Energy Department official to dedicate first site in major DOE global climate research project
November 16, 1992
William Happer, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Research, will travel to rural Grant County, Oklahoma, November 18, 1992, to dedicate the first site in DOE's highest priority global climate change research project, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program.
The ARM Program is part of the effort by DOE to resolve scientific uncertainties about greenhouse gases and their potential impact on global climate. The term radiation in the program's title refers to both sunshine and energy radiated back into space.
During the next seven to 10 years the remote-sensing instruments, including standard weather radar, state-of-the-art lasers and all-sky imagers, will collect and analyze data that will contribute to a better understanding of potential climate changes by improving the large-scale computer models that scientists use to predict these changes.
The "site," called a Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART), is actually 25 to 30 small, 50- to 160-acre arrays of weather and climate instruments spread across a 34,000-square-mile rectangle (north-south) between Hillsboro, Kansas, and Purcell, Oklahoma, and (east-west) between Haskell and Vici, Oklahoma, and Neodesha and Haviland, Kansas.
The dedication ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. (CST) at the CART's central facility--the collection point for the site's data. The central facility is located in Grant County, Oklahoma, approximately five miles northwest of Billings and seven miles southeast of Lamont (see enclosed map).
The location of the central facility and the nature of the site offer unique photo opportunities--especially from the air. The instrumentation spread across 160 acres and the related temporary structures located in a pasture surrounded by wheat fields present a vivid contrast to the rural setting.
The site received final DOE approval this spring and, after several months of site preparation and instrument calibration, is ready for deployment and data collection.
ARM is one of DOE's largest and most successful collaborative efforts. Ten DOE laboratories, 18 universities and nine other federal laboratories are taking part in this unique partnership.
Tags: Energy, Environment, Fundamental Science, Climate Science