MRI Development of the Scripps Ocean Atmosphere Research Simulator (SOARS)

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It is critical that we develop tools for improving our understanding of the impacts of natural systems on the climate system as the Earth undergoes unprecedented change. It is difficult to determine the impact of the oceans on clouds and climate in field studies due to complexities added in by human pollution, even out over the oceans. The PIs will development of a state-of-the-art environmental simulator that will allow studies of ocean impacts on clouds and climate in the presence and absence of human based pollution. The Scripps Ocean-Atmosphere Research Simulator (SOARS), will provide wind, waves, atmospheric, biological, and thermal controls capable of simulating real-world conditions in a laboratory scale simulator. SOARS will simulate the complex and interacting physical, chemical and biological components of the marine atmosphere boundary layer (MABL) driven by wind, waves, and microbial processes under varying scenarios of temperature, from tropical to polar, atmospheric gas phase concentrations, and ocean pH. An integrated, temperature-controlled smog chamber will allow unique studies of ocean-atmosphere exchange and atmospheric reaction studies. SOARS will be the only instrument in the world capable of studying the current and future states of the ocean/atmosphere system thus uniquely capable of simulating Earth?s rapidly changing ocean-atmosphere system. The ability to simulate biological, physical, and photochemical processes in a controlled laboratory setting will enable interdisciplinary studies at an unprecedented level. SOARS will be housed at the Hydraulics Laboratory (HLab) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). The HLab has been a focal point for oceanic and atmospheric research for more than 50 years, providing experimental facilities for national and international scientists, including UCSD researchers and students. SOARS will support new science by enabling interdisciplinary teams of scientists to collaborate on quantifying ocean-atmosphere exchange and reaction processes. It will serve as a test bed for the next generation of instrumentation thus improving at-sea measurement techniques to address significant unknowns relevant to global change. SOARS will serve as a training tool for the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists cross-trained in marine biology, climate, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, and engineering. In addition, SOARS will facilitate classical fluid dynamical and engineering studies, as well as STEM education through practical demonstrations for UCSD classes on fluid mechanics that the soon-to-be decommissioned Wind Wave channel in the Hydraulics Laboratory has traditionally supported. The HLab and its affiliated wave channels have become popular for outreach activities at SIO (including artists, film makers, news media and on-site educational visits) and supports UCSD?s commitment to diversity. SOARS will leverage diversity programs promoted at SIO and by the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment Center (CAICE), a major future SOARS user. Both SIO and CAICE actively seek opportunities to engage diverse audiences in Earth systems science, and SIO has recently appointed two diversity officers to increase broader participation in the STEM fields by inclusiveness in research, education, and outreach. The motivation for SOARS lies in the critical role the marine atmosphere boundary layer (MABL) plays in weather, atmospheric chemistry, climate change, national security interests, and offshore civil engineering. SOARS will play a critical role in basic and applied research in these arenas as well as in educating and training the next generation of scientists and engineers working in these fields. The presence of biological, chemical and physical feedbacks on exchanges through the MABL makes the creation of controllable laboratory simulators essential to the understanding of these complex processes. SOARS will enable study of the full complexity of ocean-atmosphere exchange processes through interdisciplinary studies by chemists, biologists and physical oceanographers. Not only is SOARS designed for experiments using wind, waves and biology in natural seawater, with a controllable atmosphere, simulating tropical through polar conditions, but the conditions will also be customizable allowing experiments to unravel natural impacts on clouds and climate, as well as futuristic simulations of increasing CO2 levels and changes in ecosystems. Such studies will allow one to unravel impacts of human versus natural processes on our climate at a unique level.