CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

IGOS Global Observation of Forest Cover and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD) Fire Workshop at EUMETSAT:  On March 23-25 E. Prins co-chaired the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) GOFC/GOLD Global Geostationary Fire Monitoring Applications Workshop at the EUropean Organization for the exploitation of METeorological SATellites (EUMETSAT) in Darmstadt, Germany.  Over 35 representatives from 12 different countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas participated in the workshop. The overall goals of the workshop included discussing, planning, and coordinating the development and implementation of a near real-time operational global geostationary fire monitoring network to monitor fires as they occur and capture the diurnal signal for applications in hazards monitoring, global change, land-use/land-cover change, atmospheric emissions, and air quality.  All of these goals were addressed and recommendations were made to proceed with development and implementation.  A formal report is forthcoming.  The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Biomass Burning Monitoring Team at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) gave 4 presentations at the workshop.  (E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256, C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973, J. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-263-3434)

Significance: This 3-day workshop addressed requests from international environmental monitoring and scientific research communities to utilize operational satellites to produce routine global fire products and to ensure long-term stable records of fire activity for applications in areas such as land-use/land-cover change analyses, global change research, trace gas and aerosol monitoring, air quality, and hazards.  Fires and emissions affect local and regional weather as well as climate and can have a significant impact on transportation.  Participation in this workshop emphasized NOAA's commitment to the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) and highlighted significant research and operational activities in global fire monitoring within NESDIS.

Supports the following NOAA Mission Goals:
2. Understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s ability to plan and respond.
3. Serve society's needs for weather and water information.
4. Support the Nation's commerce with information for safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation.

Supports the following NOAA Cross-Cutting Priorities:
·    Integrated Global Environmental Observation and Data Management System
·    International Cooperation and Collaboration

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

Telecon on Water Vapor Channel: A. Heidinger and J. Key took part in a teleconference with Northrup Grumman Space Technology (NGST) and the Integrated Program Office (IPO) on the subject of a water vapor channel on the future Visible/Infrared Imager and Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).  (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

CIMSS Follows South Atlantic Tropical Cyclone:  Scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) monitored the extremely rare South Atlantic tropical cyclone this past week. The CIMSS algorithms to estimate structure and intensity from multispectral satellite data clearly show this was a tropical event. CIMSS ran the infrared-based Advanced Objective Dvorak Technique (AODT) and their Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) method during the event and obtained central pressure estimates as low as 974 hPa. The two methods were in good agreement on the maximum intensity and intensity trends for this unusual system. (C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168, T. Olander, CIMSS, D. Herndon, CIMSS).

GOES-R Risk Reduction Meeting:  As a member of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), T. Schmit attended the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Risk Reduction meeting in at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Science Center on March 25th.  (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

EUMETSAT Visit: C. Velden (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS) visited EUMETSAT during the week of March 15-19. The mission objectives were to give a presentation on the potential of deriving wind profiles from hyperspectral sounder mositure fields, and to discuss winds from Meteosat Second Generation. (MSG, now Meteosat-8). Plans for a future joint AMS/NOAA/EUMETSAT international satellite meeting were discussed. D. Santek (CIMSS) also visited EUMETSAT and gave a talk on MODIS polar winds. Both presentations were well received. (C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168, D. Santek, CIMSS)

Lectures in Meteorology Course: R. Aune gave two lectures for the Atmospheric and Ocean Science (AOS) Department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  The course, Analysis of Meteorological Parameters (AOS 650), is a core course that examines the methods used to objectively analyze and study meteorlogical fields. The first lecture summarized the basics of data assimilation, covering sub-optimal and optimal approaches and reviewed common problems encountered when assimilating satellite data.  The second lecture covered how observations from the GOES sounders and from MODIS are used to improve mesoscale forecasts in the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS).  (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071)

Polar Cloud Detection Paper Submitted: A paper on nighttime cloud detection in the polar regions with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was submitted to the Journal of Applied Meteorology.  The paper, titled "Nighttime polar cloud detection with MODIS", presents new cloud detection tests that utilize water vapor and carbon dioxide bands.  The co-authors are Y. Liu (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS), J. Key, R. Frey (CIMSS), S. Ackerman (CIMSS), and W.P. Menzel. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

Abstracts Submitted for 13th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography:  Two abstracts have been submitted to the 13th Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography.  One is entitiled "An approach to improve temperature and moisture retrievals from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder measurements" with co-authors Jun Li, James P. Nelson III, Christopher C. Schmidt, Timothy J. Schmit, and W. Paul Menzel.  The other is entitled "Studies on the GOES-R Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES)", with co-authors Jun Li, Timothy J. Schmit, Chian-Yi Liu, W. Paul Menzel, and James J. Gurka.  (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

Discussions with the Office of Systems Development: On the afternoon of March 24th, T. Schmit met with several members of the Office of Systems Development (OSD) in Silver Spring. The topics discussed included the use of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data and products at large satellite view angles, impact of a GOES-R satellite position shift, an overview of data compression work on high-spectral infrared sounder data and some of the uses of GOES-R data in support of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s mission goals.  (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

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