ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

CIMSS Director Starts Sabbatical at STAR: Steve Ackerman, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), started his sabbatical at NOAA/STAR. He'll be working on NOAA projects, including GOES-R Algorithm Working Group aerosol product development and GOES-R Risk Reduction activities, while experiencing how NOAA does business. He'll also be working on a University of Wisconsin-Madison education project on satellite meteorology. (S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647)

Paper Published on Cloud-top Comparison of AIRS/MODIS/CloudSat/CALIPSO: A paper titled "Comparison of AIRS, MODIS, CloudSat and CALIPSO cloud top height retrievals" has been published in Geophysical Research Letters (vol. 34, L17811, doi:10.1029/2007GL030676, 2007). Co-authors are Elisabeth Weisz (CIMSS), Jun Li (CIMSS), W. Paul Menzel (CIMSS), Andrew K. Heidinger (StAR/NESDIS), Brian H. Kahn (JPL/NASA), and Chian-Yi Liu (CIMSS). (Jun Li, 608 - 262 - 3755, Jun.Li@ssec.wisc.edu)

First International Polar Day - September 21: On September 21, 2007, the International Polar Year (IPY) will launch its first ‘International Polar Day’, focusing on Sea Ice. Future polar days will occur around the solstices and equinoxes (December, March, June, September) throughout IPY, marking the seasonal extremes in the polar regions. The International Polar Year 2007-8 is a large international and interdisciplinary coordinated research effort focussed on the polar regions. An estimated 50,000 participants from over 60 countries are involved in research as diverse as human health, remote sensing, ecology, biodiversity, astronomy, reindeer herding, economics, climate modelling, and history. For more information, visit http://ipy.org. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Volcanic Ash Detection Algorithm Being Evaluated By Alaska Volcano Observatory: A volcanic ash detection algorithm developed at NOAA/NESDIS/STAR and CIMSS (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) is currently being evaluated by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). One of the AVO’s objectives is to provide timely and accurate information on volcanic hazards such as airborne ash. Preliminary testing indicates that the NOAA/CIMSS algorithm, when applied to the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), is more sensitive to volcanic ash than their current algorithm. Further testing of the algorithm is planned. (M. Pavolonis, E/RA2, 608-263-9597, Mike.Pavolonis@noaa.gov)

CREST Student Visits CIMSS: Ms. Nasim Norouzi, a PhD candidate at the Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (CREST), City University of New York, visited the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) this week to learn how the GOES sounder can be used to predict heavy precipitation events. Her dissertation is investigating techniques for improving rainfall nowcasts used to predict urban flooding. She met with NOAA and CIMSS scientists to learn about a "nearcasting" technique under development at CIMSS that uses observations from the GOES sounders to predict heavy precipitation potential with a 6-hour lead time. The CIMSS "nearcasting" system will be transferred to CREST for evaluation. (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071)

Seminar at SMHI: Andrew Heidinger gave a seminar at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI). The seminar described the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR efforts at making climate records from the data from NOAA’s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). SMHI is also pursing an AVHRR reprocessing effort and hopes to collaborate with NOAA/NESDIS/STAR. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Polar DAAC Advisory Group Meeting and Gilmore Creek Visit: J. Key attended a meeting of the Polar DAAC Advisory Group (PoDAG) in Fairbanks, Alaska, September 12-13. PoDAG represents the snow and ice science community and provides guidance to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) on issues of data set selection, distribution, and applications. NSIDC is a NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). The meeting was held jointly with the working group of the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF), which is also a DAAC. The DAAC meetings were hosted by ASF at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute. While in Fairbanks, Key visited the NESDIS Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station (FCDAS, aka "Gilmore Creek") to discuss the implementation of a real-time Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) polar wind system, which has been in progress for the past year. The system will use playback data from the Aqua satellite, rather than direct broadcast data as implemented at other sites. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu)

Other Meetings and Telecons:

None.

VISITORS:

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