Three Proposals Chosen Through Fiscal Year 2027 FICUS EMSL-ARM Call
Projects integrate expertise and resources from two national user facilities
The Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) program was established in 2014 to encourage and enable ambitious research projects integrating the expertise and capabilities of multiple U.S. Department of Energy user facilities.
Three projects were recently selected through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) EMSL-ARM proposal call to study terrestrial–atmosphere processes and microphysical processes underlying cloud formation and precipitation.
The principal investigators (PIs) and their teams will leverage advanced instruments, staff expertise, data, and resources from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facilities.
All three projects are related to ARM's ongoing Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd AtmospherIc Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM) field campaign in Phoenix, Arizona.
Projects are expected to be completed within 24 months. Work begins October 1, 2026.
Which proposals were chosen for the FY 2027 FICUS EMSL-ARM call?
Learn more about the projects, listed in alphabetical order by each PI's last name.
PLUME-AIM: Phoenix Long-range Urban and Monsoon Emissions for DUSTIEAIM
PI: Daniel Feldman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The PLUME-AIM campaign will use ground-based observations to determine how aerosols interact with atmospheric buoyancy and winds to drive aerosol transport across the Colorado River Basin. Comparisons with 2026 Dust and Regional Organic aerosol Profiling for Land-atmosphere Exchange and Transport (DROPLET) data at DUSTIEAIM will establish the stationarity of these interactions.
Vertical Profile of Electrical Charge and Aerosols Properties and Links to Cloud Condensation and Ice Nuclei
PI: Claudio Mazzoleni, Michigan Technological University
This project will combine aerosol sampling in Arizona during the DUSTIEAIM campaign with ion measurements and laboratory analyses to examine links between dust particle composition, size, morphology, mixing state, and electrical charge. Researchers will investigate whether and how charge influences dust transport and particles' ability to nucleate cloud droplets or ice.
Size-resolved Properties of Desert Aerosol and Implications for Condensation Nuclei and Ice Nucleation Activity
PI: Armin Sorooshian, University of Arizona
This project investigates how particle size, composition, morphology, and mixing state affect cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleation (IN) in a desert-urban atmosphere. Utilizing the observational framework provided by the DUSTIEAIM campaign, researchers will test hypotheses about aerosol sources and properties, aiming to improve understanding of aerosol–cloud interactions and forecasting relevant to public health and weather.