A Cooperative Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Study (CASES) site is being established to enable scientists to observe, understand and model linkages among the atmosphere, hydrosphere and terrestrial biosphere on time scales from minutes to years. CASES will also serve as a focal point to provide field experience for students of the natural sciences. The location of the CASES site is the upper Walnut River watershed north of Winfield, Kansas which is within DoE's well instrumented ARM/CART research area. Here, boundary layer profilers will be deployed coincident with the natural boundaries of the watershed. Such positioning simplifies efforts to close the surface water balance since the net runoff can be measured at one point. This, in turn, also helps verify other atmosphere/surface linkages. Surface flux and radiation data obtained within the watershed, in conjunction with WSR-88D radars, satellite data, stream gages, soil moisture data, topographic and land use data, surface meteorological data, biophysical data, and atmospheric-hydrologic-ecologic models, will allow for detailed descriptions of surface-atmosphere linkages and exchange processes between the watershed and the atmosphere. The CASES site will provide scientists with opportunities to pursue a broad range of interdisciplinary research including, for example:
CASES will provide the infrastructure that is required to carry out both long term and episodic field campaigns that are associated with surface-atmosphere exchange processes. Among the facilities and services provided will be a minimum "critical mass" complement of instruments that will be operated continuously during the lifetime of CASES, with supporting power, phone, and data management services. Instrument maintenance and site management will be available to ensure that the services provided will be used in an efficient manner. The facility will be available to individual investigators or groups of investigators who will use the instruments in place or deploy additional ones which would complement the existing array for their specific research needs.
CASES evolved from meetings among a broad cross section of the university community and representatives of Argonne National Laboratory, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) Program, the Global Energy and Water cycle EXperiment (GEWEX) Continental scale International Project (GCIP), the United States Weather Research Program (USWRP), the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), the National Weather Service (NWS), the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Once fully established, CASES is projected to have a minimum lifetime of three years with possible continuance for the duration of ARM-CART. Periodic evaluation of the facility will determine its longevity.
CASES is being initiated in FY 96 with Argonne National Laboratory assuming a lead role by establishing an atmospheric boundary layer facility in the Walnut River Watershed in Kansas. The boundary layer facility will be equipped to provide surface-based observations of the vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and wind and of the air-surface exchange rates of heat, moisture, and momentum over the southern half of the CASES area. A continuous view of atmospheric processes will be provided with sufficient detail to enable significant advances in the description, understanding, and modeling of the planetary boundary layer. The facility will be particularly suited for studies of evolution of the planetary boundary layer, areal averages of air-surface exchange, wave motions in the nocturnal boundary layer, and characterization of the low-level wind speed maximum in the stable boundary layer. The facility also provides the necessary foundation for the interdisciplinary studies previously mentioned.
A joint Argonne/NCAR/NOAA CASES project office has been established at NCAR to continue developing funding resources for CASES; identify, coordinate, and facilitate research opportunities for the scientific community; and to establish an operational data management scheme addressing all aspects involved in providing access to continuously collected observations relating to the CASES site. Funding to fully implement the CASES facility is being pursued via standard and internal proposals which have/will be submitted to DoA, DoC, DoD, DoE, EPA, DoI, NASA, and NSF.
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