CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 27, 2004

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:

Japan Meteological Agency Report Positive Impact of Polar Winds:  Masahiro Kazumori of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) polar winds produce a positive impact on numerical weather forecasts.  The JMA global 3D-Var data assimilation system was used; the experiment was done for January 2004. The assimilation experiment demonstrated a positive impact of the MODIS polar winds on short-range forecasts, particularly for the northern hemisphere. Forecast improvement was quantified in terms of geopotential height forecast accuracy. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410, C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168)

Participation in FLAMBE Investigator Meeting at NRL-Monterey:  On February 24 and 25, E. Prins and C. Schmidt attended the FLAMBE (Fire Locating And Mapping of Burning Emissions) investigators meeting at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, CA.  Discussions focused on data assimilation research plans and applications for the next three years.   FLAMBE is a joint Navy, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) project funded by the NASA Earth System Science Enterprise Interdisciplinary Science program.  FLAMBE represents one of the first efforts to track and predict biomass burning loading and transport in real-time using the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) fire products as input to the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) and has applications in air quality, visibility, and regional radiative balance studies.  (E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256, C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973)

CIMSS Scientist Visits EUMETSAT: Kathleen Strabala spent four weeks collaborating with Dr. Marianne Koenig at the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) in Darmstadt, Germany,  October 27 - November 21, 2003.  During that time, knowledge of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) sounder depiction of atmospheric stability was transferred to Dr. Koenig, while the improved capabilities of Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) (e.g., high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution) were investigated as applicable to the future Advanced Baseline Sounder (ABI) instrument.  A validation study of MSG stability products was undertaken that consisted of comparisons of Total Precipitable Water (TPW) and Lifted Index (LI) retrievals with the GOES Sounder and polar orbiting Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data.  Overall, the comparisons for TPW were similar, while the comparisons of LI from MODIS seemed less favorable.  The evolution of cloud phase was studied with MSG, which allows for the first ever high temporal resolution investigation of infrared cloud phase from geostationary orbit.  ABI will contain similar infrared channels needed to determine phase. (K. Strabala, CIMSS, 608-263-8752)

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Figure caption: Side by side comparison of GOES 12 Sounder TPW from 07:20 UTC 8 June 2003 (left) and MSG TPW from 07:00 UTC 8 June 2003 (right).

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

Experimental Version of Clear Sky Brightness Temperature Imagery on the Web: A new version of the Clear Sky Brightness Temperature (CSBT) product is now on the web, and is displayed in a full disc view (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/realtime/anicsbt_g12.html) in addition to a high resolution aspect (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/realtime/anicsbt_g10_qc.html). This product is based on radiances from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager, and the latest version of the CSBT algorithm incorporates cloud masking techniques based on gaussian principles. Impact is most notable at local midnight for the GOES-10 and -12 satellites. The National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) will use these results for weather prediction impact studies. (J. Jung, CIMSS, T. Schreiner, CIMSS, 608-263-6754, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

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Seminars on ABI given at NSMC: Jun Li visited National Satellite Meteorological Center (NSMC) in Beijing and gave a seminar "Fast cloud radiative transfer modeling for IR data and its application" on Febuary13, 2004.  J. Li also gave an invited talk "Introduction on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R)" at the NSMC's annual meeting on February 20, 2004. (J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755)

Abstracts Submitted to the Third GOES-R Users' Conference: Six abstracts were submitted to the Third Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) -R Users' Conference scheduled to take place May 10-13, 2004 in Broomfield, Colorado:

"Simulation of the spectral bands on the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI)" by M. Gunshor, T.J. Schmit,  and K. Karnauskas. The presentation will focus on current activities at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) simulating ABI bands in preparation for GOES-R.  CIMSS has created mock spectral response functions for ABI bands (available to the user community at ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/ABI/SRF) and used these to create transmittance coefficients for use in a fast forward model and generated weighting functions for the infrared bands.  Simulated ABI images are created from direct broadcast MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) data collected at the University of Wisconsin and posted to the World Wide Web in near real-time. (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/abi/modis_broadcast/animodis.html,
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/abi/airs_broadcast/aniairs.html) (M. Gunshor, CIMSS, 608-263-1146, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

"Using GOES-R to help fulfill NOAA's Mission Goals" by T.J. Schmit, W. P. Menzel, J. Gurka, and J. Li. The presentation will highlight some of the many ways that information from the GOES-R series will help meet NOAA's mission goals. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755)

"Using GOES-R to Help Monitor SO2" by A.J. Schreiner, T.J. Schmit, J. Li, G. Ellrod, M. Gunshor, and K. Karnauskas. The presentation will focus on the potential for the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) instruments to detect and monitor atmospheric SO2 and consequently volcanic activity. (T. Schreiner, CIMSS, 608-263-6754, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755, M. Gunshor, CIMSS, 608-263-1146)

"Applications of the Advanced Baseline Imager for Fire Detection and Characterization" by C. Schmidt and E. Prins.  The presentation will discuss applications of the GOES Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) to the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on GOES-R and beyond, which will enable continued analysis of fire activity throughout the Western Hemisphere with significant improvements in fire detection and sub-pixel fire characterization.  Simulations of enhanced GOES ABI fire monitoring capabilities will be demonstrated using MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations of fires in the Western U.S. (C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973, E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256)

"Lossless Data Compression Studies for NOAA Hyperspectral Environmental Suite" by B. Huang, H-L Huang, A. Ahuja, H. Chen, T. Schmit and R.. Heymann. (B. Huang, CIMSS, 608-265-2231)

"Lossy Data Compression and Retrieval Impact Studies for NOAA Hyperspectral Environmental Suite" by B. Huang, A. Ahuja, H-L Huang, T. Schmit and R.. Heymann. (B. Huang, CIMSS, 608-265-2231)

Two journal papers accepted on hyperspectral data compression: A paper titled "Lossless compression of 3D hyperspectral sounding data using context-based adaptive lossless image codec with bias-adjusted reordering" was accepted for publication in Optical Engineering. Another paper titled "Improvements to predictor-based methods in lossless compression of 3D hyperspectral sounding data via higher moment statistics" will appear in the next issue of WSEAS Transactions on Electronics. The authors of both papers are B. Huang, A. Ahuja, H-L Huang,T. Schmit and R. Heymann. (B. Huang, CIMSS, 608-265-2231).

IHC Oral Presentation: A presentation was developed with J. Gurka for next week's Inter-department Hurricane Conference (IHC). The title is "The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series: Plans for a New Era in Hurricane Monitoring." The authors are J. Gurka and T. J. Schmit.   The presentation (to be given by J. Gurka) will be March 2, 2004 in Charleston, SC. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

Manuscript Reviewed: R. Aune reviewed a paper for Monthly Weather Review that utilized remotely-sensed products to assess long term precipitation budgets over a limited area. (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071)

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