The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) Campaign

Journal Article · Fri Dec 08 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-22-0049.1· OSTI ID:2007463

Feldman, D. R. ^[1]; Aiken, A. C. ^[2]; Boos, W. R. ^[3]; Carroll, R. W. H. ^[4]; Chandrasekar, V. ^[5]; Collis, S. ^[6]; Creamean, J. M. ^[5]; de Boer, G. ^[7]; Deems, J. ^[7]; DeMott, P. J. ^[5]; Fan, J. ^[8]; Flores, A. N. ^[9]; Gochis, D. ^[10]; Grover, M. ^[6]; Hill, T. J. ^[5]; Hodshire, A. ^[11]; Hulm, E. ^[12]; Hume, C. C. ^[5]; Jackson, R. ^[6]; Junyent, F. ^[5] ; Kennedy, A. ^[13]; Kumjian, M. ^[14]; Levin, E. T. ^[11]; Lundquist, J. D. ^[15]; O’Brien, J. ^[6]; Raleigh, M. S. ^[16]; Reithel, J. ^[12]; Rhoades, A. ^[1]; Rittger, K. ^[17]; Rudisill, W. ^[1]; Sherman, Z. ^[6]; Siirila-Woodburn, E. ^[1]; Skiles, S. M. ^[18]; Smith, J. N. ^[19]; Sullivan, R. C. ^[6]; Theisen, A. ^[6]; Tuftedal, M. ^[6]; Varble, A. C. ^[8]; Wiedlea, A. ^[1]; Wielandt, S. ^[1]; Williams, K. ^[1]; Xu, Z. ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California-Berkeley, CA (United States)
4. Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV (United States)
5. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
6. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
7. University of Colorado Boulder, CO (United States)
8. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
9. Boise State University, ID (United States)
10. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
11. Handix Scientific, LLC, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
12. Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO (United States)
13. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (United States)
14. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA (United States)
15. University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
16. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (United States)
17. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
18. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
19. University of California, Irvine, CA (United States)

The science of mountainous hydrology spans the atmosphere through the bedrock and inherently crosses physical and disciplinary boundaries: land-atmosphere interactions in complex terrain enhance clouds and precipitation, while watersheds retain and release water over a large range of spatial and temporal scales. Limited observations in complex terrain challenge efforts to improve predictive models of the hydrology in the face of rapid changes. The Upper Colorado River exemplifies these challenges, especially with ongoing mismatches between precipitation, snowpack, and discharge. Consequently, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has deployed an observatory to the East River Watershed near Crested Butte, Colorado between September 2021 and June 2023 to measure the main atmospheric drivers of water resources, including precipitation, clouds, winds, aerosols, radiation, temperature and humidity. This effort, called the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL), is also working in tandem with DOE-sponsored surface and subsurface hydrologists and other federal, state, and local partners. SAIL data can be benchmarks for model development by producing a wide range of observational information on precipitation and its associated processes, including those processes that impact snowpack sublimation and redistribution, aerosol direct radiative effects in the atmosphere and in the snowpack, aerosol impacts on clouds and precipitation, and processes controlling surface fluxes of energy and mass. Preliminary data from SAIL’s first year showcase the rich information content in SAIL’s many data-streams and support testing hypotheses that will ultimately improve scientific understanding and predictability of Upper Colorado River hydrology in 2023 and beyond.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357; AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 2007463
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2475067; OSTI ID: 2229516
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA--180845; ark:/13030/qt8f65546v
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 104; ISSN 0003-0007
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Aerosols/particulates
Atmosphere-land interaction
Complex terrain
Hydrology
Measurements
Mountain meteorology