Integrated Task Plan and Schedule of Deliverables ARM Southern Great
Plains Site Scientist Team
Introduction The SGP Site Scientist Team is responsible for three major areas of activity relative to the SGP CART site:
The specific tasks to be undertaken by the Site Scientist Team to fulfill these responsibilities are:
This document, titled "Integrated Task Plan and Schedule of Deliverables", represents one of the nine deliverables identified by the ARM Program for fulfillment by the Site Scientist Team. The plan is to recognize the individual subtasks and deliverables required to complete the tasks outlined above, for the upcoming twelve-month period. This particular plan covers Year 7 of the Site Scientist Team's contract with ARM, which is May 1, 1998, through April 30, 1999. Since each year of the contract will begin on May 1, the Site Scientist Team will submit this plan to ARM by April 30 of each year. Internally, and in this document, Site Scientist Team members are referred to as follows:
Integrated Task Plan and Required Deliverables 1. PROVIDE FOR ON-SITE, SCIENTIFIC GUIDANCE FOR DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONAL DECISIONS AFFECTING ARM'S RESEARCH PROGRAMS As stated in the Request for Proposal, this guidance is to be provided to the Site Program Manager (Doug Sisterson), and is intended to ensure that the data acquisition effectively meets the needs of the Science Team. The deliverable for this task is represented by quarterly Site Scientist reports. These reports are to outline site operations for the period and assess the efficacy of site operations in achieving the goals outlined in the Site Scientific Mission Plan. The reports are to be suitable for distribution to the Site Program Manager and ARM Science Team, and delivered to the ARM Program Office on March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1 each year of the contract. The Site Scientist Team is in a defined position within the program to serve as the scientific liaison between the ARM Science Team and those who operate the site. The Site Scientist Team must communicate well with the rest of the ARM Program in order to know well what is needed to ensure the scientific integrity of the site and to translate those scientific requirements into operational strategies. This must be done in close communication with the Site Program Manager and Site Operations Manager. The subtasks as listed below will allow the Site Scientist Team to build the knowledge base to help effectively operate the site. The Site Scientist, Associate Site Scientist, and the two Assistant Site Scientists will participate in performing this task. There is overlap between this task as stated and Task 2 (see below), which explicitly details the Site Scientist Team's duties relative to data quality. Thus, discussion of our data quality efforts will be left to that section. The Site Scientist will maintain at least weekly contact with the Site Program Manager and Site Operations Manager through the weekly (Tuesday) Site Scientist site coordination teleconference, and other phone conversations, electronic mail, and visits to the SGP site, as necessary. These interactions will involve the development of both short-term responses to any developing problems and longer-range planning to accomplish the ARM Program's overall scientific objectives. He will also act as a liaison between the ARM SGP Site Program and Operations Managers, ARM Technical and Science Directors, and the program managers and scientists in other federal agencies, concerning the broader scientific potential and usefulness of the SGP site. He will participate in the ARM Science Team Meeting and quarterly Science Team Executive Committee meetings to determine the needs of the Science Team relative to scientific optimization of the site. The Associate Site Scientist will participate in the weekly Site Scientist teleconference, and the Site Program Manager's Site Development teleconference when necessary. He will visit the Central Facility on bi-weekly basis to meet with the on-site Assistant Site Scientist and the Site Operations Manager and his staff on scientific issues related to the site. He will maintain regular e-mail and telephone contact with the Site Program Manager and Site Operations Manager, and with the leaders of the Instrument Team, DSIT (including the SDS), ARM Technical and Science Directors, and the scientific leaders of the Scientific Applications Groups, relative to coordination of scientific issues concerning the SGP site. With these individuals, he will help plan and operate IOPs and campaigns. He will review and approve Baseline Change Requests (BCRs) and other site development tracking forms as necessary. He will take the lead in the preparation of the Site Scientist Team's quarterly reports (and other reports necessary to fulfill the obligations of the contract). He will participate in the annual ARM Science Team meeting and relevant ARM Scientific Applications Group and infrastructure meetings (e.g., IRF, SCM, Instrument Team, DSIT) pertaining to the scientific operation of the site. The Assistant Site Scientists will participate in the weekly Site Scientist teleconference and the periodic Value Added Products (VAP) Working Group teleconference (Mike Splitt). They will help plan and operate IOPs and campaigns, and will provide IOP weather support in the form of weather summaries (e.g., for SCM IOP operations) and forecasting events during an IOP. They will review BCRs and other tracking forms as necessary, and will contribute to the preparation of the Site Scientist Team's quarterly reports. They will participate in the annual ARM Science Team meeting and other relevant ARM meetings pertaining to the scientific operation of the site. The on-site Assistant Site Scientist (Chad Bahrmann) will have the additional duties of serving as the Site Scientist Team's on-site representative to interact daily with Site Operations staff on all science-related issues. He also will help advise and assist those staff in obtaining and interpreting weather nowcast and forecast support as needed for routine operations and IOPs, and during severe weather situations. He will also help conduct site tours and give talks to groups in the local community. 2. MONITOR, ANALYZE, AND DOCUMENT DATA QUALITY AND PROVIDE REGULAR, FREQUENT ASSESSMENTS TO THE SITE OPERATIONS MANAGER, SITE PROGRAM MANAGER, SCIENCE TEAM, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ARM PROGRAM AS REQUIRED The Associate Site Scientist and Assistant Site Scientists will perform the task of serving as ARM's SGP data quality arbiter. The deliverable for this task will be routine assessments of data quality from the site. The ultimate goal of our work will be to determine whether the data being collected are of known (instrument is working to specifications) and reasonable (measurements are the best possible for a given geophysical variable) quality. These routine assessments will be made in various ways. They will include briefings during the weekly Site Scientist coordination teleconference, e-mail reports to appropriate Instrument Mentors and Site Operations personnel detailing the quality of data during the previous week from data streams directly scrutinized by the Site Scientist Team, issuance of work orders (in cooperation with Instrument Mentors) whenever a problem has been detected that needs immediate attention, maintenance of a web site that graphically displays current data comparisons and performance metrics, and strong participation in a new data quality/data existence user interface that is being developed cooperatively within the ARM Program in 1998 (this will allow data users easy access to all information relative to the existence and quality of a data stream). The data quality display web site is located at: http://www.res.sgp.arm.gov/sst/dq_monitor/DISPLAYS.html Specifically, the Associate Site Scientist will maintain daily contact with both Assistant Site Scientists to help plan and oversee the Team's data quality efforts. These efforts will include the development and implementation of performance metrics and graphical data displays, issuance of advisories for action based on the Team's data quality analyses, and reporting SGP data quality. With the on-site Assistant Site Scientist, he will review installation, operations, maintenance, and calibration plans as needed on both a long-term and short-term (emergency) basis as to their effectiveness and utility. With the aid of both Assistant Site Scientists, he will work with other relevant groups in the ARM Program to coordinate all aspects of ARM's data quality efforts. The Assistant Site Scientists will lead the Site Scientist Team effort in the development of algorithms to perform data quality analyses (including performance metrics), graphical displays to visualize data quality, and integration of the SST's effort into that of the ARM Site Data System. They will work closely with Instrument Mentors and DSIT/SDS members to make sure that the analysis of data quality is a coordinated effort across ARM. They will monitor data quality/instrument performance on a daily basis and report their results weekly, and as conditions warrant, will issue work orders with Instrument Mentors to pertinent Site Operations staff to initiate corrective maintenance action. They will participate fully in the new ARM-wide initiative to develop a web-based user interface that will guide data users about ARM data and their quality, which will include creation of data flagging algorithms to provide meaningful flagging information to data users. They will perform research in support of data quality investigations and operations planning, and will perform background work necessary for the creation of official QMEs, in collaboration with the DSIT. 3. DEVELOP THE SITE SCIENTIFIC MISSION The scientific mission of the site is embodied in the Site Scientific Mission Plan. The Plan is the regularly published, six-month (January-June; July-December) operational strategy for the site, which outlines short-term operational goals and anticipates longer-term challenges and opportunities. It includes operational priorities, descriptions of future IOPs and campaigns, and describes other significant scientific and operational events. The scientific and operational knowledge required to write such a document will be gained as the Site Scientist Team successfully performs the first two tasks outlined above. The deliverable for this task is the Plan. The Associate Site Scientist, in conjunction with the Site Program Manager, will update the Plan every six months. The document will be subject to approval by the ARM Program Office. The updates will be due semi-annually on October 1 and April 1. They will be published by the ARM Program and will be maintained on the ARM web site for the six-month periods to which they pertain, and archived thereafter. The Plan will reflect:
Routine assessments of the extent to which the goals contained in the Plan are achieved will appear in the Site Scientist Team's quarterly reports, described previously. The foundations for these assessments will be the descriptions of site operations for the quarters concerned. 4. CONDUCT AN ARM-APPROVED RESEARCH PROGRAM FOCUSED ON THE SGP SITE DATA THAT IS DESIGNED TO FURTHER THE OBJECTIVES OF THE ARM PROGRAM The Site Scientist Team is in a unique position to draw on the research expertise of the University of Oklahoma to perform research studies on focused subjects that have as their ultimate goal the improvement of the scientific operational capability of the SGP CART site. This research program will continue to use the growing observational capabilities of the site. It will be squarely focused on the site data and ARM's scientific goals, and will have feedback into operations. This research should be seen as complementary to the efforts of the ARM Science Team, and may fill voids in that effort. It should also have connections to the Scientific Applications Groups and to other national projects when possible. The Site Scientist and his Research Team will perform this work. Deliverables here come in the form of a research plan, for approval by the ARM Science Director, for the activities planned for the upcoming three years. The research in this plan will be reviewed annually by the ARM Science Director. Updates to the research plan will be provided by February 1, 1999, and February 1, 2000, for review by the ARM Science Director. Also, an annual report will be prepared on August 31 of each year, describing the progress of the approved research plan. It will summarize a) research activities, b) specific results, and c) research plans for the subsequent year. These reports will be delivered to the ARM Science Director and the ARM Chief Scientist. Also, every effort will be made to publish our findings as scientific articles in peer reviewed journals and to present research results at relevant conferences and workshops. Research focus areas during the next three years represent the expertise of the Research Team. They include cloud microphysics, measurement of the atmospheric state (particularly water vapor and temperature), soil moisture, radar meteorology, and solar radiation. More detail on these subjects can be found in the three-year research plan. 5. PARTICIPATE AS A FULL MEMBER OF THE ARM SCIENCE TEAM The entire Site Scientist Team will participate fully in the series of meetings through which the development of the ARM Program is formulated and the progress of that development is reported and monitored. This will involve:
6. DIRECT AN EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH PROGRAM DESIGNED TO INTEREST PRE-COLLEGE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DISCIPLINES, AS WELL AS GRADUATE STUDENTS The Educational Outreach Team, within the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS), will continue to direct the SGP thrust for ARM's education outreach program. Deliverables for this program will include a full three-year strategic plan for this component of the Site Scientist program, to be provided to the ARM Chief Scientist on April 1, 1998, and updated annually on that date. Consistent with the educational mission of DOE, this plan will address all levels of education from pre-college through post-graduate opportunities. Also, an annual report summarizing institutional and individual participation in the outreach program, and the distribution and expenditure of funds, will be prepared by the Educational Outreach Team and delivered each year on April 30. During the past six years, the OCS has established a solid infrastructure for atmospheric science education, primarily at the pre-college level, with the support of the ARM Program. Environmental data, including those from the ARM SGP site and the Oklahoma Mesonet, are available to educators who have World Wide Web access: http://outreach.ocs.ou.edu/arm/ Unique display software has been developed for the students' interactive use of the data. Reference materials and lessons are online and in printed form, to aid the educator in the application of the data in the classroom. And, importantly, "master teachers" have been educated to understand and use the data in their activities. These master teachers represent a significant resource to provide workshop instruction to additional K-12 teachers. As OCS continues to upgrade this infrastructure, the primary goal of Years 7-9 of the SGP outreach program will be to expand the awareness and use of this infrastructure across not only southern Kansas and Oklahoma, but across the nation. National forums such as the American Association of Physics Teachers and the National Science Teachers Association have been and will continue to be utilized. We will enhance our web pages by including more data types, display types, and, with help from the ARM Program, the TWP and NSA sites. We will conduct workshops at local schools in Oklahoma and Kansas and at appropriate teacher's conventions, using several of our current master teachers as instructors. In concert with the Oklahoma EPSCoR program, we will offer instruction to faculty at Oklahoma's two- and four-year colleges so that they can include ARM/OCS materials in the courses they offer to pre-service teachers. We will produce newsletters, conduct science fairs, and give conference presentations that help publicize the availability of the data and materials to educators. In addition, we will continue to develop scientifically accurate reference materials and pedagogically sound lessons, placing them online and producing them in print. We will enhance our software to allow the overlay of data from different networks, such as the ARM SMOS stations, Oklahoma Mesonet sites, and National Weather Service ASOS, satellite, and NIDS networks. Schedule of Deliverables Anytime
Weekly
February 1
March 1
April 1
April 30
June 1
August 31
September 1
October 1
December 1
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