Brookhaven scientists take off for southeastern Pacific climate study

• the processes that control the properties of stratocumulus clouds - including the influence of tiny aerosol particles emitted from smelters and volcanoes located on the South American continent
• the processes that control the transport of cold freshwater in the ocean
• the chemical and physical interactions between the lower atmosphere and upper ocean

The study is known as the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems' (VAMOS) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-Rex). It is a component of a larger international climate study program, VOCALS. The major goal of the VOCALS program is develop and promote scientific activities leading to improved understanding, model simulation, and predictions of the southeastern Pacific ocean-atmosphere-land climate system on day-to-day and year-to-year timescales. The other major components of VOCALS are a modeling program ranging from local to global scales and a suite of extended observations from regular research cruises, instrumented moorings, and satellites.

The combination of intensive field measurements, long-term observations, and modeling will provide important insights that could directly benefit climate modeling, the researchers say.

For more information about the study, visit: http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/vocals/ and http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/southeastern-pacific-ocean-research-40753.aspx

Brookhaven Lab's role in this research was funded by DOE's Office of Science. VOCALS-REx receives additional support and participation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation, and the World Climate Research Program.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and funded primarily by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation of State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization. Visit Brookhaven Lab's electronic newsroom for links, news archives, graphics, and more: http://www.bnl.gov/newsroom

Note to local editors: Peter Daum lives in Shoreham New York.