Portable laboratory will gather critical Arctic climate data

To build accurate climate models, scientists require atmospheric data from all corners of the globe—from tropical oceans to the frigid Arctic. Engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are leaders in building mobile laboratories designed to gather relevant data from remote regions. Their latest creation is a revamped Aerosol Observing System (AOS) commissioned by DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility, which contains over a dozen instruments for collecting data on aerosols, tiny particulates in the atmosphere that can have a big impact on climate. These instruments are mounted inside a modified shipping container designed to withstand the harshest weather conditions on Earth, from tropical hurricanes to Arctic blizzards.

"It's basically a lab that you can ship anywhere," said Ernie Lewis, a researcher in the Environmental and Climate Science (ECS) Department at Brookhaven Lab. "It is fully operational in less than four hours and all you need is internet and power."
This AOS, the fifth such system designed and built at Brookhaven Lab, incorporates many modifications to improve its portability and ease-of-use in the field.


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-portable-laboratory-critical-arctic-climate.html#jCp