Suffolk Reporter

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced an upcoming field campaign in Phoenix, Arizona, set to commence from April 2026 to September 2027. This initiative, named Desert-Urban SysTem IntegratEd AtmospherIc Monsoon (DUSTIEAIM), will involve the deployment of climate instrumentation by DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) mobile facility.

Led by Principal Investigator Allison C. Aiken from DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, DUSTIEAIM aims to study how urban and desert environments influence storms and the monsoon around Phoenix. Katia Lamer and her team at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory will contribute significantly to this 18-month deployment.

Phoenix, with its significant population and dependence on the Colorado River for water supply, presents a unique environment for studying these phenomena. The city logged a record streak of 31 days with temperatures at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in July 2023, highlighting its extreme weather conditions.

The DUSTIEAIM project was selected following a call for proposals in fall 2023 aimed at advancing the understanding of atmospheric processes to improve regional and global earth system models. An international campaign is expected to be announced later this year.

"We are excited about the opportunities that the synergies between the UIFL project and the DUSTIEAIM campaign will provide for understanding how atmospheric processes both impact and are affected by urban regions," said DOE ARM Program Manager Sally McFarlane.

The Arizona UIFL project, known as Southwest Urban Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL), involves collaboration among observationalists, modelers, and resilience experts aiming to understand how extreme heat, air pollution, and limited water affect the region's growing population.

Five co-investigators from DUSTIEAIM are part of SW-IFL’s leadership team: Jean Andino, Matei Georgescu, Katia Lamer, Mukul Tewari, and Enrique Vivoni. The ARM mobile observatory will be located at Arizona State University West Valley campus in northwest Phoenix.

DUSTIEAIM scientists plan two intensive operational periods during water year 2026–2027 focusing on winter precipitation from November to March and on the North American Monsoon from July to September. Their objectives include determining how urban-rural interfaces affect atmospheric processes within the Sonoran Desert; identifying dominant aerosol sources seasonally; evaluating precipitation patterns influenced by various factors; and studying convective systems through aerosol measurements.

Allison C. Aiken's previous work includes co-investigation roles in ARM’s Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) campaign in Colorado from 2021 to 2023. Her experience also extends to leading related campaigns focused on aerosol processes' impacts on water cycles.

DUSTIEAIM brings together researchers from institutions including Argonne National Laboratory; Arizona State University; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Colorado State University; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; IBM; Los Alamos National Laboratory; New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; University of California campuses in Merced and San Diego; University of Miami; University of New Mexico; and University of Wyoming.

For more information about Brookhaven Lab’s role in this research contact Pete Genzer at genzer@bnl.gov.