CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 1, 2017

IN THE PRESS:

SSEC and CIMSS Scientists in the News: Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) provide expert commentary, interviews, and imagery to news media. In the news this week: 1) SSEC and CIMSS scientists Tim Wagner, Coda Phillips, Erik Olson, and David Loveless recently participated in the month-long Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment to gain insights into "interactions between the land surface and the atmospheric boundary layer." They supported data collection with the AERI, Doppler Lidar, and the HSRL via SSEC’s Portable Atmospheric Research Center, the SPARC, as reported on the Department of Energy's ARM website ("Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment already providing insights", https://www.arm.gov/news/features/post/46546). 2) UW-Madison News published a story about campus initiatives to comply with the federal mandate for public access to the results of federally funded research. SSEC’s Jean Phillips is the campus contact for NOAA compliance and was interviewed for the story: BuckySubmit helps with public access compliance at UW-Madison (http://go.wisc.edu/s0596k). 3) The Winter 2017 issue of OnWisconsin, the UW-Madison alumni magazine, featured CIMSS scientist Chris Velden and the Tropical Cyclone Research Group. His team first spotted Irma before it turned into a Category 5 hurricane, sharing those findings with National Hurricane Center forecasters ("Eye on Irma", https://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/on_campus/eye-on-irma/). (J. Phillips, SSEC, 608-262-8164)

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Figure caption: Inside SSEC's SPARC: Dave Turner, NOAA, Tim Wagner, CIMSS (behind Turner), Alan Brewer, NOAA (with hat), and Coda Phillips, SSEC. Credit: Erik Olson, SSEC. 

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Figure caption: GOES-16 image of Hurricane Irma on 9 September 2017. Credit: CIMSS, SSEC, NOAA.

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Positive Status of Puerto Rico Direct Broadcast Antenna: The X/L-band antenna at University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez was not damaged by the recent hurricanes. However, electrical power is only available for the antenna from around 0800 to 1730 local time Monday-Friday from a diesel generator at the ECE building. The generator does not have enough fuel storage to run continuously overnight, and it is not started on weekends. However, during the day (Mon-Fri) the antenna is acquiring CrIS, ATMS, and IASI sounder data and sending it to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) where it is processed and distributed to NOAA and EUMETSAT as part of the NOAA Direct Broadcast (DB) Network (typically from two daytime SNPP passes per day). In addition, the local real time processing server is creating products from VIIRS, MODIS, AVHRR, and all the infrared sounders. The URL for the website running on the processing server is http://dbps.ece.uprm.edu/products/. (L. Gumley, CIMSS, Liam.Gumley@ssec.wisc.edu, W. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-265-6283, wayne.feltz@ssec.wisc.edu)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Seminars at BoM and Curtin University: P. Menzel gave seminars in Perth Western Australia (WA) at the Bureau of Meteorology on "Generating Sounder Products at Imager Resolution" and Curtin University on "HIRS High Cloud and Moisture Trends" the week of 27 November during his month long visit with the WA remote sensing scientist community. The stay is highlighted by the successful conclusion of Helen Chedzey's PhD on her work "Trending Australian cloud properties and rainfall with HIRS and MODIS" under the supervision of Drs Mervyn Lynch and P. Menzel. The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin and the Remote Sensing and Satellite Research Group (RSSRG) within Curtin University have been engaged in joint research activities for more than thirty five years, fostering scientist exchange and long term collaborations; SSEC and NESDIS scientists coming from that collaboration include Liam Gumley, Geoff Cureton, Jim Davies, and the late Paul van Delst. (P. Menzel, CIMSS, 608-263-4930, paulm@ssec.wisc.edu)

Love Shown: The Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) completed the 2018 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) during November 2017. A participation rate of 100% was achieved. ASPB is part of the CFC mid-western region (https://midwesterncfc.org/). (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

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Figure caption: Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Slogan.

3rd NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team: A talk entitled “Improved National Emissions Inventory NOx emissions using OMI tropospheric NO2 retrievals and potential impacts on air quality strategy development” was presented at the 3rd NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team (HAQAST) meeting on November 28, 2017 at Columbia University by Daniel Tong (George Mason University) as proxy for Brad Pierce who attended the meeting remotely. This HAQAST Tiger Team activity supports the National Weather Service (NWS) National Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC) with improved estimates of anthropogenic area and non-EGU point source nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions using tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrievals from the NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the NASA Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) collected during the 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Experiment (LMOS 2017). Results of offline OMI data assimilation experiments using the NAQFC forecast model show a reduction in NO2 column over Lake Michigan during LMOS 2017 which is consistent with high biases versus in situ profiles and GeoTASO tropospheric slant column retrievals during LMOS 2017.

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Figure caption: Differential tropospheric NO2 slant column retrieved from the NASA Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) airborne remote sensing instrument (upper panel) and tropospheric NO2 column from the NWS North American Model – Community Multi-scale Air Quality (NAM-CMAQ) forecast model (lower panel) on June 2, 2017 during the 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Experiment (LMOS 2017).

VISITORS:

Visitor from Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau: Linda Luu from the Taiwanese Central Weather Bureau (CWB) concluded her 10 week visit to the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). Her visit was part of collaborative project between CWB and CIMSS led by Michael Foster and Wayne Feltz. CWB funded CIMSS to help transition certain CIMSS products for the Japan Meteorological Agency's (JMA) HIMAWARI-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI). These applications included the hurricane intensity estimation, false color imaging, sea surface temperature and techniques to speed their internal processing of AHI data. During her stay, she visited several CIMSS research groups and hopes to continue her collaboration with these groups throughout the life of this project. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov)

NEXT WEEK:

LOOKING AHEAD: