ACRF data collection and processing infrastructure.
Designated a national user facility, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF) provides a unique asset for the study of global climate change to the broader national and international research community. It has enormous potential to contribute to a wide range of interdisciplinary science in the areas of meteorology, atmospheric aerosols, hydrology, ecology, oceanography, satellite validation, and to provide potential monitoring sites where remote sensing and modeling related to homeland security can be validated. The primary goals for the ACRF are to (1) provide infrastructure to the scientific community for scientific research pertaining to global climate change and the goals of the ARM Program (Ackerman and Stokes 2003), (2) provide data and information to the scientific community for meeting those goals, and (3) provide education and outreach on the activities and scientific findings that result from ongoing research at the ACRF. The foundation of the ACRF infrastructure is based on the scientific infrastructure created for the ARM Program (DOE 1990). In support of the ARM Program, the ACRF operates three instrumented sites and a mobile facility to provide relevant atmospheric measurements to the ARM Program and to the global scientific community. The goal of the ACRF infrastructure is to deliver these measurement data reliably, quickly, and in a useful format to the scientific community. The basic focus of the infrastructure is to get the data generated by instruments in the field to a central distribution point. The remoteness of the sites and the diversity of the instruments add to the complexity of the solution. Network access to the sites was often limited and significantly impacted options for data flow and the architecture deployed at each location. Because of several iterations and significant work to establish Internet connections at each site, the ACRF has developed an efficient and integrated data flow. The network and computing infrastructure is able to centrally process the data from all sites on an hourly basis and make daily updates available for general users. This is accomplished through satellite networking, specialized data movement processes, and a tight configuration management process. We present a description of the data flow from measurement to long-term archive. We also discuss data communications infrastructure. The data handling processes presented include collection, transfer, ingest, quality control, creation of Value-Added Products (VAP), and data archiving.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 982582
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/AOD/CP-114719
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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