Kuang et al. (2025) The U.S. DOE ARM User Facility Establishes a New Site for Studies of Land–Aerosol–Cloud Interactions in the Southeastern United States

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-04
• Authors: Chongai Kuang, Scott Giangrande, Shawn Serbin, Patty Campbell, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Pierre Gentine, Thijs Heus, Nicki Hickmon, Mariko Oue, John M. Peters, Girish N. Raghunathan, Michael T. Ritsche, James N. Smith, Mark Spychala, Allison L. Steiner, Adam Theisen
• DOI: 10.1175/bams-d-25-0072.1

Research Groups

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility; Collaborators in the broader scientific community.

Short Summary

The U.S. DOE ARM user facility has established a new observational site in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama, to gather multiyear data on land-atmosphere-cloud-aerosol interactions at various scales, addressing challenges in Earth system models for the southeastern United States.

Objective

• To unravel complex land-atmosphere interactions, including surface-forced convective clouds, mesoscale convective systems, anthropogenic and biogenic aerosol processes, boundary layer aerosol-cloud interactions, and terrestrial ecosystem interactions with coupled aerosol-cloud-radiation processes, particularly in the southeastern United States.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: From within the forest canopy to cloud level; local to regional (mesoscale convective systems).
• Temporal Scale: Multiyear operations, starting October 2024.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly mentioned, but the research aims to improve Earth system models.
• Data sources: Ground-based sensors, elevated tower-based instrumentation, and aerial facilities.

Main Results

• The establishment and operationalization of a new, comprehensive observational site in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama, by the DOE ARM user facility, designed to collect data on land-atmosphere-cloud-aerosol interactions starting October 2024.

Contributions

• Provides a unique, multiyear observational platform in the scientifically critical southeastern United States to address long-standing challenges in Earth system models regarding land-atmosphere-cloud-aerosol interactions, terrain complexity, and land-use heterogeneity.

Funding

• U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility.

Citation

@article{Kuang2025US,
  author = {Kuang, Chongai and Giangrande, Scott and Serbin, Shawn and Campbell, Patty and Elsaesser, Gregory S. and Gentine, Pierre and Heus, Thijs and Hickmon, Nicki and Oue, Mariko and Peters, John M. and Raghunathan, Girish N. and Ritsche, Michael T. and Smith, James N. and Spychala, Mark and Steiner, Allison L. and Theisen, Adam},
  title = {The U.S. DOE ARM User Facility Establishes a New Site for Studies of Land–Aerosol–Cloud Interactions in the Southeastern United States},
  journal = {Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/bams-d-25-0072.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-25-0072.1}
}