LASSO Shallow Convection Scenario Documented in BAMS

Published: 18 May 2020

Through the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity, measurements and models work together at ARM’s Southern Great Plains atmospheric observatory.

To help bridge the gap between observations and large-scale models, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility began the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity in 2015. Initially, LASSO focused on continental shallow convection over ARM’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) atmospheric observatory.

Now, a LASSO overview paper published online in April 2020 by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) documents the SGP shallow convection scenario. This is the foundational paper that researchers should cite for LASSO, says William Gustafson, LASSO principal investigator.

By combining observations with LES modeling, LASSO “data bundles” allow researchers to compare routine, high-resolution simulations with what happened over the SGP on a given date. LASSO is up to 78 case dates, and more are coming. The cases for the 2019 season are currently being processed.

The BAMS paper introduces LASSO and describes its audience, core concepts, LES production for shallow convection, and available data and general LES behavior. It also touches on LASSO’s future, including the recently announced deep convection scenario. The new case will initially involve the 2018‒2019 Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign in Argentina.

Gustafson, from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington state, is the corresponding author of the BAMS paper. He collaborated with Andrew Vogelmann, LASSO co-principal investigator, and co-investigators from Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York; PNNL; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; the University of California, Los Angeles; National University of Defense Technology in China; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Cite the BAMS paper: Gustafson W, A Vogelmann, Z Li, X Cheng, K Dumas, S Endo, K Johnson, B Krishna, T Toto, and H Xiao. 2020. “The Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) Activity for Continental Shallow Convection.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(4), 10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0065.1.

For more information, read the research highlight.

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