Atmospheric Measurement and Observation Facility (AMOF)

The new NERC Facility for Atmospheric Radar Research (NFARR) will be a merger between the existing Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric Radar Research (CFARR) and the Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar Facility (MSTRF). Both nodes have been part of NERC's S&F portfolio for more than 20 years and have become increasingly integrated with each other over the past few years.

CFARR is based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC's) Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire, and provides world-class capability for the study of clouds, rainfall, boundary-layer processes and aerosols. It is experienced in hosting large atmospheric science and remote-sensing campaigns including coordinated in-situ aircraft measurements. The MST Radar at Capel Dewi near Aberystwyth is the UK's most powerful and most versatile wind-profiling instrument. It is unique in being able to provide continuous measurements of the three-dimensional wind vector over the altitude range 2-20 km at high resolution (typically 300m in altitude and a few minutes in time). It can also provide information about atmospheric stability, turbulence, humidity and rainfall.
NFARR measurements address two of the three major societal challenges in the current NERC strategy: (i) Resilience to Environmental Hazards, and (ii) Managing Environmental Change. They are particularly well-suited for studying high-impact weather events, whether these involve damaging winds or heavy rain. They also have numerous applications for studying fundamental processes in the Earth's climate system.

This proposal describes how NFARR plans to continue to provide unique atmospheric measurement opportunities, training, and support with data analysis/interpretation for the NERC-funded research community. The user base is drawn mainly from the fields of atmospheric science, remote sensing and hydrology. NFARR provides access not only to users working on NERC grant funded projects, but also has a Direct Access mechanism, whereby pilot or proof of concept studies (or the capture of extreme events) can be carried out. There is also a mechanism for PhD students to apply for access themselves. NFARR supported 10 PhD studentships during 2016/17. NFARR supports commercial work and non-NERC research if its capacity has not been exhausted by applications in the categories above. Given the wide range of instruments that NFARR operates, and the fact that some applications relate to guest instrument support, it is often possible to support multiple projects simultaneously. Potential users are encouraged to discuss their requirements with Facility staff from the initial planning stages. This ensures that the requirements are technically feasible and helps to avoid scheduling conflicts.

The provision outlined in this proposal will sit alongside long-term measurements at both the Chilbolton and Capel Dewi sites funded through NCAS's Underpinning Programme. These measurements provide climatological context for the bespoke measurements and ensure that extreme or rare atmospheric events can be observed. They also add to the attractiveness of the sites for the support of field campaigns and for the hosting of guest instruments. Radiosondes may be launched from either site. Data from NFARR are made freely available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA). Some also contribute to international research infrastructures such as ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) and AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network). Data from the MST radar are operationally assimilated, for the purposes of numerical weather prediction (NWP), by five European meteorological organisations.

NFARR will merge with the AMF in two years' time. The two facilities have already begun to increase their interactions, particularly in the field of adopting common data standards.

The Facility's capability will be used in a variety of impact sectors that underpin both the UK research community and industry and has a direct influence on society. For instance, excellent opportunities exist for achieving impact through research data acquisition and provision, training, project collaboration involving wider research partnerships, mitigation of atmospheric hazards, and support for relevant industrial organisations. Consequently, it will contribute to the UK Innovation and Growth Strategy. Accumulation of knowledge and its transfers to relevant sectors is highly pertinent and NFARR will accomplish this through (i) projects led by Facility users in the research community, and (ii) direct impact by the Facility.

Some of the impacts will be realised in the short term. For example, instruments operated and supported by NFARR provided the observational evidence and understanding of a damaging wind phenomenon known as a "sting jet" and of the 2010 volcanic ash plume. However, impact will typically arise in the medium term as a result of incremental improvements in understanding through research using extensive datasets. For example, improvements to the representation of convective processes in the Met Office forecast model have arisen from the NFARR-supported DYMECS project.

NFARR is active in transferring knowledge from the academic sector to operational agencies such as the Environment Agency and the water industry through membership of the Inter Agency Committee on Hydrological Use of Weather Radar. The committee aims to advance the use of weather radar in hydrology, especially in support of flood management. This will be of direct benefit to society as well as to the external organisations involved. NFARR also undertakes regular outreach and user engagement activities.

The Facility supports the development of new technologies in collaboration with both industry and academia. For example, an STFC spin-out company recently used the Chilbolton site for test the effectiveness of laser dispersion spectroscopy for the detection of gas leaks over wide areas. This work relied on the Facility's existing infrastructure and on the availability of an extensive test area. NFARR will continue to foster industrial engagement, which has growing relevance and importance and relates to a general underpinning of UK strengths and capabilities. Data from NFARR are made freely available and, during the past year, 2 users of data from Chilbolton site and 2 users of data from the Capel Dewi site have described their affiliation as commercial.
As the world increasingly relies on space-based platforms for both scientific and commercial enterprises, there is an ever-increasing requirement for faster data transfer rates. This is pushing ground-satellite communications systems to higher transmissions frequencies such as the W band (75-100 GHz), for which the effects of the atmosphere (e.g. rain-induced signal attenuation) are relatively unstudied. NFARR has already begun to support research in this area and anticipates further work using long-term observations made by its 94 GHz cloud radar in order to quantify path attenuation. This will contribute to the work of the International Telecommunications Union in the shorter term but will lead to benefits for industry and society at large in the longer term.
NFARR's 94 GHz radar has also been used in support of several projects funded by ESA and the UK Space Agency aimed at developing a space-borne 94 GHz Doppler wind radar. The ability of meteorological organisations to measure wind profiles is still confined to discrete locations. Consequently, the ability to undertake global measurements would be highly beneficial for both the meteorological agencies and society at large.