ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report [ Archive ]

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ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

Visit to JMA: At the invitation of Director-General of the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), Andrew Heidinger and Mike Pavolonis (STAR) visited JMA on February 25 – March 1, 2013. The purpose of the visit was to foster mutually beneficial collaboration between NOAA and JMA on the next generation of geostationary satellite observations. JMA’s next generation geostationary weather satellite, Himawari-8, will have a very similar imaging capability as NOAA’s next generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R). Himawari-8 is scheduled to be launched prior to GOES-R. The visit involved multiple lectures and detailed discussions on the GOES-R algorithms and how they compare to approaches developed by EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites). JMA intends to compare and validate the EUMETSAT and GOES-R products and decide on the final approaches employed for Himawari 8/9. JMA will send a request to NESDIS to obtain the appropriate source codes to allow them to generate the NOAA products at JMA. Issues regarding access by NOAA to Himawari 8/9 data were discussed but no new information was obtained. (M. Pavolonis, E/RA2, 608-263-9597, mpav@ssec.wisc.edu, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov)

Significance: JMA's Himawari 8/9 data represents a critical data source for NOAA. It will provide ABI-like data years before GOES-R is launched. Ongoing collaboration with JMA is therefore important in furthering the goals of the GOES-R program.

Mission Goals: Serve Society's Needs for Weather and Water Information; Understand Climate Variability and Change; Support the Nation's Commerce

NOAA Cross-Cutting Priorities: Sound, Reliable State-of-the-Art Research; Integrating Global Environmental Observations and Data Management

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill: Margaret Mooney from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) teamed up with Betsy Weatherhead from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) for a full day of meetings on Capitol Hill on February 27th for the third annual Climate Science Day, a non-partisan event where 50 scientists from around the country met with members of Congress and their staffs to discuss the current state of climate science. Participants were recruited by several different professional societies; Mooney was sponsored by the American Meteorological Society. Not surprisingly, Hurricane Sandy came up in some conversations, inviting mention of the connections between satellite data and hurricane forecasting. As predicted by science, the Earth’s changing climate and extremes of weather are disrupting ecosystems, infrastructure, and society. The organizers and participants of Climate Science Day hope their efforts will connect policy and decision makers with sound science when responding to the impacts of climate change. (M. Mooney, CIMSS, 608-265-2123)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: Betsy Weatherhead (CIRES) & Margaret Mooney (CIMSS)

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