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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Materials Data on CIN by Materials Project

CNI crystallizes in the trigonal R3m space group. The structure is one-dimensional and consists of three CNI ribbons oriented in the (0, 0, 1) direction. C4+ is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to one N3- and one I1- atom. The C–N bond length is 1.17 Å. The C–I bond length is 2.02 Å. N3- is bonded in a distorted linear geometry to one C4+ and one I1- atom. The N–I bond length is 2.68 Å. I1- is bonded in a linear geometry to one C4+ and one N3- atom.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Changes in Convective Available Potential Energy and Convective Inhibition under Global Warming

Atmospheric convective available potential energy (CAPE) is expected to increase under greenhouse gas–induced global warming, but a recent regional study also suggests enhanced convective inhibition (CIN) over land although its cause is not well understood. In this study, a global climate model is first evaluated by comparing its CAPE and CIN with reanalysis data, and then their future changes and the underlying causes are examined. The climate model reasonably captures the present-day CAPE and CIN patterns seen in the reanalysis, and projects increased CAPE almost everywhere and stronger CIN over most land under global warming. Over land, the cases or times with medium to strong CAPE or CIN would increase while cases with weak CAPE or CIN would decrease, leading to an overall strengthening in their mean values. These projected changes are confirmed by convection-permitting 4-km model simulations over the United States. The CAPE increase results mainly from increased low-level specific humidity, which leads to more latent heating and buoyancy for a lifted parcel above the level of free convection (LFC) and also a higher level of neutral buoyancy. The enhanced CIN over most land results mainly from reduced low-level relative humidity (RH), which leads to a higher lifting condensation level and a higher LFC and thus more negative buoyancy. Over tropical oceans, the near-surface RH increases slightly, leading to slight weakening of CIN. Over the subtropical eastern Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, the impact of reduced low-level atmospheric lapse rates overshadows the effect of increased specific humidity, leading to decreased CAPE.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Regional variability in the environmental controls of precipitation regimes in the tropics

The environmental factors that control precipitation regimes in Boreal winter rainfall in the tropics and their regional variabilities are examined using a simple statistical analysis and a machine learning model. Radar-derived precipitation from field campaigns at Darwin Australia, Manaus Brazil, and the Equatorial Indian Ocean, along with the corresponding large-scale environmental variables from ERA5 reanalysis, are used. The dependence of marginal distributions of frequencies of these regimes on five environmental variables are calculated. The variables are hourly column integrated precipitable water (PW), convective available potential energy (CAPE), convective inhibition (CIN), and lower and upper tropospheric wind shear. The simple machine learning model that predicts the probability of transition from suppressed to an active regime as a function of the environmental variables is designed and optimized for a potential application as a trigger function for convection parameterizations. To the first order the analysis shows an abrupt increase in the probability of an active regime near PW > 60 mm and CIN of <100 J kg -1 . The key differences in the frequencies of active regimes among the regions are found to be related to the fact that over Darwin there is strong variability in PW while CIN is generally low. Over Amazon, on the other hand, both PW and CIN are quite variable. Over the DYNAMO domain the comparatively frequent low PW is compensated for by consistently low CIN resulting in a moderate frequency of an active regime.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Large Eddy Simulation of the Diurnal Cycle of Shallow Convection in the Central Amazon

Climate models often face challenges in accurately simulating the daily precipitation cycle over tropical land areas, particularly in the Amazon. One contributing factor may be the incomplete representation of the diurnal evolution of shallow cumulus (ShCu) clouds. This study aimed to enhance the understanding of the diurnal cycles of ShCu clouds—from formation to maturation and dissipation—over the Central Amazon (CAMZ). Using observational data from the Green Ocean Amazon 2014 (GoAmazon) campaign and large eddy simulation (LES) modeling, we analyzed the diurnal cycles of six selected pure ShCu cases and their composite behavior. Our results revealed a well-defined cycle, with cloud formation occurring between 10 and 11 local time (LT), maturity from 13 to 15 LT, and dissipation by 17–18 LT. The vertical extent of the liquid water mixing ratio and the intensity of the updraft mass flux were closely associated with increases in turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), enhanced buoyancy flux within the cloud layer, and reduced large-scale subsidence. We further analyzed the diurnal cycles of the convective available potential energy (CAPE), the convective inhibition (CIN), the Bowen ratio (BR), and the vertically integrated TKE in the mixed layer (ITKE-ML), exploring their relationships with the cloud base mass flux (Mb) and cloud depth across the six ShCu cases. ITKE-ML and Mb exhibited similar diurnal trends, peaking at approximately 14–15 LT. However, no consistent relationships were found between CAPE (or BR) and Mb. Similarly, comparisons of the cloud depth with CAPE, BR, ITKE-ML, CIN, and Mb revealed no clear relationships. Smaller ShCu clouds were sometimes linked to higher CAPE and lower CIN. It is important to emphasize that these findings are preliminary and based on a limited sample of ShCu cases. Further research involving an expanded dataset and more detailed analyses of the TKE budget and synoptic conditions is necessary. Such efforts would yield a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing ShCu clouds’ vertical development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Observed Covariations in Boundary Layer and Cumulus Cloud Layer Processes

In this paper we examine variations in boundary-layer processes spanning the shallow to deep cumulus transition. This is accomplished by differentiating boundary layer properties on the basis of convective outcomes, ranging from shallow to deep, as observed at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma, USA. Doppler lidar, radar, and radiosonde data are combined to determine statistical differences in boundary layer and cloud layer properties using a large sample (236) of days with a range of convective outcomes: shallow, congestus, and deep convection. In these analyses, the radar characterizes diurnal cloud depth, the lidar quantifies updraft and downdraft properties in the subcloud layer, and daily radiosonde data provides the convective inhibition (CIN). Combined, these data are used to test the hypothesis that deep convection occurs when the strength of the boundary layer turbulence (i.e., TKE) exceeds the strength of the energy barrier (i.e., CIN) at the top of the CBL. Results show that days with deep convective clouds have significantly lower vertical velocity variance and weaker updrafts within the subcloud layer. However, CIN values are also found to be significantly lower on deep convective days, allowing for these weaker updrafts to penetrate the energy barrier and reach the level of free convection (LFC). In contrast, shallow convective outcomes occur when the updrafts are strong in an absolute sense, but are weak when compared to the strength of the energy barrier. These findings support the use of the CIN/TKE framework in parameterizing convection in coarse resolution models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Near-Cloud Atmospheric Ingredients for Deep Convection Initiation

A lack of routine environmental observations located near deepening cumulus congestus clouds limits verification of important theorized and simulated updraft–environment interaction processes occurring during deep convection initiation (CI). We analyze radiosonde profiles collected during several hundred CI events near a mountain range in central Argentina during the CACTI field campaign. Statistical analyses illustrate environmental conditions supporting radar-observed CI outcomes that span a spectrum of convective cell depths, widths, and durations, as well as events lacking precipitating convection. Tested environmental factors include a large variety of sounding-derived measurements of CAPE, CIN, moisture, terrain-relative winds, vertical shear, and lifted parcel properties, with supplemental model reanalysis of background larger-scale vertical motion. CAPE and CIN metrics do not consistently differentiate CI success from failure. Only a few environmental factors contain consistent monotonic relationships among the spectrum of cloud depths achieved during CI: (i) the depth and strength of background ascent, and (ii) the component of low-level flow oriented parallel to the ridgeline. These metrics suggest that the ability of the surrounding flow to lift parcels to their LFC and terrain-modified flow are consistently relevant processes for CI. Low- to midlevel relative humidity strongly discriminated between CI and non-CI events, likely reflecting entrainment-driven dilution processes. However, we could not confidently conclude that relative humidity similarly discriminated robust from marginal CI events. Circumstantial evidence was found linking cell width, an important cloud property governing the probability of CI, to LCL height, boundary layer depth, depth and magnitude of the CIN layer, and ambient wind shear.

Storm environments↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Nowcasting Approach for Low-Earth-Orbiting Hyperspectral Infrared Soundings within the Convective Environment

Low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders have significant yet untapped potential for characterizing thermodynamic environments of convective initiation and ongoing convection. While LEO soundings are of value to weather forecasters, the temporal resolution needed to resolve the rapidly evolving thermodynamics of the convective environment is limited. Here, we have developed a novel nowcasting methodology to extend snapshots of LEO soundings forward in time up to 6 h to create a product available within National Weather Service systems for user assessment. Our methodology is based on parcel forward-trajectory calculations from the satellite-observing time to generate future soundings of temperature (T) and specific humidity (q) at regularly gridded intervals in space and time. The soundings are based on NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) retrievals from the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) and NOAA-20 satellite platforms. The tendencies of derived convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective inhibition (CIN) are evaluated against gridded, hourly accumulated rainfall obtained from the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) observations for 24 hand-selected cases over the contiguous United States. Areas with forecast increases in CAPE (reduced CIN) are shown to be associated with areas of precipitation. The increases in CAPE and decreases in CIN are largest for areas that have the heaviest precipitation and are statistically significant compared to areas without precipitation. These results imply that adiabatic parcel advection of LEO satellite sounding snapshots forward in time are capable of identifying convective initiation over an expanded temporal scale compared to soundings used only during the LEO satellite overpass time.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Changing Characteristics of Tropical Extreme Precipitation–Cloud Regimes in Warmer Climates

In this study, we investigated the changing characteristics of climatic scale (monthly) tropical extreme precipitation in warming climates using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). The results are from Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP)-type simulations driven by (a) a control experiment with the present-day sea surface temperature (SST) and CO 2 concentration, (b) P4K, the same as in (a) but with a uniform increase of 4K in the SST globally, and (c) the same as in (a), but with an imposed SST and CO 2 concentration from the outputs of the coupled E3SM forced by a 4xCO 2 concentration. We found that as the surface warmed under P4K and 4xCO 2 , both convective and stratiform rain increased. Importantly, there was an increasing fractional contribution of stratiform rain as a function of the precipitation intensity, with the most extreme but rare events occurring preferentially over land more than the ocean, and more so under 4xCO 2 than P4K. Extreme precipitation was facilitated by increased precipitation efficiency, reflecting accelerated rates of recycling of precipitation cloud water (both liquid and ice phases) in regions with colder anvil cloud tops. Changes in the vertical profiles of clouds, condensation heating, and vertical motions indicate increasing precipitation–cloud–circulation organization from the control and P4K to 4xCO 2 . The results suggest that large-scale ocean warming, that is, P4K, was the primary cause contributing to an organization structure resembling the well-known mesoscale convective system (MCS), with increased extreme precipitation on shorter (hourly to daily) time scales. Additional 4xCO 2 atmospheric radiative heating and dynamically consistent anomalous SST further amplified the MCS organization under P4K. Analyses of the surface moist static energy distribution show that increases in the surface moisture (temperature) under P4K and 4xCO 2 was the key driver leading to enhanced convective instability over tropical ocean (land). However, a fast and large increase in the land surface temperature and lack of available local moisture resulted in a strong reduction in the land surface relative humidity, reflecting severe drying and enhanced convective inhibition (CIN). It is argued that very extreme and rare “record-breaking” precipitation events found over land under P4K, and more so under 4xCO 2 , are likely due to the delayed onset of deep convection, that is, the longer the suppression of deep convection by CIN, the more severe the extreme precipitation when it eventually occurs, due to the release of a large amount of stored surplus convective available potential energy in the lower troposphere during prolonged CIN.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of DNA extraction protocols from liquid-based cytology specimens for studying cervical microbiota

Cervical microbiota (CM) are considered an important factor affecting the progression of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and are implicated in the persistence of human papillomavirus (HPV). Collection of liquid-based cytology (LBC) samples is routine for cervical cancer screening and HPV genotyping and can be used for long-term cytological biobanking. We sought to determine whether it is possible to access microbial DNA from LBC specimens, and compared the performance of four different extraction protocols: (ZymoBIOMICS DNA Miniprep Kit; QIAamp PowerFecal Pro DNA Kit; QIAamp DNA Mini Kit; and IndiSpin Pathogen Kit) and their ability to capture the diversity of CM from LBC specimens. LBC specimens from 20 patients (stored for 716 ± 105 days) with CIN values of 2 or 3 were each aliquoted for each of the four kits. Loss of microbial diversity due to long-term LBC storage could not be assessed due to lack of fresh LBC samples. Comparisons with other types of cervical sampling were not performed. We observed that all DNA extraction kits provided equivalent accessibility to the cervical microbial DNA within stored LBC samples. Approximately 80% microbial genera were shared among all DNA extraction protocols. Potential kit contaminants were observed as well. Variation between individuals was a significantly greater influence on the observed microbial composition than was the method of DNA extraction. We also observed that HPV16 was significantly associated with community types that were not dominated by Lactobacillus iners.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Efficient production of oxidized terpenoids via engineering fusion proteins of terpene synthase and cytochrome P450

The functionalization of terpenes using cytochrome P450 enzymes is a versatile route to the production of useful derivatives that can be further converted to value-added products. Many terpenes are hydrophobic and volatile making their availability as a substrate for P450 enzymes significantly limited during microbial production. In this study, we developed a strategy to improve the accessibility of terpene molecules for the P450 reaction by linking terpene synthase and P450 together. As a model system, fusion proteins of 1,8-cineole synthase (CS) and P450 cin were investigated and it showed an improved hydroxylation of the monoterpenoid 1,8-cineole up to 5.4-fold. Structural analysis of the CS-P450 cin fusion proteins by SEC-SAXS indicated a dimer formation with preferred orientations of the active sites of the two domains. We also applied the enzyme fusion strategy to the oxidation of a sesquiterpene epi-isozizaene and the fusion enzymes significantly improved albaflavenol production in engineered E. coli. From the analysis of positive and negative examples of the fusion strategy, we proposed key factors in structure-based prediction and evaluation of fusion enzymes. Developing fusion enzymes for terpene synthase and P450 presents an efficient strategy toward oxidation of hydrophobic terpene compounds. This strategy could be widely applicable to improve the biosynthetic titer of the functionalized products from hydrophobic terpene intermediates.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Transition of Large-Scale Environmental Conditions and Characteristics of Four Rainfall Types Observed by S-PolKa During the MJO-1 Active Phase of DYNAMO/CINDY/AMIE

Analyses of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) S-PolKa dual-polarization radar data and ERA5 reanalysis fields indicate gradual changes in convection characteristics and large-scale environmental conditions during a central Indian Ocean Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) event observed by the DYNAMO/CINDY/AMIE field campaigns in late October 2011 (MJO-1). Examination of four rainfall types (isolated convective cores, convective, mixed, and stratiform) reveals a transition of convection characteristics (i.e., areal coverage and depth) between distinct 5-day environmental periods at the beginning and end of this ~2-week MJO active phase. A shift toward less frequent rainfall covering less of the radar domain for all four rainfall types occurs when large-scale lower-tropospheric dry air advects into the region with the westerly wind burst (WWB). Drier and warmer lower-free-tropospheric conditions associated with the WWB contribute to increased large-scale surface-based convective inhibition (CIN), surface-based convective available potential energy (CAPE), and cloud base heights. A thermodynamic budget analysis indicates reduced surface heat fluxes contribute to the increased surface-based CAPE. Greater CAPE at the end of MJO-1 coincides with deeper 50-dBZ convective echoes, while decreased 10-dBZ depth for all rainfall types corresponds in time with WWB-related dry-air advection. Increased (decreased) reflectivity values in the lower-level vertical reflectivity distribution of convective (stratiform) precipitation indicate increased (decreased) convective (stratiform) intensities when the WWB is present. The opposite depth changes for convective echoes and opposite shifts in convective and stratiform precipitation intensities underscore how the WWB can have differing impacts at different reflectivity thresholds and stages of the deep convection lifecycle.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Summer Convective Precipitation Changes Over the Great Lakes Region Under a Warming Scenario

To understand future summer precipitation changes over the Great Lakes Region (GLR), we performed an ensemble of regional climate simulations through the Pseudo-Global Warming (PGW) approach. We found that different types of convective precipitation respond differently to the PGW signal. Isolated deep convection (IDC), usually concentrated in the southern domain, shows an increase in precipitation to the north of the GLR. Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), usually concentrated upwind of the GLR, shift to the downwind region with increased precipitation. Thermodynamic variables such as convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective inhibition energy (CIN) are found to increase across almost the entire studied domain, creating a potential environment more favorable for stronger convection systems and less favorable for weaker ones. Meanwhile, changes in the lifting condensation level (LCL) and level of free convection (LFC) show a strong correlation with variations in convective precipitation, highlighting the significance of these thermodynamic factors in controlling precipitation over the domain. Our results indicate that the decrease in LCL and LCF in areas with increased convective precipitation is mainly due to increased atmospheric moisture. In response to the prescribed warming perturbation, MCSs occur more frequently downwind, while localized IDCs exhibit more intense rain rates, longer durations, and larger rainfall area.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Causal Directions Matter: How Environmental Factors Drive Convective Cloud Detrainment Heights

This study investigates how environmental factors influence the level of maximum detrainment (LMD) in deep convective clouds. Through a novel application of the Linear Non‐Gaussian Acyclic Model (LiNGAM), we discover causal structures between environmental variables and LMD, observed at six tropical sites operated by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility. LiNGAM effectively identifies causal directions among variables of interest, revealing robust relationships such as those among the lifting condensation level (LCL), level of free convection (LFC), and convective inhibition (CIN), aligning with prior knowledge. Relative humidity is shown to directly influence LMD; however, this relationship exhibits strong nonlinearity and becomes difficult to detect when the contrast between oceanic and continental environments is excluded from the analysis. This study highlights the importance of establishing causal relationships before performing statistical inference.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Anthropogenic Influences on Tornadic Storms

The impact of climate change on severe storms and tornadoes remains uncertain, largely owing to inconsistencies in observational data and limitations of climate models. Here, we performed ensembles of convection-permitting climate model simulations to examine how three tornadic storms would change if similar events were to occur in pre-industrial and future climates. The choice of events includes winter, nocturnal, and spring tornadic storms to provide insight into how the timing and seasonality of storms may affect their response to climate change. Updraft helicity (UH), convective available potential energy (CAPE), storm relative helicity (SRH), and convective inhibition (CIN) were used to determine the favorability for the three tornadic storm events in the different climate states. We found that from the pre-industrial to present, the potential for tornadic storms decreased in the winter event and increased in the nocturnal and spring events. With future climate change, the potential for tornadic storms increased in the winter and nocturnal events in association with increased CAPE, and decreased in the spring event despite greater CAPE.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Impact of Global Warming on U.S. Summertime Mesoscale Convective Systems: A Simple Lagrangian Parcel Model Perspective

Abstract Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are the dominant rainfall producer over the United States during the warm season, causing natural disasters and severe weather every year. Global climate models have large uncertainty in projecting precipitation changes in the future climate. Here, a simple Lagrangian parcel model is used to investigate the impact of global warming on MCS initiation and growth. The single-column parcel model projects a mean precipitation decrease over the central United States and an increase to its east, in agreement with the CMIP5 model projection. It also highlights the crucial role of current climate mean-state model bias in exaggerating the change in future mean precipitation projection by 25%. As for convective population, the model captures the decreased occurrence frequency of weak to moderate convection and increased frequency of strong convection due to the increased CAPE and CIN, in agreement with convection-permitting regional simulations. Novel parameterizations of gust-front propagation speed and subsidence strength are developed as guided by cloud-resolving simulations. The multicolumn parcel model employing those parameterizations captures readily the cold pool–induced upscale growth feature. It simulates smaller mesoscale clusters over the central United States under global warming due to gust-front slowdown and subsidence strength enhancement, which are further attributed to land aridity–induced weakening of initial accumulated precipitation and strengthening of updraft speed, respectively. That said, mesoscale clusters could become bigger under more favorable conditions in future climate, including boundary layer moistening, convection lifetime lengthening, and cold pool mechanical-lifting enhancement, which require further investigations to improve mechanistic understanding of future MCS changes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Design and feasibility of a novel program of cervical screening in Nigeria: self-sampled HPV testing paired with visual triage

Background: Accelerated global control of cervical cancer would require primary prevention with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in addition to novel screening program strategies that are simple, inexpensive, and effective. We present the feasibility and outcome of a community-based HPV self-sampled screening program. Methods: In Ile Ife, Nigeria, 9406 women aged 30–49 years collected vaginal self-samples, which were tested for HPV in the local study laboratory using Hybrid Capture-2 (HC2) (Qiagen). HPV-positive women were referred to the colposcopy clinic. Gynecologist colposcopic impression dictated immediate management; biopsies were taken when definite acetowhitening was present to produce a histopathologic reference standard of precancer (and to determine final clinical management). Retrospective linkage to the medical records identified 442 of 9406 women living with HIV (WLWH). Results: With self-sampling, it was possible to screen more than 100 women per day per clinic. Following an audio-visual presentation and in-person instructions, overall acceptability of self-sampling was very high (81.2% women preferring self-sampling over clinician collection). HPV positivity was found in 17.3% of women. Intensive follow-up contributed to 85.9% attendance at the colposcopy clinic. Of those referred, 8.2% were initially treated with thermal ablation and 5.6% with large loop excision of transformation zone (LLETZ). Full visibility of the squamocolumnar junction, necessary for optimal visual triage and ablation, declined from 68.5% at age 30 to 35.4% at age 49. CIN2+ and CIN3+ (CIN- Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia), including five cancers, were identified by histology in 5.9 and 3.2% of the HPV-positive women, respectively (0.9 and 0.5% of the total screening population), leading to additional treatment as indicated. The prevalences of HPV infection and CIN2+ were substantially higher (40.5 and 2.5%, respectively) among WLWH. Colposcopic impression led to over- and under-treatment compared to the histopathology reference standard. Conclusion: A cervical cancer screening program using self-sampled HPV testing, with colposcopic immediate management of women positive for HPV, proved feasible in Nigeria. Based on the collected specimens and images, we are now evaluating the use of a combination of partial HPV typing and automated visual evaluation (AVE) of cervical images to improve the accuracy of the screening program.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Materials Data on InC by Materials Project

CIn is Wurtzite structured and crystallizes in the hexagonal P6_3mc space group. The structure is three-dimensional. In3+ is bonded to four equivalent C3- atoms to form corner-sharing InC4 tetrahedra. There are one shorter (2.23 Å) and three longer (2.25 Å) In–C bond lengths. C3- is bonded to four equivalent In3+ atoms to form corner-sharing CIn4 tetrahedra.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Convective Parameters Derived from Radiosonde Data (SONDEPARAM) Value-Added Product Report

Radiosondes provide fundamental observations of the vertical profile of atmospheric state (pressure, temperature, humidity, and winds), with important implications for subsequent studies on environmental controls on cloud conditions. Within convective cloud environments, there is an increasing demand for additional value-added products (VAPs) to facilitate the use of U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility radiosonde data sets. Such VAPs should provide quick and reliable estimates for several standard radiosonde parameters or quantities of interest using common assumptions, as well as open, flexible code for visualization and user interaction. The Convective Parameters Derived from Radiosonde Data (SONDEPARAM) VAP will apply several robust algorithms used in Wang et al. (2020) for the calculation of useful radiosonde convective cloud parameters, including the convective available potential energy (CAPE), convective inhibition (CIN), and other convective parameters, for several different assumptions regarding the initial parcel characteristics (i.e., surface-based, most unstable, mixed layer). These ARM VAP codes are developed in open, flexible Python formats, with the intention that these parameters/calculations will be incorporated into traditional ARM quick-look radiosonde plotting, yet associated with user-available codes for ease in user reproduction and assumption modification.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗