Gm. Stokes et Se. Schwartz, THE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION - MEASUREMENT (ARM) PROGRAM - PROGRAMMATIC BACKGROUND AND DESIGN OF THE CLOUD AND RADIATION TEST-BED, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 75(7), 1994, pp. 1201-1221
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, supported by the
U.S. Department of Energy, is a major new program of atmospheric measu
rement and modeling. The program is intended to improve the understand
ing of processes that affect atmospheric radiation and the description
of these processes in climate models. An accurate description of atmo
spheric radiation and its interaction with clouds and cloud processes
is necessary to improve the performance of and confidence in models us
ed to study and predict climate change. The ARM Program will employ fi
ve (this paper was prepared prior to a decision to limit the number of
primary measurement sites to three) highly instrumented primary measu
rement sites for up to 10 years at land and ocean locations, from the
Tropics to the Arctic, and will conduct observations for shorter perio
ds at additional sites and in specialized campaigns. Quantities to be
measured at these sites include longwave and shortwave radiation, the
spatial and temporal distribution of clouds, water vapor, temperature,
and other radiation-influencing quantities. There will be further obs
ervations of meteorological variables that influence these quantities,
including wind velocity, precipitation rate, surface moisture, temper
ature, and fluxes of sensible and latent heat. These data will be used
for the prospective testing of models of varying complexity, ranging
from detailed process models to the highly parameterized description o
f these processes for use in general circulation models of the earth's
atmosphere. This article reviews the scientific background of the ARM
Program, describes the design of the program, and presents its status
and plans.