CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 6, 2004

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

GOES Sounder Real-time Cloud Product Used in EO-1 Image Selection:  In a proof-of-concept test for synergistically using information from one satellite platform to guide data acquisition from another, on February 5, 2004, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder Cloud Top Pressure (CTP) product and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Science Goal Monitor (SGM) were used to perform a sensor web experiment.  The experiment was coordinated with D. Mandl of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Two alternate scene targets were loaded onboard Earth Observing (EO)-1 (initiated via SGM), Rapid City, South Dakota and Jornada, New Mexico.  Four hours before overflight of the first potential scene (Rapid City), SGM automatically queried the real-time hourly GOES Sounder cloud product to decide whether to image Rapid City or switch to Jornada.  As it turns out, Rapid City was very cloudy and Jornada was clear, as determined from GOES information.  Therefore, EO-1 was autonomously commanded to switch targets.  There was no manual intervention for this process. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)



ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

McIDAS Assistance Provided in Undergraduate Course:  Satellite display expertise was provided by G. Wade to students in S. Ackerman's University of Wisconsin Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences course in satellite meteorology.  A requirement of the class is a paper on cloud identification, which involves the display of satellite imagery with the Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS).  McIDAS is provided by the UW Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC).  (G.S. Wade, E/RA2, 608-263-4743)

Lecture on Cloud Masking Given in Undergraduate Course:  A. Heidinger gave a lecture on the physical basis of cloud masking with NOAA's operational imagers in S. Ackerman's satellite meteorology course in the University of Wisconsin's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Some material on the improvements expected with future NOAA imagers such as the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the future GOES satellites was also presented.  The students were mainly senior-level undergraduates and some graduate levels.  For those interested, this lecture is available at  the following site. http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~heidinger/lectures  (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

New Web Server Installed at CIMSS:  Web pages at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) were transferred to a new, faster, and more secure server at the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) on January 30, 2004.  Dozens of scripts and files were modified to continue to provide the same web links as before to the outside world, as the internal directory structure on the new machine was slightly different.  Real-time satellite imagery and products remain available at CIMSS (such as at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/realtime/realtime.html).  (G.S. Wade, E/RA2, 608-263-4743)

Manuscript Reviews: R. Aune completed reviews of two papers for the journal Weather and Forecasting.  The papers were on the subject of satellite data assimilation.  J. Key reviewed a paper on Arctic cloud detection for the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071, J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

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