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Call for FICUS Research Proposals with ARM and EMSL, FY2022

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The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility and EMSL are seeking collaborative research applications through the Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science (FICUS) program. The FICUS program was established in 2014 to encourage and enable ambitious research projects integrating the expertise and capabilities of multiple user facilities.

How To Submit a Proposal

  • Submit a Letter of Intent by February 8
  • Submit a full proposal by March 26, if invited following Letter of Intent review
  • Letters of Intent and full proposals must be submitted through the EMSL User Portal.

Highlighted Capability

EMSL has developed a new aerosol impactor, the automated Size and Time-resolved Aerosol Collector (STAC), to fly as a guest instrument on ARM’s Tethered Balloon System (TBS). This opportunity will enable researchers to capture aerosols during upcoming ARM campaigns and analyze the physical, chemical, optical and microphysical properties of aerosol particles using multi-modal microscopy, spectroscopy and advanced mass spectrometry techniques at EMSL.

STAC is an automated sampler that collects aerosol particles in the size range of 0.1-0.5µm and with a few seconds time resolution. STAC consists of several cascade impactors with electronic valve and circuit board, manifold and touch screen display. The user can set up the sampler with measurement delay (start time), number of samples and time at each point of sampling. STAC has four stages where size-resolved particles will be collected on multiple substrates for microscopy, spectroscopy, and substrate-bases mass spectrometry analysis. STAC is designed to collect particles in the size range of 0.1-0.5 µm; 0.5-1.0 µm; 1-2.5 µm; and 2.5-5.0 µm. The current version of STAC can sample up to 20 different altitudes per flight. STAC has three substrate holders in each stage and can accommodate transmission electron microscopy grids, silicon nitride substrates or quartz substrates. Typically, two TEM grids (B-film and lacey film) and silicon nitride substrates or quartz substrates are placed on each stage.

Currently STAC is assembled in a 15"×13"×5" enclosure box with total weight around 15 pounds and specifically designed for operation in cold weather. Several modifications will be made to the next version of the STAC, including collecting ultrafine particles (<0.05µm). These modifications will decrease the overall dimension and weight. In addition, the plan is to integrate multiple sensors to STAC which will turn STAC into a smart sampler. The next version of the STAC will be deployed in the upcoming field campaigns. 

The first flights of STAC on the ARM TBS were conducted at the ARM observatory at Oliktok Point, Alaska in November 2020. Oliktok Point is on the northern coast of Alaska and is adjacent to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. During CY2021, ARM has plans to fly the TBS at its Southern Great Plains (SGP) observatory in three separate missions in winter, spring, and summer of 2021 and during the Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) mobile facility deployment to Houston, during the summer deep convective season. The details of these missions will be established in the coming months but are expected to provide a combination of flights with periods at fixed altitudes and flights that sample profiles through the boundary layer to altitudes of up to 1.5 km.  Additionally, ARM plans to conduct additional TBS missions at the SGP observatory in FY2022 and may fly the TBS during the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) field campaign in the Rocky Mountains in central Colorado, which is planned to begin in September 2021. Applicants should indicate whether fixed-altitude or profiles would be more appropriate for their science goals. Flights of the STAC aerosol impactor will have to be coordinated with other approved instrument payloads.

Focus Topic Area

Aerosol Processes and Aerosol-Clouds Interactions

Proposed research should investigate aerosol processes or aerosol-cloud interactions by studying the physical, chemical, optical, and microphysical properties of aerosols, including biological particles. Proposed research should also investigate the process-level understanding of the formation, transport, and evolution of aerosols and their impact on warm and cold cloud formation, toward improved earth system models.

Proposed research that seeks to understand the transport of atmospheric nutrients such as dust and biological particles or size-resolved chemical composition of aerosol particles in different atmospheric conditions such as under deep convective cloud systems or shallow convective clouds are also of interest.

EMSL User Portal

Partnering User Facilities

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

ARM logo

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility is a multi-laboratory U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, user facility and a key contributor to national and international climate research efforts. ARM provides the climate research community with strategically located in situ and remote-sensing observatories designed to improve the understanding and representation, in climate and earth system models, of clouds and aerosols as well as their interactions and coupling with the Earth’s surface.

ARM Contacts

Data resulting from projects awarded under a FICUS call are made available in accordance with each user facility’s data policies.

ARM Data Acquisition and Use Guidance: https://www.arm.gov/guidance/datause

Review criteria

User proposals under the ARM-EMSL call for FICUS proposals will be peer reviewed against four scientific criteria. For each criterion, the reviewer rates the proposal Extraordinary, Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor and provides detailed comments on the quality of the proposal to support each rating, noting specifically the proposal's strengths and weaknesses. The reviewer also provides overall comments and recommendations to support the ratings given. These scores and comments serve as the starting point for Proposal Review Panel (PRP) discussions. The PRP is responsible for the final score and recommendation to EMSL and ARM management.

Criterion 1: Scientific merit and quality of the proposed research (25%)

Potential Considerations: How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity?

Criterion 2: Qualifications of the proposed research team to achieve proposal goals and contribute to high-impact science (25%)

Potential Considerations: Does the proposal team, combined with relevant EMSL and ARM staff expertise, possess the breadth of skill/knowledge to successfully perform the proposed research and drive progress in this science area? If successful, would the proposed research deliver high-impact products (for example, be publishable in high-impact journals)?

Note: Impact factors are a measure of the average number of citations per published articles. Journals with higher impact factors reflect a higher average of citations per article and are considered more influential within their scientific field.

Criterion 3: Relevance of the proposed research to the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental (BER) mission, including relevance to both EMSL and ARM missions (25%)

EMSL’s mission is to lead molecular-level discoveries for the Department of Energy and its Office of Biological and Environmental Research that translate to predictive understanding and accelerated solutions for national energy and environmental challenges. EMSL supports BER's missions in atmospheric aerosols, feedstocks, global carbon cycling, biogeochemistry, and energy materials. These areas reflect DOE and national priorities to develop sustainable sources of clean energy and chemicals, to control greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere, and to remediate contaminated sites for which DOE has ownership or stewardship responsibilities.

ARM's mission is to provide the climate research community with strategically located in situ and remote sensing observatories designed to improve the understanding and representation of clouds and aerosols in climate and earth system models, as well as their interactions and coupling with Earth’s surface.

Note: Projects with direct relevance in these areas will have the best chance for selection. Other projects of scientific significance also are welcomed, but the applicant should clearly outline how the project will further BER’s mission.

Potential Considerations: What is the relationship of the proposed research to the missions of the EMSL and ARM facilities? How well does the research project advance their mission goals?

Criterion 4: Appropriateness and reasonableness of the request for resources for the proposed research (25%)

Potential Considerations: Are both EMSL and ARM capabilities and resources essential to performing this research? Are the proposed methods/approaches optimal for achieving the scientific objectives of the proposal? Are the requested resources reasonable and appropriate for the proposed research? Does the complexity and/or scope of effort justify the duration of the proposed project–including any modifications to EMSL or ARM equipment to carry out research? Is the specified work plan practical and achievable for the proposed research project? Is the amount of time requested for each piece of equipment clearly justified and appropriate?