CLAMPS Background
CLAMPS (or the Collaborative Lower Atmospheric Mobile Profiling System) is a collaborative effort between the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and the University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Meteorology (SoM). Two CLAMPS facilities are operated by the collaborative team. CLAMPS-1 was funded by the NSF, NSSL, and OU, and was constructed in 2015. CLAMPS-2 was built in early 2016 with funding from NSSL.
The CLAMPS facilities are trailer-based, deployable boundary layer profiling systems that are able to measure profiles of temperature, water vapor, and wind in the lowest several kilometers of the atmosphere at high temporal resolution using a particular combination of instruments: a Doppler lidar, a microwave radiometer (MWR), and an atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer (AERI). This instrument suite, and more specifically, the dataset derived from these observations, allows the users to identify and quantify significant changes in the atmospheric thermodynamic or dynamic structure. The real-time and continuous observation of these atmospheric properties is useful for characterizing the pre-convection environment for research on convective systems, mesoscale dynamic studies, research on nowcasting and forecasting local weather, technique development for remote sensing, urban meteorology, air quality and chemical weather analyses, research on boundary layer evolution, and other applications. In other words, the system allows for a unique breadth of research topics and applications.
At the time of CLAMPS’s inception, no comparable capability existed within the university community or NOAA/OAR, and the CLAMPS system was the first to combine two thermodynamic profiling capabilities. While the three remote sensors that make up the CLAMPS mobile facility have a significant history, integration of the three together is what makes CLAMPS unique and powerful. In addition to the main instruments, CLAMPS also supports surface meteorological observations and a balloon radiosonde system. All datastreams are combined and standardized into consistent products by an automated on-board datasytem. CLAMPS is a mobile concept, operating as a trailer-based system powered either traditionally or by its own generator. The mobile footprint combined with automated data collection and translation processes makes it possible for CLAMPS to operate autonomously, unattended with only remote internet access.
Awards
- MRI: Development of a Mobile Thermodynamic and Dynamic Profiling Facility for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer
- U.S. National Science Foundation