3D atmosphere column evaluation and clouds tomography: At Eastern North Atlantic (ENA), Graciosa Island ARM facility

One source of uncertainty that thwarts accurate and comprehensive representation of present and future climate processes in models is the role of marine stratocumulus clouds. In particular, clouds that prevail over the eastern subtropical oceans have proven to play a critical role in boundary layer dynamics and in the global climate. Azores have been identified as having the mix condition for research on the life cycle and characteristics of marine startocumulos clouds and for a better understanding of the complex ocean atmosphere interactions. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Program from the Department of Energy (DOE), with 20 years of operations, has been providing data to advance research from atmospheric observations at diverse climatic regimes around the world. Since 2009 Azores has been included in this global program. The campaign of the ARM Mobile Facility at Graciosa Island, Azores, in the context of the Clouds, Aerosol and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer (CAP-MBL) project, added the most extensive and comprehensive dataset of marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds to date. Solid preliminary findings an valuable data sets have been used since that to promote a true climatology of marine cloud structure over the north Atlantic. As a result, the facility becomes a fixed site on the 1st of October of 2013 and has joined the fixed network of the ARM Climate Research Facilities around the world. Identified broadly as the Eastern North Atlantic (ENA), this user facility has augmented the measurement capability with the addition of a Ka-/W-Band scanning cloud radar, a X-Band precipitation radar, Doppler lidar and an extensive set of radiometric measurements and routine radiosonde soundings, which, taken together, provide a three-dimensional view of the atmospheric phenomena, some of them poorly understood until now.