Breakout Summary Report

ARM's mission to provide world-class atmospheric observations relies on continual innovation in its instrumentation and data products. This session will focus on recent and upcoming advancements that enhance ARM's measurement capabilities, with a focus on in situ and passive remote sensing instrumentation, including aerosol instrumentation and radiometers. It will provide a forum for the ARM/ASR community to engage in discussions about recent successes, ongoing challenges, and future directions for ARM’s instrumentation and data products.

•New Instrumentation: Updates on newly deployed instruments or those planned for deployment, highlighting their scientific impact.

•Upgrades and Integration of New Technologies: Enhancements to existing systems and the integration of innovative technologies to improve measurement precision and scope.

•Advances in Data Products: Progress in refining and expanding ARM's data products to facilitate scientific research.

•Measurement Strategies: Updates on deployment and observational strategies to optimize spatial and temporal coverage for critical science questions.

•Community Feedback on Scientific Needs: Interactive discussion to gather input from the ARM/ASR community on priorities for future development and deployment.

This session provided a forum for the ARM and ASR communities to engage in discussions about new advancements in ARM instruments (new instruments, upgrades, etc…) while discussing ongoing challenges and future needs.  Presentations were split into a couple categories, aerosols, solar radiation, and other and included mostly presentations from ARM mentors with a PI talk included as well.  Additional discussion included the complimentary information about our sites (surface type, lidar mapping, high-resolution instrument location information, etc…) ARM could provide or connect to for users.

1. While not downloaded as much, cameras focused on instrumentation and to complement surface radiation measurements (GNDRAD, GNDIRT) are very valuable for informing the quality of the data, especially at sites that experience snow, which can accumulate on instruments.  Thermal cameras could be of value as well broader surface temperature measurements or more precise measurement of snow on instruments overnight if they have low-uncertainty.

2. The data quality of the ground-based POPS system running at CoURAGE could be further improved by implementing routine calibrations every 3-months.

3. ARM should further “advertise” how PI’s and other scientists can request modifications to ongoing scan strategies from scanning radar and lidar or other change requests for operations.  This can be done through field campaign requests but is still unknown to many.

4. Additional metadata about the instruments and ARM sites would be beneficial for users.  This includes making information on the precise instrument locations available.  While terrestrial lidar scanning (TLS) for terrain mapping would be extremely beneficial but it is unclear if this is something ARM should do.  However, ARM could better connect users to resources available that could be utilized or partner with other organizations that may have a vested interest.  TLS for snow cover could be valuable to provide broader measurements than what is available with the current sonic range sensors at NSA.

N/A

1. ARM needs to implement sensors on the tower to monitor movement of the tower to inform potential data quality impacts.  The sensor used on the SHIPRAD system could potentially be used.

2. Additional needs for ARM to consider and review are zenith radiation measurements and the lidar strategy in ARM. Periodic lidar focused meetings with users and infrastructure staff could help define a lidar strategy and review outcomes of MPL-Ceilometer comparisons to help plan for future needs.

N/A

N/A

N/A