Report from 2023 Joint ARM/ASR Meeting focusing on E3SM Relevance
The 2023 Joint Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility/Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Principal Investigators Meeting took place from August 7 to 10, 2023, in Rockville, Maryland. This event brought together participants from the ARM user community, infrastructure members, ASR researchers, and several members of the E3SM team, which also collaborates on ARM/ASR endeavors. Dr. Xujing Davis, the program manager for DOE’s Earth System Model Development program, provided a comprehensive update on E3SM during the opening plenary session. She emphasized the synergies between ARM/ASR and E3SM, particularly through process modeling studies involving the E3SM single-column model (SCM) and the Doubly Periodic configuration of Simple Convection-Permitting E3SM Atmosphere Model (DP-SCREAM), combined with ARM case library data and diagnostics.
The ARM/ASR PI meeting encompassed an array of topics, ranging from ARM’s field observations of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiation processes to ASR’s research endeavors aimed at enhancing our comprehension and representation of these processes within Earth System Models. A notable focal point during both plenary and breakout sessions was the growing integration of ARM/ASR research with E3SM. A particular highlight of this year’s meeting was the introduction of the ASR Science Focus Area (SFA) project called “Tying in High-Resolution E3SM with ARM Data” (THREAD), which garnered significant attention throughout the meeting. THREAD will leverage ARM observations to evaluate and improve the doubly-periodic, limited-domain configuration of E3SM’s next-generation atmosphere model, DP-SCREAM. Encouraging strides have been taken within THREAD, including ongoing efforts to evaluate SCREAM’s performance using ARM GoAmazon field campaign data within the frameworks of DP-SCREAM and Regionally Refined Model RRM-SCREAM. A breakout session entitled “Bridging ARM Data with kilometer grid scale models” provided updates on these endeavors.
The meeting also highlighted various other ARM/ASR initiatives that closely align with E3SM. Multiple model intercomparison efforts focusing on case studies linked to recent ARM field experiments have been proposed or are already underway. These studies focus on a range of important meteorological situations and atmospheric processes, including 1) cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) over the Norwegian Sea using data from the ARM Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE), 2) the impact of aerosol on convection through the TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions Experiment (TRACER) data, and 3) the influence of aerosol on low clouds, cloud properties, and aerosol-cloud interactions, drawing on data from the ARM Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE). Many of these studies employ or plan to employ a hierarchical modeling approach, spanning from low- to high-resolution models of varying complexities. Several modeling groups plan to participate in these upcoming intercomparisons using E3SM and E3SM regional refined model (E3SM-RRM), which will contribute to this community-driven effort.
Another avenue by which ARM data are integrated into models, including E3SM, is through data-driven parameterization development, an approach that harnesses ARM observations when developing physics parameterizations for models. A dedicated breakout session on this subject highlighted recent applications of modern data analysis techniques, including machine learning and Bayesian methods, to address structural and parameter uncertainties within Earth system models.
The efforts to facilitate use of ARM data in E3SM and SCREAM developments were also discussed at the meeting. These include the continuous development of ARM case library, ARM diagnostics package, ARM instrument simulators, and LASSO LES data bundle. ARM data uncertainties, specifically in ARM cloud and precipitation measurement, were also discussed. Knowing an error bar in ARM data is critical in model evaluation as ESMs continue to improve. Open Science has long been supported by ARM and ASR. A series of Open Science Breakouts were hosted at the meeting to engage with and educate the community about all the open science tools and activities in ARM.
All the plenary, breakout, and post session talks will be available on the 2023 ARM/ASR PI meeting website soon.
This article is a part of the E3SM “Floating Points” Newsletter, to read the full Newsletter check:
