The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) pirog ram

goals are ambitious, and its schedule is demanding. Many of the instruments, proposed for operations at the first Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site as early alS 1992 represent emerging technology and exist only as:special research prototypes. Therefore, an important preparatory step for ARM was an intensive field project in Colorado in 1991 to assess the suitability of instruments an(j tech-niques for profiling the thermodynamic and kinematic structure of the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The field work was designed to provide ARM with a head start by gathering practical information for the desigln and operation of the CART sites. Additional longer term re-search, also fundamental to ARM goals, will use the 1991 data to design an optimized combination of diverse ' profil-ing instruments. The data will also be used to extrapolate single site data to dynamically consistent, four-dimen-sional fields at general circulation model (GCM) subgrid scales using a data assimilation mesoscale model. The result will be an integrated system for atmospheric profiling tailored to ARM's needs. This ARM Science Team re-search is being conducted by a partnership that im~lude