CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

AMSR2 Day-2 Products Declared Operational: On September 21, 2016, the NESDIS Satellite Products and Services Review Board (SPSRB) declared the GCOM-W1 Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) "Day-2" products as operational. The Day-2 products include Snow Cover/Depth, Snow Water Equivalent and Sea Ice Characteristics, and Soil Moisture. The snow and ice products were developed by the AMSR2 Cryosphere Team at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and by an affiliate of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The products, except for Sea Ice Characteristics, will be made available to users through the NDE data distribution server on September 30, 2016. The AMSR-2 Sea Ice Characteristics product will be made operational available to users early next year when NDE 2.0 goes operational. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu; Y-K., Lee, CIMSS, 608-265-0866)

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Figure caption: AMSR2 snow depth over the Northern Hemisphere on January 15, 2015. 

American Meteorological Society Editor's Award: Jim Kossin (NCEI/CWC) has been awarded an Editor's Award by the American Meteorological Society for his peer-reviews for the Journal of Climate. The award will be presented during the upcoming AMS Annual Meeting. (J. Kossin, NCEI/CWC, 608-265-5356)

2010-2015 CIMSS Cooperative Agreement 5-year Report: The final 5-year report for 1 July 2010 - 30 June 2016 programs funded through the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Cooperative Agreement was submitted to NOAA/NESDIS on 28 September 2016. The 270 page document includes scientific reports on over 100 individual projects. The Report also includes a Director's Executive Summary, and Appendices with information on 5-year funding total, staff, students, visitors, awards, and publications. (W. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-265-6283) (S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647)

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Manuscript Published on Handling Clouds for Improving Microwave Sounder Data Assimilation: A manuscript titled "Microwave Sounder Cloud Detection Using a Collocated High-Resolution Imager and Its Impact on Radiance Assimilation in Tropical Cyclone Forecasts", has been published in Monthly Weather Review (Vol. 144, no. 10). The study demonstrated that the combination of advanced microwave sounders and the collocated high spatial resolution imagers is able to improve the radiance assimilation and tropical cyclone forecasts. The authors are Hyojin Han (CIMSS), Jun Li (CIMSS), Mitch Goldberg (JPSS Program Office), Pei Wang (CIMSS), Jinlong Li (CIMSS), Zhenglong Li (CIMSS), B.-J. Sohn (Seoul National University) and Juan Li (NWPC/CMA). Jun Li (CIMSS, 608-262-3755, Jun.Li@ssec.wisc.edu)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

CIMSS Participation in 2016 EUMETSAT Conference: The 2016 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference was held in Darmstadt, Germany on 26-30 September 2016, celebrating EUMETSAT's 30th anniversary. There was a strong science presence from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) with presentations by William Straka, David Santek, Joe Taylor, Kathy Strabala, Hank Revercomb, Ralph Bernnartz, and Bill Smith Sr. Paul Menzel presented a keynote talk titled "A perspective on the history of satellite observations – from Uncalibrated Flying Objects (UFOs) to Finely Tuned Sensors (FTSs)" in which he noted the unique contribution of the SSEC airborne and ground-based high spectral resolution IR measurements in improving radiative transfer physics and consequently sensor calibrations. Paul also participated in Past, Current, and Future meteorological satellite mission panel discussion. Kathy Strabala gave an invited presentation on the direct broadcast activities and the IDEA collaborations. Major scientific sessions included Current and Future Satellites, Instruments and Their Applications, The Role of Satellite Data Records in Climate Services, Spaced-based Atmospheric Composition Measurements, Forecasting Air Quality, The Arctic Challenge, and Use of Satellite Data for Nowcasting, Forecasting. (W. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-265-6283, P. Menzel, S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647, W.P. Menzel, CIMSS, 608-263-4930))

GOES-R Educational Webinar: The fourth and final GOES-R Education Proving Ground webinar was presented on Monday September 26th to middle and high school science teachers. Entitled "Countdown to Launch", content included a recap of GOES-R capabilities before focusing on activities to promote the GOES-R launch, including a countdown calendar of ideas which commences on October 4th, one month prior to the scheduled launch date. The GOES-R Education Proving Ground is an initiative out of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) in collaboration with NOAA's Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) co-located at CIMSS. Archived webinars and the countdown calendar can be found on the project web page at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/education/goesr/. (M. Mooney, CIMSS, 608-213-5399)

New trackers for sea ice temperature, albedo, and thickness: New experimental sea ice trackers have been added to the Cryosphere Now section of the GCW website (globalcryospherewatch.org). Sea ice temperature, albedo, and thickness trackers are based on the AVHRR Polar Pathfinder-Extended (APP-x) dataset. These are research products that are being evaluated, with their results hopefully improving awareness and insight to inter-annual changes in the polar regions. (A. Letterly, CIMSS, 608-890-1981; J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu; X. Wang, Y. Liu, R. Dworak, CIMSS)

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Figure caption: Broadband Albedo up to September 29 from 70-90N. 

Santek and Straka visit EUMETSAT: Through a European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Visiting Scientist invitation, David Santek (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS) and William Straka III (CIMSS) visited EUMETSAT 21-23 September 2016. The discussions with D. Santek focused on the latest developments in the high-latitude satellite-derived winds programs at both NOAA/CIMSS and EUMETSAT. W. Straka met with the Meteosat Third Generation ground station and science teams for discussion on the GOES-R algorithm integration of Level 2 products and gave a seminar on Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) day/night band applications. Also, D. Santek and W. Straka met with members of the EUMETSAT User Services and Climate (USC) group. Topics included a demonstration of the Space Science and Engineering Center's (SSEC) RealEarth Web Mapping Service, training activities conducted by USC, and the use of the Man computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS-V) in their activities. (D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410; W. Straka, CIMSS, 608-262-5128)

PNAS Manuscript Accepted: The manuscript "Enhanced intensity of global tropical cyclones during the mid-Pliocene warm period" by Qing Yan (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Ting Wei (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Robert Korty (Texas A&M), James Kossin (NCEI/CWC), Zhongshi Zhang (Chinese Academy of Sciences), and Huijun Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences) has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To better understand how tropical cyclones (TCs) may respond to future warming, the manuscript explores the behavior of TCs during the mid-Pliocene warm period (~3 Ma), which shares characteristics of projected warmer climate. TC-permitting numerical simulations predict enhanced global-average peak TC intensity, longer duration, increased power dissipation, and a poleward migration of the location of peak intensity during the mid-Pliocene, though there are regional differences in the magnitude and statistical power of the climate/TC relationships. The results share similarities with global TC changes observed during recent global warming and in most future projections, and provide a window into the potential TC activity that may be expected in a warmer world. (J. Kossin, NCEI/CWC, 608-265-5356)

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