For the past year and a half, ARM scientists, engineers, operations, and data systems staff have been working tirelessly to support the installation and operation of nearly 150 new and upgraded instruments throughout the user facility. In September, ARM received its final three instruments – a radar wind profiler; a micropulse lidar for the Darwin, Australia site; and a CO2 analyzer for airborne research. In addition, the user facility successfully met the final FY2011 fourth quarter project milestone “Infrastructure Enhancements Complete.” Recovery Act project manager Jimmy Voyles sent the following note of thanks to all involved in this monumental accomplishment:
“While there are a few loose ends to tie up – throughout the project you all have done a great job with the planning and execution of the related Recovery Act activities. Thank you, and please thank everyone that helped us out throughout the project. A lot of people were involved and needed to bring the Recovery Act project tasks to completion. The new capabilities integrated into the ARM baseline, and your contributions, have brought ARM to a new level.”
Some quick stats to summarize this exciting (and exhausting!) effort include:
- 100% of the instrument system procurements are complete and associated components have been received
- 97.25% of project allocation ($60 million) costed
- 155 subcontracts let
- 138 jobs created.
Remaining tasks associated with the final calibration of the scanning cloud radars will occur at the fixed and mobile facilities in the first two quarters of FY2012.