The Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) field campaign is currently being conducted near La Jolla, California, about 12 miles north of downtown San Diego to investigate coastal marine clouds, including their radiative effects and the role manmade particles play. For EPCAPE, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)’s first Mobile Facility (AMF-1) will be making continuous measurements from February 15, 2023 till 14 February 2024. The AMF-1 is equipped with suite of instruments that observe the atmospheric aerosol, cloud, thermodynamic, dynamic, and radiative properties. Below are some quick-look plots made by combining data from several instruments that can be used for identifying instances of interesting case-studies and diagnose instrument issues. A “Profile Plot” is produce each day.
The “Profile Plot” contains information provided by the radiosonde, cloud radar (KAZR), ceilometer (CEIL), Doppler Lidar (DL), Microwave Radiometer (MWR), and Radar Wind Profiler (RWP). The left side of the plot show the profiles of potential temperature (Θ) and water vapor mixing ratio from surface to 4 km as reported by radiosondes launched during the local day. From top to the bottom the right hand side panels denote the 1) time-height profiles of radar reflectivity as reported by the Ka-band ARM Zenith Radar (KAZR) along with ceilometer reported cloud base height, 2) time-height profiles of the ceilometer reported backscatter along with the cloud base height, 3) time-height profile of the Doppler Lidar reported vertical velocity along with ceilometer reported cloud base height, 4) time-series of the MWR reported liquid water path (LWP), and column integrated water vapor (IWV), and 5) time series of MET reported wind direction. Please note that the time is converted to local time for the ease of identifying the diurnal cycle.
Please note that these are quick-look plots and ample caution must be taken before deriving any scientific conclusions from them. The shown data will go through several iterations of calibration and quality checks before being ready for scientific usage. Plots from all the instruments part of the AMF-1 are available through the campaign dashboard. Data used to generate the quick-look plots can be downloaded from the ARM data archive by searching for particular instrument listed under the EPCAPE (EPC) site. Please contact Lynn Russell ([email protected]) for any questions related to the EPCAPE field campaign, Virendra Ghate ([email protected]) for questions or concerns related to EPCAPE boundary layer observations, and Thomas Surleta ([email protected]) for questions or concerns regarding the quick-look plots.