NOAA Summit Clean Air Program

For this NOAA program, on-site science technicians maintain a suite of year-round measurements on behalf of NOAA researchers. These measurements began in the mid 1990s and are ongoing (part of GEOSummit since 2003). NOAA representatives visit Summit Station annually to install / maintain instruments, train science technicians, and conduct measurements. Starting in 2005, NOAA began staffing science technician rotations as Summit Station during the winter phases. Beginning in 2008 NOAA increased staffing to be year-round. Monitoring projects on site include: carbon cycle gas sampling flasks, black carbon measurement, halocarbons and trace species flask sampling, meteorology suite, stratospheric ozonesondes, aerosol measurements, surface ozone measurements, and an in-situ gas chromatograph for greenhouse gas measurements. NOAA will continue to collaborate with Georgia Tech on activities related to the aerosol instrument suite that was previously installed and maintained by the Bergin project (NSF grant #1023227). 

NOAA program highlights at Summit Station over the years include: 

• Summer 2007- a four channel gas chromatograph was added to the suite of NOAA instruments. 
• Summer 2008- in addition to ongoing work, researchers extended the ozonesonde experiment by launching about 20 additional balloons in April and again in July for an intensive field campaign. 
• February 2009- a NOAA staff member flew to Summit Station via the Twin Otter on a crew turnover flight to repair an instrument, departing the station on the return flight approximately one week later. August 2009, the NOAA field coordinator attended an on-site planning meeting. 
• 2010- in addition to ongoing measurements, CPS staff relocated the Temporary Atmospheric Watch Observatory (TAWO) and instrument tower (where the NOAA instruments are mounted) to approximately 1 km south of Summit Station. 
• 2011 and 2012- the NOAA field coordinator made a routine visit to Summit Station for instrument maintenance. 
• 2013- the TAWO building was lifted and the TAWO tower was extended. The on-site science technicians coordinated with the Boulder-based NOAA team to support the instrumentation during the transition. Also during 2013, the NOAA ESRL GMD deputy director traveled to Summit Station in late June for a site visit. 
• 2014- one NOAA researcher traveled to Summit in June for maintenance and upgrade activities. 
• 2015- three researchers traveled to Summit in June, July, and August for maintenance and upgrade activities. These include upgrading the meteorological sensor suite, assisting with the science impacts from the TAWO facility raise project, and performing a quality control visit to evaluate the setup of the aerosol measuring suite of instrumentation. 
• 2016- NOAA researchers traveled to Summit to relocate the meteorological suite of instruments from the TAWO tower to the 50m tower, install broadband solar radiometers to inter-compare with existing solar measurements from Summit station, reinstall instrument inlets on the TAWO inlet mast, and potentially reconfigure the TAWO interior layout of instruments to optimize the available footprint. Additionally, NOAA planned to modify the CATS GC to eliminate methane containing P5 carrier gas to directly address concerns about elevated methane levels within the facility. 
• 2017- a field team of two demobilized a portion of the NOAA project activities including the ozonesonde system and materials, the CATS GC, and the solar radiation suite (contingent on the timing of calibrated radiometers being returned by the Steffen/NASAAWS project). The field team also recovered components from the failed 50m tower and re-installed met instruments on the TAWO tower. The science technician position provided via inter-agency transfer will be ended on or about 28 August 2017. 
• 2018- no personnel travel but the instruments continue to run. 
• 2019-one NOAA representative traveled for diagnostic work on the sonic anemometer, general maintenance of the instrumentation suite, and inspection of modifications to the meteorology tower and TAWO instrument space. They also transfered the meteorology system to the new network access point at the Meteorology Tower. 
• 2020 and 2021- no science team travel. Ongoing NOAA science measurements continued at Summit Station. Science technicians performed routine monitoring, maintenance, calibration, and sampling, as well as provide on-call support when issues arise. In addition, the science technicians performed the annual lift of NOAA meteorology equipment on the Met Tower to compensate for snow accumulation. Also in 2021, the team sent an additional water-based condensation particle counter to operate for one year on station. 
• 2022 one science team member installed a new inlet for aerosol measurements, conducted routine maintenance of the HATS and CCGG flask samplers and routine maintenance of the meteorology instrumentation. 
• 2023- no travel is planned but instruments will continue to run. 

*Note: The previous PI was James Butler, with his retirement Ariel Stein took over as PI in early 2022. In 2023 Ariel Stein was replaced by Vanda Grubisic as PI. Battelle ARO will provide Air National Guard coordination for passengers and cargo, Greenland departure fees, Summit Station user days, Kangerlussuaq lodging, and field equipment. 

Battelle ARO will provide access to facility space in the AWO, SMG, and Met Tower, power and network infrastructure, limited off-season storage, and year-round science technician support. The PIs will organize and pay for all other logistics through the grant.