ARM User Facility

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ARM User Facility ARM is a U.S. Department of Energy scientific user facility and a contributor to atmospheric research. S.

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility is a multi-laboratory, U. Department of Energy (DOE) scientific user facility, and a key contributor to national and international atmospheric research efforts. ARM was the first atmospheric research user facility to deploy a comprehensive suite of cutting-edge instruments to continually measure cloud and aerosol properties and their impacts on Earth’s energy balance. This strategy revolutionized scientists’ ability to collect long-term statistics of detailed cloud properties and now serves as a model for similar programs around the world. ARM provides:

• Data – Access more than 30 years of atmospheric data gathered from fixed-location observatories and field campaigns

• Observatories – Use heavily instrumented fixed-location atmospheric observatories in Oklahoma, Alaska, and the
Azores, including aerial (crewed and uncrewed) and mobile facilities

​• Instruments – Explore more than 400 instruments that collect data at locales spanning diverse meteorological regimes

• Campaigns – Conduct atmospheric science in strategic locations around the world

• Models – Retrieve large-eddy simulation modeling data, simulations, and analysis tools

• Publications – Discover ARM-related research on clouds and aerosols, their interaction with the Earth’s energy balance, and representation in earth system models.

💨🔬 Looking to take your aerosol research to the next level?Join ARM experts at the American Association for Aerosol Rese...
10/21/2026

💨🔬 Looking to take your aerosol research to the next level?

Join ARM experts at the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) annual conference for an interactive tutorial, TS17: Leveraging the DOE ARM User Facility for Aerosol Research, from 4:15 to 6 p.m. Pacific on Monday, October 26, in Ballroom H at the Pasadena Convention Center.

This tutorial session will explore how researchers can use ARM's atmospheric data to advance aerosol science. Participants will learn about ARM's observatories, aerosol instrumentation, data products, and data quality processes, plus get hands-on experience accessing and analyzing ARM data using Python.

👉 Sign up now if you are attending AAAR and would like to join us!

📸 Photo by Mark Manriquez, GEM Technologies Inc.

📢🎈Tethered Balloon System Proposal Call Now Open ARM is accepting abbreviated proposals for fiscal year 2027 tethered ba...
10/21/2026

📢🎈Tethered Balloon System Proposal Call Now Open

ARM is accepting abbreviated proposals for fiscal year 2027 tethered balloon system (TBS) missions at the Bankhead National Forest atmospheric observatory in Alabama. Researchers can propose activities for up to four missions scheduled between February and September 2027, using ARM’s TBS baseline instrumentation. Proposals may also include guest instruments aboard the balloon or on the ground to complement balloon measurements.

📆 Submit abbreviated proposals by 5 p.m. Central on November 16, 2026.



📷: Brent Peterson, Antigravity LLC.

🏜️⛈️ Phoenix’s heat, dust, and storms are giving scientists plenty to investigate. ARM’s Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd ...
10/20/2026

🏜️⛈️ Phoenix’s heat, dust, and storms are giving scientists plenty to investigate.

ARM’s Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd AtmospherIc Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) campaign is exploring how urban growth and the surrounding Sonoran Desert influence clouds, rainfall, and severe weather. As part of the campaign, roughly 50 instruments included as part of an ARM Mobile Facility deployment operate around the clock at ASU New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences’ campus, capturing summer monsoon and winter weather observations from June 2026 through September 2027. Using the data collected, researchers are examining how dust and other airborne particles affect clouds and precipitation and the factors that determine where and when rain falls across the region. This valuable information could help improve forecasts and inform infrastructure planning and decisions about heat, water, and urban growth.



📷: Mark Manriquez, GEM Technologies Inc.

The ARM User Facility mourns the loss of longtime site technicians David Oaks and Mark Smith, who passed away in summer ...
10/17/2026

The ARM User Facility mourns the loss of longtime site technicians David Oaks and Mark Smith, who passed away in summer 2026.

David joined ARM in 2014, supporting site operations in Alaska before serving as lead technician for field campaigns in Norway and across the United States. Known for his reliability and willingness to learn, he trained new staff and helped ensure the collection of high-quality atmospheric data. His contributions included supporting the TRacking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) in Texas as part of a team recognized with a 2022 ARM Service Award.

Mark joined ARM in 2012 and supported campaigns around the world, including ship- and land-based mobile deployments. He later became a full-time technician at ARM’s Southern Great Plains atmospheric observatory, maintaining scientific instruments and troubleshooting computers and communications equipment. His technical expertise and dedicated service helped sustain the continuous observations that support ARM’s research community.

We welcome you to share your memories about David and Mark in the comments below.

📷: David (left) and Mark each worked with ARM for over a decade.

🌎🔬 Nearly 500 people registered for the 2026 Joint ARM User Facility/Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Principal Investi...
10/15/2026

🌎🔬 Nearly 500 people registered for the 2026 Joint ARM User Facility/Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Principal Investigators Meeting to share and receive updates on ARM data and field campaign results, ARM staff activities, and ARM- and ASR-relevant science themes.

From recent scientific and technical advances to future research priorities, the meeting highlighted the collaboration driving atmospheric science forward!

10/14/2026

🌡️💨 What can we learn about the atmosphere from measurements taken right at Earth's surface?

In our latest instrument video, lead mentor Jenni Kyrouac, Argonne National Laboratory, introduces ARM’s surface meteorology systems (MET), which measure wind, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, rain rate, and more.

🎥 Watch to learn how MET helps capture what’s happening in the near-surface atmosphere, one minute at a time.

🚨 New Data Alert!🚨 New characterized and corrected Ka-Band ARM Zenith Radar (KAZR) data are now available from ARM’s 202...
10/14/2026

🚨 New Data Alert!🚨

New characterized and corrected Ka-Band ARM Zenith Radar (KAZR) data are now available from ARM’s 2024–2025 Coast-Urban-Rural Atmospheric Gradient Experiment (CoURAGE) in Baltimore, Maryland. The b1-level data underwent additional calibration, correction, and quality control to support research into cloud and precipitation processes across urban, rural, and coastal (Chesapeake Bay) environments. Data from both the radar’s general- and moderate-sensitivity operating modes are available in CfRadial format.



📷: This ARM Mobile Facility, a series of containers outfitted with sophisticated atmospheric and meteorological sampling equipment, including the KAZR, was installed at Morgan State University’s Clifton Park location as part of CoURAGE. Photo by Adam Theisen, Argonne National Laboratory

☁️🔬 Meet the researchers behind three newly selected fiscal year 2027 FICUS projects bringing together the capabilities ...
10/12/2026

☁️🔬 Meet the researchers behind three newly selected fiscal year 2027 FICUS projects bringing together the capabilities of two U.S. Department of Energy national scientific user facilities!

Led by Daniel Feldman (Berkeley Lab, left), Armin Sorooshian (The University of Arizona, middle), and Claudio Mazzoleni (Michigan Technological University, right), these projects will combine the expertise and resources of the ARM User Facility and Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory - EMSL to explore how aerosols, including dust, and atmospheric processes influence cloud formation and precipitation. 🌧️

All three projects will build on observations from ARM’s ongoing Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd AtmospherIc Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) field campaign in Phoenix, Arizona.

10/09/2026

Ever wondered what a supercomputer sounds like? Well, we asked. 👂💻

Last month, we got a behind-the-scenes look at some of the world's most powerful supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during ARM's developers meeting in Tennessee.

We learned a lot about these incredible machines, but we're pretty sure the sound effects were the highlight. 🔊🤣

How do atmospheric observations contribute to better earth system models? ARM is working with the modeling community to ...
10/08/2026

How do atmospheric observations contribute to better earth system models? ARM is working with the modeling community to turn detailed measurements into benchmark data sets for testing and improving how models represent our atmosphere. 🌦️

Highlights of this effort include:

🏋️ Strengthening model development: ARM observations help researchers evaluate atmospheric processes in the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM).

📊 Making data easier to use: Curated products make comparing observations with models easier.

🌎 Expanding observational coverage: ARM captures a variety of atmospheric conditions in strategic locations, including a current deployment in Arizona and recent field campaigns in Maryland and Tasmania.

🤝 Building collaboration: ARM’s new model advisory committee helps align resources with modelers’ needs.



📷 Data from ARM’s ongoing Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd AtmospherIc Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) field campaign in Phoenix, Arizona, are attracting interest from researchers because relatively few long-term observations are available from that region. Photo is by Chaz Padilla, GEM Technologies Inc.

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