ABLE Instrumentation

Instrumentation

Atmospheric and soil measurements made at the ABLE include winds, air temperatures, water vapor, radiation, precipitation, vegetation state, surface temperature, soil temperature, and soil moisture.

There are 5 permanent instrumented sites: Beaumont (BE), ABLE Project Office (CS or APO), Oxford (OX), Smileyberg (SM), and Whitewater (WH). A temporary site is located at Brainerd (BR) and rain gauges are installed in numerous locations.

Instrumentation installed at the ABLE includes:

• Three 915 MHz RWP-RASSes (Radar Wind Profiler - Radio Acoustic Sounding System) to measure wind speed, wind direction, and virtual temperature profiles.
• Three Minisodars (mini - sound detection and ranging) to measure wind and turbulence profiles between the heights of 10 m and 200 m.
• One Energy Balance Bowen Ratio (EBBR) flux station (surface sensible heat and latent heat fluxes).
• Two Eddy-correlation (ECOR) flux systems (surface sensible heat, latent heat, carbon dioxide fluxes); one permanent and one portable.
• Five Automated Weather Stations (AWS).
• Two soil moisture and temperature (SM/ST) profile systems.
• Two Radiometer Suites (PAR, net radiation, albedo, shortwave solar, MSR/LAI).
• Three Infrared Temperature (IRT) sensors (included in Radiometry / Vegetation State link below).
• Forty recording rain gauges at locations in the Towanda sub-basin.
• One data hub/central location for data collection at the Central Site.
• One Radiosonde System at the Central Site.
• One (extra) instrument pad for visiting scientist instrument accomodation.

Breakout of Instrumentation by Site

• ABLE Project Office (APO or CS) - AWS, Radiosonde
• Beaumont (BE) - RWP-RASSes, Minisodar, AWS
• Brainerd (BR) - ECOR
• Oxford (OX) - RWP-RASSes, Minisodar, AWS
• Smileyberg (SM) - AWS, ECOR, SM/ST (High Frequency Dielectric), Radiometer Suite
• Whitewater (WH) - RWP-RASSes, minisodar , AWS, EBBR, SM/ST (TDR/Thermistor), Radiometer Suite, IRT

Instrument Descriptions

• 915 MHz Radar Wind Profiler with RASS (RWP-RASS)
  
• Doppler Minisodar
  
• Eddy Correlation (ECOR)
  
• Energy Balance Bowen Ratio (EBBR) Station
  
• Radiosonde System
  
• Automatic Weather Station (AWS)
  
• Soil Moisture and Temperature (SM/ST)
  
• Radiometry / Vegetation State
  

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Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiments - Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439