CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 11, 2004

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:

EPA, NOAA, NASA, WRAP Fire Emission Joint Forum Meeting:  On June 3, E. Prins participated in an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and WRAP (Western Regional Air Partnership) Fire Emission Joint Forum Meeting telecon regarding the utilization of remote sensing and GIS for fire emissions information needed by WRAP.  The WRAP is administered jointly by the Western Governors' Association and the National Tribal Environmental Council and "is a collaborative effort of tribal governments, state governments and various federal agencies to implement the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission's recommendations and to develop the technical and policy tools needed by western states and tribes to comply with the U.S. EPA's regional haze regulations."  P. Lahm (WRAP) provided an overview of WRAP user needs and goals and E. Prins gave an overview of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) and applications in air quality modeling.  Follow-on email discussions indicate that a combination of GOES WF_ABBA and MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire product would be best suited for the WRAP activities focusing on fire emissions during 2002.  GOES WF_ABBA fire products for 2002 will be made available for WRAP fire emissions analysis efforts. (E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256)

Second AVHRR Reprocessing Workshop: A. Heidinger chaired and presented at the second Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Reprocessing Workshop held in the NOAA Science Center.  The workshop was a chance for all involved to meet and to discuss their progress and the expected shortfalls.  The attendance included many from the Office of Research and Applications and Dr. Nazmi Saleous from NASA. The AVHRR reprocessing system is not fully functional yet but it appears it will soon allow for a preliminary reprocessing of the data. The next workshop will be held in the fall. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Cooperative Institute Directors Meetings: Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies  (CIMSS) personnel Steve Ackerman (Director) and Thomas Achtor (Executive Director), Wenhua Wu, and Jenny Stepp attended the Third Annual Cooperative Institute Directors and Administrators meetings June 7-9 hosted by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Fort Collins, Colorado.  J. Key attended the Directors meeting. (S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647, T. Achtor, CIMSS, 608-263-4206, J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

CIMSS Hyperspectral Environmental Suite Web Pages Updated: The Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) web pages at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) have been updated to include new pages on HES simulations with Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Airborne Sounder Testbed - Interferometer (NAST-I) data, HES trade-off studies, Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and HES synergism, HES temporal resolution, and more. The web page is http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/HES/. (C.-Y. Liu, CIMSS, 608-262-1023)

Seminar Given on the Clouds from AVHRR Extended (CLAVR-x) System: A. Heidinger presented a seminar on the CLAVR-x system to a group at the NOAA Science Center.  The seminar focused on the capabilities of CLAVR-x and on the cloud mask performance.  This seminar was given to promote the usage of CLAVR-x data as it begins to be produced operationally. The results presented showed that CLAVR-x cloud mask was superior in several ways to its predecessor (CLAVR-1). (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Manuscript on MODIS/AIRS Cloud Retrieval Accepted for Publication:  The manuscript on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) cloud retrieval study entitled "Synergistic use of MODIS and AIRS in a variational retrieval of cloud parameters" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Meteorology.  This study is relevant to ABI and HES systems on GOES-R.   The co-authors are Jun Li, W. Paul. Menzel, Fengying Sun, Timothy J. Schmit, James J. Gurka, and Elisabeth Weisz .  The final version is available at  ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/ABS/JAM_AIRS_CLDRTV_Li_2004.pdf. (J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755)

GOES-N Planck Function Coefficients for McIDAS:  Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-N Planck Function Coefficients are used to quickly and conveniently convert radiance to brightness temperature for the Imager and Sounder.  These coefficients were calculated by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) using GOES-N imager and sounder spectral response functions.  The coefficients have been given to Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) programmers and should be included in a McIDAS upgrade later this year, in time for GOES-N launch.  Note that the Office of Satellite Operations (OSO) and CIMSS use slightly different coefficient dependent equations to make the conversion from radiance to brightness temperature and McIDAS uses the same method as CIMSS. (M. Gunshor, CIMSS, 608-263-1146, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

MODIS Winds Update: Improvements to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) polar winds processing were implemented on June 7, 2004. Experiments run over the last several months at both the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and NESDIS, in cooperation with several numerical weather prediction sites, resulted in suggested changes to the processing. These changes include: targetting using the middle image instead of first image, use of the  GFS model as the background instead of NOGAPS, use of model runs every 6 hours with forecasts out to 12 hours, replacing model runs every 12 hours with forecasts out to 18 hours, time averaging between model forecasts to match the middle image target time, replacing the use of the closest forecast time. (D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410, J. Daniels, E/RA2, W. Bresky, E/RA2, C. Velden, CIMSS, J. Key, E/RA2)

VISITORS:

J. Jung Visit: J. Jung of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) but stationed in Camp Springs, MD, visited CIMSS on June 7 and 8, 2004. Discussions were held on a variety of topics: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-12 imager clouds, GOES Sounder clouds, validations, Clear Sky Brightness Temperature (CSBT), Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS), MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) winds and GOES-N, and NCEP impact studies with MODIS polar winds.

NEXT WEEK:

International Winds Workshop in Helsinki: The Seventh International Winds Workshop will be held in Helsinki, Finland, June 14-18.  Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) scientists Chris Velden and Dave Santek will attend (Velden is a co-organizer).  Office of Research and Applications scientists Paul Menzel and Jeff Key will also attend and give presentations. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

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