Radiation Data Quality VAP Expands to COMBLE and MICRE Campaigns

 
Published: 9 August 2021

Radiometers sit on a stand to collect data near the Southern Ocean during the 2016–2018 Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE)
These radiometers collected data during the 2016–2018 Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE). Photo is courtesy of Jeff Aquilina, Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s longtime recommended datastream for broadband surface irradiance measurements is Data Quality Assessment for ARM Radiation Data (QCRAD). The QCRAD value-added product (VAP) is now available for two recent ARM field campaigns.

QCRAD data are processed for the 2019–2020 Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE) in northern Norway and the 2016–2018 Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE) in the Southern Ocean.

The QCRAD methodology uses climatological analyses of the surface radiation measurements to define reasonable limits for testing the data for unusual values. QCRAD applies multiple data quality checks, corrects for errors due to infrared loss in shortwave radiometric measurements, and calculates a best-estimate total downwelling shortwave irradiance value.

The QCRAD VAP produces daily files containing 1-minute radiation measurement fields and their quality control (qc) values. The *.c2 files—the asterisk represents the datastream name—include auxiliary information and detailed qc flags.

Scientists can use the new QCRAD data now. Access the data in the ARM Data Center. (Go here to request an account to download the data.)

More information on QCRAD is available on the VAP web page. To share your experience—such as how you use the data and how well they work for you—or to ask a question, contact ARM translator Damao Zhang or developer Josh Howie.

To cite the QCRAD data, please use doi:10.5439/1227214.

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ARM is a DOE Office of Science user facility operated by nine DOE national laboratories.