve complex teleconnections with subtropical and tropical latitudes. The prime motivation for this proposal is that there has been no substantial atmospheric science or climatological field work on West Antarctica since the 1957 International Geophysical Year and that research continued for only a few years. Direct meteorological information on the WAIS has been limited to a few automatic weather stations for several decades, yet satellite imagery and meteorological reanalyses indicate that West Antarctica is highly susceptible to advection of warm and moist maritime air with related cloud cover, depending on the location and strength of low pressure cells in the Amundsen, Ross, and Bellingshausen Seas. There is a need to quantify the role of these changing air masses on the surface energy balance, including all surface energy components and cloud-radiative forcing. More generally, global climate model simulations are known to perform poorly over the Antarctic and Southern Oceans, and the marked scarcity of cloud information at southern high latitudes has so far inhibited significant progress. Fortunately, McMurdo Station, where the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility’s (ARM’s) most advanced cloud and aerosol instrumentation is situated, has a meteorological relationship with the WAIS via circulation patterns in the Ross and Amundsen Seas. We can therefore gather sophisticated data with cloud radars and high spectral resolution lidar and a complete aerosol suite at McMurdo that have relevance to the WAIS as well. At the same time, we will send basic radiometric, surface energy balance, and upper air equipment directly to the WAIS to make the first well calibrated climatological suite of measurements seen in this extremely remote but globally critical region in more than 40 years.

Lubin, D↗
DOE OSTI2019

Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) Science Plan

Convective clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system as a driver of large-scale circulations and a primary mechanism for the transport of heat, moisture, aerosols, and momentum throughout the troposphere. Despite their climatic importance, multi-scale models continue to have persistent biases produced by insufficient representation of convective clouds. This is the result of an incomplete understanding of key processes such as convective initiation, updraft and downdraft dynamics, cloud and precipitation microphysics, and aerosol-convection interactions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land-surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land-atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow-to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land-atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

Doppler lidar, aerosols, convection↗
DOE OSTI2021

Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) Science Plan

Coastal cities provide the opportunity to characterize marine clouds and the substantial effects of manmade particles on cloud properties and processes. La Jolla lies to the north of San Diego, California, but it is often about a day directly downwind of the major pollution sources located in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The large dynamic range of aerosol particle concentrations combined with the multi-hour to multi-day persistence of stratocumulus cloud layers makes the site ideal for investigating the seasonal changes in cloud and aerosol properties as well as the quantitative relationships between cloud and aerosol properties.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE) Science Plan

The Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE; pronounced “la-fey”) deploys several state-of-the-art scanning lidar and remote sensing systems to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. These instruments will augment the ARM instrument suite in order to collect a data set for studying feedback processes between the land surface and the atmosphere. The novel synergy of remote-sensing systems will be applied for simultaneous measurements of land-surface fluxes and horizontal and vertical transport processes in the atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL). The impact of spatial inhomogeneities of the soil-vegetation continuum on land-surface-atmosphere (LSA) feedback will be studied using the scanning capability of the instrumentation. The time period of the observations is August 2017, because large differences in surface fluxes between different fields and bare soil can be observed, e.g., pastures versus fields where the wheat has already been harvested. The remote sensing system synergy will consist of three components: 1) The SGP water vapor and temperature Raman lidar (SRL), the SGP Doppler lidar (SDL), and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL) (NDIAL) mainly in vertical staring modes to measure mean profiles and gradients of moisture, temperature, and horizontal wind. They will also measure profiles of higher-order turbulent moments in the water vapor and wind fields and profiles of the latent heat flux. 2) A novel scanning lidar system synergy consisting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) High-Resolution Doppler lidar (HRDL), the University of Hohenheim (UHOH) water-vapor differential absorption lidar (UDIAL), and the UHOH temperature Raman lidar (URL). These systems will perform coordinated range-height indicator (RHI) scans from just above the canopy level to the lower troposphere, including the interfacial layer of the CBL. The optimal azimuth is to the ENE of the SGP central facility, which takes advantage of both changes in the surface elevation and different crop types planted along that path. 3) The University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC) and the University of Oklahoma Collaborative Lower Atmospheric Mobile Profiling System (CLAMPS) operating two vertically pointing atmospheric emitted radiance interferometers (AERIs) and two Doppler lidar (DL) systems scanning cross track to the central RHI for determining the surface friction velocity and the horizontal variability of temperature, moisture, and wind. Thus, both the variability of surface fluxes and CBL dynamics and thermodynamics over the SGP site will be studied for the first time. The combination of these three components will enable us to estimate both the divergence of the latent heat profile and the advection of moisture. Thus, the moisture budget in the SGP domain can be studied. Furthermore, the simultaneous measurements of surface and entrainment fluxes as well as the daily cycle of the CBL thermodynamic state will provide a unique data set for characterizing LSA interaction in dependence of large-scale and local conditions such as soil moisture and the state of the vegetation. The measurements will also be applied for the development of improved parameterizations of surface fluxes and turbulence in the CBL. The latter is possible because mean profiles, gradients, higher-order moments, and fluxes are measured simultaneously. The results will be used for the verification of simulations of LSA feedback in large-eddy simulation (LES) and mesoscale models, which are planned for the SGP site. Due to the strong connection between the pre-convective state of the CBL and the formation of clouds and precipitation, this new generation of experiments will strongly contribute to the improvement of their representation in weather, climate, and earth system models.

Southern Great Plains, atmospheric boundary layer,↗
DOE OSTI2021

Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) Science Plan

Mountains are the natural water towers of the world, effectively turning water vapor into readily available fresh water through precipitation, snowpack, and runoff. Unfortunately, Earth system models (ESMs) have persistently been unable to predict the timing and availability of water resources from mountains because the source(s) of model error are difficult to isolate in complex terrain with limited atmospheric or land-surface observations. Further complications arise from the gross scale mismatch between ESM grid box sizes and the relevant scales of mountainous hydrological processes. The mountain hydrometeorology community has repeatedly called for integrated atmospheric and land observations of water and energy budgets in complex terrain that span these scales to establish benchmarks against which scale-dependent models can be further developed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) Preliminary Science Plan

General circulation models and downscaled regional models exhibit persistent biases in deep convective initiation location and timing, cloud top height, stratiform area and precipitation fraction, and anvil coverage. Despite important impacts on the distribution of atmospheric heating, moistening, and momentum, nearly all climate models fail to represent convective organization, while system evolution is not represented at all. Improving representation of convective systems in models requires characterization of their predictability as a function of environmental conditions, and this characterization depends on observing many cases of convective initiation, non-initiation, organization, and non-organization. The Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) experiment in the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range of north-central Argentina is designed to improve understanding of cloud life cycle and organization in relation to environmental conditions so that cumulus, microphysics, and aerosol parameterizations in multi-scale models can be improved. The Sierras de Córdoba range has a high frequency of orographic boundary-layer clouds, many reaching congestus depths, many initiating into deep convection, and some organizing into mesoscale systems uniquely observable from a single fixed site. Some systems even grow upscale to become among the deepest, largest, and longest-lived in the world. These systems likely contribute to an observed regional trend of increasing extreme rainfall, and poor prediction of them likely contributes to a warm, dry bias in climate models downstream of the Sierras de Córdoba range in a key agricultural region. Many environmental factors influence the convective lifecycle in this region including orographic, low-level jet, and frontal circulations, surface fluxes, synoptic vertical motions influenced by the Andes, cloud detrainment, and aerosol properties. Local and long-range transport of smoke resulting from biomass burning as well as blowing dust are common in the austral spring, while changes in land surface properties as the wet season progresses impact surface fluxes and boundary layer evolution on daily and seasonal time scales that feed back to cloud and rainfall generation. This range of environmental conditions and cloud properties coupled with a high frequency of events makes this an ideal location for improving our understanding of cloud-environment interactions. The following primary science questions will be addressed through coordinated first ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1), mobile C-band Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (C-SAPR2), guest instrumentation, and potential ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream-1 (G-1) observations: 1. How are the properties and lifecycles of orographically generated cumulus humulis, mediocris, and congestus clouds affected by environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, aerosols, and surface properties? How do these cloud types alter these environmental conditions? 2. How do environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, and aerosols impact deep convective initiation, upscale growth, and mesoscale organization? How are soil moisture, surface fluxes, and aerosol properties altered by deep convective precipitation events and seasonal accumulation of precipitation? This multi-faceted experiment involves a long term 8.5-month Extended Observing Period (EOP, 15 August, 2018-30 April, 2019) as well as a 6-week Intensive Observation Period (IOP, 1 November-15 December) that will coincide with the international multi-agency RELAMPAGO field campaign.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) Science Plan

General circulation models and downscaled regional models exhibit persistent biases in deep convective initiation location and timing, cloud top height, stratiform area and precipitation fraction, and anvil coverage. Despite important impacts on the distribution of atmospheric heating, moistening, and momentum, nearly all climate models fail to represent convective organization, while system evolution is not represented at all. Improving representation of convective systems in models requires characterization of their predictability as a function of environmental conditions, and this characterization depends on observing many cases of convective initiation, non-initiation, organization, and non-organization. The Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) experiment in the Sierras de Córdoba mountain range of north-central Argentina is designed to improve understanding of cloud life cycle and organization in relation to environmental conditions so that cumulus, microphysics, and aerosol parameterizations in multiscale models can be improved. The Sierras de Córdoba range has a high frequency of orographic boundary-layer clouds, many reaching congestus depths, many initiating into deep convection, and some organizing into mesoscale systems uniquely observable from a single fixed site. Some systems even grow upscale to become among the deepest, largest, and longest-lived in the world. These systems likely contribute to an observed regional trend of increasing extreme rainfall, and poor prediction of them likely contributes to a warm, dry bias in climate models downstream of the Sierras de Córdoba range in a key agricultural region. Many environmental factors influence the convective life cycle in this region, including orographic, low-level jet, and frontal circulations, surface fluxes, synoptic vertical motions influenced by the Andes, cloud detrainment, and aerosol properties. Local and long-range transport of smoke resulting from biomass burning as well as blowing dust are common in the austral spring, while changes in land surface properties as the wet season progresses impact surface fluxes and boundary-layer evolution on daily and seasonal time scales that feed back to cloud and rainfall generation. This range of environmental conditions and cloud properties coupled with a high frequency of events makes this an ideal location for improving our understanding of cloud-environment interactions. The following primary science questions will be addressed through coordinated first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF1), mobile C-band Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (C-SAPR2), ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Gulfstream-1 (G-1), and guest instrument observations: How are the properties and life cycles of orographically generated cumulus humulis, mediocris, and congestus clouds affected by environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, aerosols, and surface properties? How do these cloud types alter these environmental conditions? How do environmental kinematics, thermodynamics, and aerosols impact deep convective initiation, upscale growth, and mesoscale organization? How are soil moisture, surface fluxes, and aerosol properties altered by deep convective precipitation events and seasonal accumulation of precipitation? This multi-faceted experiment involves a long-term 7-month extended operational period (EOP, 1 October, 2018–30 April, 2019) as well as a 1.5-month intensive operational period (IOP, 30 October–13 December) that will include G-1 observations coinciding with the international multi-agency Remote Sensing of Electrification, Lightning, and Meso-scale/Micro-scale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations (RELAMPAGO) field campaign.

Convection, Andes, Argentina, cloud life cycle, cl↗