MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for an Integrated South Florida Cloud-Aerosol-Rain-OBserving System (CAROB)

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。这项工作由美国国家科学基金会的重大研究仪器计划支持，将采购、集成和应用一套仪器，使迈阿密大学的科学家社区和合作机构能够研究南佛罗里达州和附近水域大气中的气溶胶-云相互作用。这种具有季节性变化的气流制度的环境经历了各种情况，包括夏季几个月源自撒哈拉沙漠的尘埃气团侵入，冬季北美大陆东南方向涌动的受污染气团，以及较平静时期的海洋气溶胶。这种多变但反复出现的气溶胶气候学与各种气象环境相结合，从贸易风(夏季)到斜压锋面通道(冬季)，再到偶尔的飓风(夏末/初秋)，从而提供了一个很好的环境，可以在其中检查气溶胶、太阳和红外辐射的大气传输/吸收以及云过程之间的联系。所要求的设备包括翻新的94 GHz云雷达和风廓线、气溶胶探测激光雷达、微波辐射计、云凝结核计数器、一对太阳光度计和Ceileter的部件。除了迈阿密大学工作人员现有的研究和技术专长外，现有设备还进一步利用了这种新的和改装的仪器组合，包括9.4 GHz(X波段)雷达、94 GHz雷达组件和允许移动操作的集装箱/货车。这套组装的气溶胶和远程云传感器的同步观测将用于提供以具有统计意义的方式表示云-气溶胶相互作用所需的那种频繁、常规和长期的测量。这一努力的学术价值集中在努力更好地量化气溶胶对气候系统内的云微物理和宏观物理(“云反馈”)的影响，并扩大到更好地理解热带气旋和其他更常见风暴的强度和发展所涉及的过程。更广泛的影响将通过加强大学的研究基础设施和在课堂和研究生研究培训中使用这些数据流来产生，包括开发一个关于“佛罗里达气候”的课程模块。外联和传播将包括展示迈阿密大学弗吉尼亚关键校区和珊瑚山墙校区的数据以及基于网络的分发。观测系统将作为K-12学生团体校园参观的协调中心，测量结果将提供给现有的全球数据库(包括AERONET和MPLNET)，供更大的科学界使用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This effort supported through NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program will procure, integrate and apply a suite of instrumentation to enable a community of scientists at the University of Miami and collaborating institutions to study aerosol-cloud interactions in the atmosphere over South Florida and adjacent waters. This environment, with its seasonally-shifting airflow regimes, experiences conditions ranging from incursions of dust-laden airmasses originating over the Saharan desert during the summer months, polluted airmasses surging southeastward over the North American continent during winter, and marine aerosols during more quiescent periods. This variable yet recurring aerosol climatology is coupled with meteorological settings ranging from a Trade Wind regime (in summer) to baroclinic frontal passages (in winter) to occasional hurricanes (late summer/early fall), thus providing an excellent environment in which to examine linkages among aerosols, atmospheric transmission/absorption of solar and infrared radiation, and cloud processes. Requested equipment includes components for a refurbished 94 GHz cloud radar and wind profiler, an aerosol detecting lidar, microwave radiometer, cloud condensation nuclei counter, a pair of sun photometers, and a ceilometer. This combination of new and revamped instrumentation is further leveraged by existing equipment including a 9.4 GHz (X-band) radar, 94 GHz radar components and a container/van allowing mobile operations, in addition to existing research and technical expertise among University of Miami staff. Synchronized observations by this assembled suite of aerosol and remote cloud sensors will be used to provide frequent, routine and long-term measurements of the sort needed to represent cloud-aerosol interactions in a statistically meaningful way. The intellectual merit of this effort centers upon efforts to better quantify aerosol impacts on cloud microphysics and macrophysics ("cloud feedbacks") within the climate system, and extend to improved understanding of processes involved in modulating the strength and development of tropical cyclones and other more commonly occurring storms. Broader impacts will be derived through enhancement of the University's research infrastructure and use of these datastreams in classroom and graduate research training, including development of a class module on "The Florida Climate." Outreach and dissemination will include display of data on both the Virginia Key and Coral Gables campuses of the University of Miami as well as web-based distribution. The observing system will serve as a focal point for campus tours by K-12 student groups, and measurements will be contributed to existing global databases (including AERONET and MPLNET) utilized by the larger scientific community.