MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for an Integrated South Florida Cloud-Aerosol-Rain-OBserving System (CAROB)

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This effort supported through NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program will procure, integrate and apply a suite of instrumentation to enable a community of scientists at the University of Miami and collaborating institutions to study aerosol-cloud interactions in the atmosphere over South Florida and adjacent waters. This environment, with its seasonally-shifting airflow regimes, experiences conditions ranging from incursions of dust-laden airmasses originating over the Saharan desert during the summer months, polluted airmasses surging southeastward over the North American continent during winter, and marine aerosols during more quiescent periods. This variable yet recurring aerosol climatology is coupled with meteorological settings ranging from a Trade Wind regime (in summer) to baroclinic frontal passages (in winter) to occasional hurricanes (late summer/early fall), thus providing an excellent environment in which to examine linkages among aerosols, atmospheric transmission/absorption of solar and infrared radiation, and cloud processes. Requested equipment includes components for a refurbished 94 GHz cloud radar and wind profiler, an aerosol detecting lidar, microwave radiometer, cloud condensation nuclei counter, a pair of sun photometers, and a ceilometer. This combination of new and revamped instrumentation is further leveraged by existing equipment including a 9.4 GHz (X-band) radar, 94 GHz radar components and a container/van allowing mobile operations, in addition to existing research and technical expertise among University of Miami staff. Synchronized observations by this assembled suite of aerosol and remote cloud sensors will be used to provide frequent, routine and long-term measurements of the sort needed to represent cloud-aerosol interactions in a statistically meaningful way. The intellectual merit of this effort centers upon efforts to better quantify aerosol impacts on cloud microphysics and macrophysics ("cloud feedbacks") within the climate system, and extend to improved understanding of processes involved in modulating the strength and development of tropical cyclones and other more commonly occurring storms. Broader impacts will be derived through enhancement of the University's research infrastructure and use of these datastreams in classroom and graduate research training, including development of a class module on "The Florida Climate." Outreach and dissemination will include display of data on both the Virginia Key and Coral Gables campuses of the University of Miami as well as web-based distribution. The observing system will serve as a focal point for campus tours by K-12 student groups, and measurements will be contributed to existing global databases (including AERONET and MPLNET) utilized by the larger scientific community.