CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 1, 2005

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

Third Office of Research and Applications AVHRR Reprocessing Workshop: Andrew Heidinger convened and lead the third ORA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Reprocessing Workshop on March 24, 2005 at the NOAA Science Center.  The AVHRR Reprocessing Project is a pilot study to develop ORA's capabilities for scientific data stewardship and for the generation of climate data records.  The attendees were Changyong Cao, Pubu Ciren, Mitch Goldberg, Wei Guo, Andrew Heidinger, Aleksandar Jelenak, Yuri Kihai, Felix Kogan, Istvan Laszlo, Michael Pavolonis, Jerry Sullivan and Dan Tarpley.  Additional presentations were provided by Jeff Key and Alex Ignatov. The goals of this project are to improve the quality of the AVHRR Level 1b data and to derive selected climate data records from its 25-year data record.  The highlights from the workshop included briefings on geolocation and calibration improvements.  In addition, results from the Global Vegetation Index Extended (GVI-x), the AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x) and the polar winds processing were shown.  All projects appear to be making useful long-term time series of critical climate records.  Lastly, all AVHRR data from the NESDIS archive have now been transferred to the ORA AVHRR archive. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Significance:
Improving our ability to use the 25-year record of AVHRR data for generation of climate records will increase our ability to characterize the climate variability in key parameters over the last three decades.

Supports NOAA Mission Goals 2 and 3:
Understand Climate Variability and Change to Enhance Society's Ability to Plan and Respond and Serve society’s needs for weather and water information.

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA

Integrated Program Office Visit: Joe Zajic and John Overton from the Integrated Program Office (IPO) visited the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) on March 28-29.  They spoke with CIMSS, NESDIS, and Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) scientists on a variety of subjects relevant to the National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), including current risk reduction activities. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Use of CLAVR-x for Volcanic Ash: M. Pavolonis (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Studies (CIMSS)) and A. Heidinger (NESDIS Office of Research and Applications (ORA)) met with G. Ellrod (NESDIS ORA) and G. Gallina (Satellite Analysis Branch) at the Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) to discuss the potential use of the Extended Clouds from AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) (CLAVR-x) processing system to identify the presence of volcanic ash and to determine ash plume height in VAAC operations.  The algorithms presented have been shown to be effective for a variety of volcanic eruption events.  Collaborations with the VAAC and G. Ellrod are ongoing. (M. Pavolonis, CIMSS, 608-263-9597, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

MODIS Science Team Meeting Presentations: A. Heidinger two talks at the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Science Team Meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland.  The first presentation dealt with an analysis of the channel-to-channel differences between the MODIS instrument on Aqua and Terra during periods of near simultaneous nadir observations.   This appears to be the first time Aqua and Terra MODIS were compared in this manner.  The second presentation was made at the MODIS Atmosphere group meeting and concerned research to tie together the cloud climatologies from NOAA's polar-orbiting system and NASA's MODIS system.  There is clearly an interest within the MODIS team to extend some climate data records back through the 25 years of polar-orbiting data. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Conference Presentation on Hyperspectral Environmental Suite Scanning Scenarios: T. Schmit gave a presentation on the "Possible scanning scenarios of the GOES-R HES (Hyperspectral Environmental Suite)" at the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) conference in Orlando, Florida on March 31, 2005. After a overview of the GOES-R instruments, the presentation outlined possible scan scenarios. These scenarios will be refined as more is learned about capabilities of the GOES-R instruments. The authors are T. Schmit, J. Gurka, W. P. Menzel, M. M. Coakley, A. Mostek, K. Schrab, M. M. Gunshor and A. Wimmers. The presentation file is available upon request. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

Manuscript on Environmental Satellite Imager Submitted:  A manuscript titled: "Current and Future Environmental Satellite Imagers on Scene Classification' has been submitted to the Journal of Applied Meteorology.  Co-authors are Zhenglong Li, Jun Li (CIMSS), W. Paul Menzel, Timothy J. Schmit (ORA), and Steve Ackerman (CIMSS). (J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755)

Snow/Ice Technical Interchange Meeting: J. Key and A. Heidinger participated via telecon in the Visible Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) on snow and ice Environmental Data Records (EDRs) on March 28.  The meeting was hosted by Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST). (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

ASPB Midterm Performance Reviews Completed: Midterm performance reviews for the Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) have been completed. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

Other Meetings and Telecons:
(None)

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