ARM Southern Great Plains, Kansas/Oklahoma USA

Name:Wanda Ferrell
Affiliation:
Department of Energy
ARM Climate Research Facility Program Director
Address:
Biological and Environmental Research
1000 Independence Ave.,SW SC-23.3 G-139/GTN
Washington, DC 20585-1290
E-mail:wanda.ferrell AT science.doe.gov
Telephone: (301) 903-0043
Fax: (301) 903-8519

or

Name:Raymond A. McCord
Affiliation:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
ARM Data Archive Manager
Address:
Building 1507
PO Box 2008, MS 6407
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407
E-mail:mccordra AT ornl.gov
Telephone: (865) 574-7827
Fax: (865) 574-4665

http://www.arm.gov

The Southern Great Plains (SGP) site was the first field measurement site established by DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. Scientists are using the information obtained from the SGP to improve cloud and radiative models and parameterizations and, thereby, the performance of atmospheric general circulation models used for climate research.

Deployment of the first instrumentation to the SGP site occurred in the spring of 1992, just 24 months after the program was approved. The site was dedicated in November 1992. Additional instrumentation and data processing capabilities have been incrementally added in the succeeding years. The site was recently rededicated in the name of Dr. Frederick Luther (1943-1986), who made outstanding contributions to the field of atmospheric research and furthering our understanding of atmospheric radiation and its interactions with clouds, aerosols, and gases.

The SGP was chosen as the first ARM field measurement site for several reasons including its relatively homogeneous geography and easy accessibility, wide variability of climate cloud type and surface flux properties, and large seasonal variation in temperature and specific humidity. It also already had a large, existing network of weather and climate research and instrumentation.

The SGP site consists of in situ and remote-sensing instrument clusters arrayed across approximately 55,000 square miles (143,000 square kilometers) in north-central Oklahoma. The ARM SGP site is the largest and most extensive climate research field site in the world and can be viewed as a real "laboratory without walls."


Click for larger image.

The heart of the SGP site is the heavily instrumented central facility located on 160 acres of cattle pasture and wheat fields southeast of Lamont, Oklahoma. A staff of 30 scientists and technicians collect and monitor data from the central facility instruments and from smaller, unstaffed facilities throughout the site.

The instruments throughout the site automatically collect data on surface and atmospheric properties, routinely providing data to the Site Data System, which is linked by high-speed communications to the ARM Archive and Data Center. The Data Center acquires additional data from other sources, such as National Weather Service satellite and surface data, and provides tailored data packages to ARM Science Team members.

More than 30 instrument clusters have been placed around the SGP site, at the central facility and at boundary, extended, and intermediate facilities. The locations for the instruments were chosen so that the measurements reflect conditions over the typical distribution of land uses within the site.

The continuous observations at the SGP site are supplemented by intensive observation periods, when the frequency of measurements is increased and special measurements are added to address specific research questions. During such periods, approximately 2 gigabytes or more of data (two billion bytes) is generated daily. Both during intensive observation periods and at other times, scientists bring their own specialized instruments to the SGP site, typically for several weeks.

DATA SUMMARY:

Drainage area to outlet: Unknown
Basin outlet latitude-longitude:34.8-38.4°N, 95.7-99.4°W
Stream gauge/water level recorder period of record: USGS streamgauges. Variable period of record.
Precipitation gauges: 21 recording rain gauges, period of record approximately 1993 - present (available in digital form). Data precision is 0.25 mm (0.01 inch), one-minute.
Micrometeorological data: Relative Humidity, 2-m air temperature, wind speed/direction, and surface pressure at 21 sites approximately 1993-present. Four component surface radiation at 24 sites at up to 20 second resolution, most colocated with metoerological data.
Turbulent flux measurements: Bowen Ratio measurements of latent and sensible heat at 16 sites collocated with meteorological and radiation instruments. 1993-present. Eddy correlation measurements of latent and sensible heat at 11 sites collocated with meteorological and radiation instruments. 1993-present. Both 30 minute measurements.
Other measurements: soil moisture, soil temperature at hourly intervals at 22 sites from approximately 1995 to present. soil have been characterized for each of the measurement sites by Oklahoma State University. Vegetation has been characterized.