Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment

Marine boundary layer clouds play a critical role in Earth’s energy balance and water cycle. These clouds cover more than 45% of the ocean surface and exert a net cooling effect. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western Atlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) project is a five-year project that provides important globally-relevant data about changes in marine boundary layer cloud systems, atmospheric aerosols and multiple feedbacks that warm or cool the climate. ACTIVATE studies the atmosphere over the western North Atlantic and samples its broad range of aerosol, cloud and meteorological conditions using two aircraft, the UC-12 King Air and HU-25 Falcon. The UC-12 King Air will primarily be used for remote sensing measurements while the HU-25 Falcon will contain a comprehensive instrument payload for detailed in-situ measurements of aerosol, cloud properties, and atmospheric state. A few trace gas measurements will also be onboard the HU-25 Falcon for the measurements of pollution traces, which will contribute to airmass classification analysis. A total of 150 coordinated flights over the western North Atlantic are planned through 6 deployments from 2020-2022. The ACTIVATE science observing strategy intensively targets the shallow cumulus cloud regime and aims to collect sufficient statistics over a broad range of aerosol and weather conditions which enables robust characterization of aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions. This strategy is implemented by two nominal flight patterns: Statistical Survey and Process Study. The statistical survey pattern involves close coordination between the remote sensing and in-situ aircraft to conduct near coincident sampling at and below cloud base as well as above and within cloud top. The process study pattern involves extensive vertical profiling to characterize the target cloud and surrounding aerosol and meteorological conditions.

ACTIVATE Project Page

DOI: 10.5067/SUBORBITAL/ACTIVATE/DATA001

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Disciplines:   Field Campaigns
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
ACTIVATE-FLEXPART_1
ACTIVATE FLEXible PARTicle (FLEXPART) Dispersion Model Back-trajectories 		Field Campaigns Spatial Coverage:
(0, 90), (-180, 180)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_Model_Data_1
ACTIVATE Supplementary Model Data 		Aerosols,  Clouds Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -60)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE-MODIS-MERRA2_1
ACTIVATE Merged MODIS and MERRA-2 Dataset 		Clouds,  Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(0, 60), (-85, -25)
Temporal Coverage:
2013-01-01 - 2022-06-30
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
ACTIVATE_Merge_Data_1
ACTIVATE Falcon Aircraft Merge Data Files 		Aerosols,  Clouds Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -60)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE-Satellite_1
ACTIVATE GOES-16 Supplementary Data Products 		Clouds Spatial Coverage:
(0, 60), (-95, -25)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-09-20 - 2022-10-31
Collection Disciplines Spatial Temporal
ACTIVATE_Aerosol_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
ACTIVATE Falcon In Situ Aerosol Data 		Aerosols Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -58.5)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_AerosolCloud_AircraftRemoteSensing_KingAir_Data_1
ACTIVATE King Air Aerosol and Cloud Remotely Sensed Data 		Aerosols,  Clouds Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -58.5)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-10 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_Cloud_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
ACTIVATE Falcon In Situ Cloud Data 		Clouds Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -58.5)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
ACTIVATE Falcon In-Situ Meteorological and Navigational Data 		Field Campaigns Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -60)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-10 - 2022-06-20
ACTIVATE_MetNav_AircraftInSitu_KingAir_Data_1
ACTIVATE King Air Meteorological and Navigational Data 		Field Campaigns Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -58.5)
Temporal Coverage:
2019-12-16 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_Miscellaneous_Data_1
ACTIVATE Miscellaneous and Ancillary Data 		Radiation Budget Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -60)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-10 - 2022-06-30
ACTIVATE_TraceGas_AircraftInSitu_Falcon_Data_1
ACTIVATE Falcon In Situ Trace Gas Data 		Field Campaigns Spatial Coverage:
(25, 50), (-85, -58.5)
Temporal Coverage:
2020-02-14 - 2022-06-30

ACTIVATE Citations

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Corral A F, Braun R A, Cairns B, Gorooh V A, Liu H, Ma L, Mardi A H, Painemal D, Stamnes S, van Diedenhoven B, Wang H, Yang Y, Zhang B and Sorooshian A (2021). An Overview of Atmospheric Features Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean and North American East Coast – Part 1: Analysis of Aerosols, Gases, and Wet Deposition Chemistry. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126 (4), https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd032592


Painemal D, Corral A F, Sorooshian A, Brunke M A, Chellappan S, Afzali Gorooh V, Ham S, O’Neill L, Smith W L Jr, Tselioudis G, Wang H, Zeng X and Zuidema P (2021). An Overview of Atmospheric Features Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean and North American East Coast—Part 2: Circulation, Boundary Layer, and Clouds. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126 (6), https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd033423


Ma L, Dadashazar H, Hilario M R A, Cambaliza M O, Lorenzo G R, Simpas J B, Nguyen P and Sorooshian A (2021). Contrasting wet deposition composition between three diverse islands and coastal North American sites. Atmospheric Environment, 244 11791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117919


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Park H J, Sherman T, Freire L S, Wang G, Bolster D, Xian P, Sorooshian A, Reid J S and Richter D H (2020). Predicting Vertical Concentration Profiles in the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer With a Markov Chain Random Walk Model. JGR Atmospheres, 125 (19), https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032731


Crosbie E, Shook M A, Ziemba L D, Anderson B E, Braun R A, Brown M D, Jordan C E, MacDonald A B, Moore R H, Nowak J B, Robinson C E, Shingler T, Sorooshian A, Stahl C, Thornhill K L, Wiggins E B and Winstead E (2020). Coupling an online ion conductivity measurement with the particle-into-liquid sampler: Evaluation and modeling using laboratory and field aerosol data. Aerosol Science and Technology, (12), 1542. https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2020.1795499


MacDonald A B, Hossein Mardi A, Dadashazar H, Azadi Aghdam M, Crosbie E, Jonsson H H, Flagan R C, Seinfeld J H and Sorooshian A (2020). On the relationship between cloud water composition and cloud droplet number concentration. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7645-2020


Painemal D, Chang F-L, Ferrare R, Burton S, Li Z, Smith Jr. W L, Minnis P, Feng Y and Clayton M (2020). Reducing uncertainties in satellite estimates of aerosol–cloud interactions over the subtropical ocean by integrating vertically resolved aerosol observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20 (12), https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7167-2020


Schulze B C, Charan S M, Kenseth C M, Kong W, Bates K H, Williams W, Metcalf A R, Jonsson H H, Woods R, Sorooshian A, Flagan R C and Seinfeld J H (2020). Characterization of Aerosol Hygroscopicity Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean: Impacts on Prediction of CCN and Stratocumulus Cloud Droplet Number Concentrations. Earth and Space Science, 7 (7), https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EA001098


Schlosser J S, Dadashazar H, Edwards E, Hossein Mardi A, Prabhakar G, Stahl C, Jonsson H H and Sorooshian A (2020). Relationships Between Supermicrometer Sea Salt Aerosol and Marine Boundary Layer Conditions: Insights From Repeated Identical Flight Patterns. JGR Atmospheres, 125 (12), https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD032346


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