CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 1, 2019

IN THE PRESS:

SSEC and CIMSS Scientists in the News: Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) provide expert commentary, interviews, and imagery to news media and participate in events to promote science. In the news this week: 1) This week, the 22nd International TOVS Study Conference (ITSC) convenes in Saint-Sauveur, Québec, Canada. The conference brings together a global community of experts in satellite meteorology: https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/news/articles/12321/. 2) Former CIMSS scientist and UW-Madison alumnus Jordan Gerth comments on recent efforts to roll out 5G cellular networks and concerns about the networks’ potential to interfere with forecasting. Read the article in OnWisconsin, the UW-Madison alumni magazine: https://go.wisc.edu/rr66ru. 3) CIMSS scientist Jason Otkin's collaboration on a recent study finds evidence of "unrealized potential for drought early warning information to support proactive response and improved outcomes for rangeland management.” Read more in the University of Nebraska press release: https://go.wisc.edu/7nioa2. 4) CIMSS Satellite Blog contributors Scott Bachmeier and Scott Lindstrom published posts on the "Easy Fire in Southern California" (Oct. 30), "Stereoscopic views of the Kincade Fire in California" (Oct. 30), "Kincade Fire grows as Diablo Winds increase" (Oct. 27), "Stereoscopic views of Tropical Storm Olga in the Gulf of Mexico" (Oct. 25), "Tropical Storm Pablo in the East Atlantic Ocean" (Oct. 25, 26) and "Convectively-generated gravity waves off the coast of Western Australia (Oct. 22). Read more at the CIMSS Satellite Blog: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/. (J. Gerth, J. Otkin, CIMSS, S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, S. Lindstrom, SSEC, J. Phillips, SSEC, 608-262-8164)

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ISCCP-NG Workshop: The first workshop discussing the next generation of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP-NG) met this week at The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) in Darmstadt Germany. Andrew Heidinger organized the meeting on behalf of the The Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project. About 40 participants attended from North America, Europe and Asia. The meeting was motivated by significant advancement in cloud remote sensing offered by the new geostationary imagers. ISCCP was founded in the early 1980's when the first set of geostationary imagers provided nearly complete equatorial coverage. The meeting discussed the motivation for ISCCP-NG from the perspective of each agency and the potential applications and science questions for such a data set. A workshop report is being drafted and will be available soon. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure: Group photograph of the First ISCCP-NG Workshop at EUMETSAT. 

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Manuscript on homogenizing water vapor band radiances from international geostationary satellites published: A manuscript titled "Homogenized water vapor absorption band radiances from international geostationary satellites" has been published in Geophysical Research Letters (Vol. 46, 10599 - 10608, doi: 10.1029/2019GL083639, https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2019GL083639). Coauthors are Zhenglong Li (CIMSS), Jun Li (CIMSS), Mathew Gunshor (CIMSS), Szuchia Moeller (CIMSS), Timothy J. Schmit (STAR), Fangfang Yu (UMD/ESSIC/CISESS), and Will McCarty (GMAO/GSFC). (Jun Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755, Jun.Li@ssec.wisc.edu)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Two Oral Histories Provided: As part of a NOAA oral histories project, P. Menzel, Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and T. Schmit, Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) were interviewed on October 26, and 27, respectively. A wide range of topics were covered, from early satellites to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R series. These histories are part of NOAA's upcoming 50th anniversary. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291; W.P. Menzel, CIMSS, 608-263-4930)

GOES-17 Soundings Mitigation Delivery: The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Algorithm Working Group (AWG) Legacy Atmospheric Profile (LAP) team provided a delivery to the Algorithm Scientific Software Integration and System Transition Team (ASSISTT) for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-17 Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) cooling issue. The main changes needed for GOES-17 were to change the nature of the regression used (the first step of the retrieval process) and accessing the Data Quality Flags (DQF) for knowing when to attempt retrievals. (J. Li, CIMSS, 608-262-3755; Z. Li, CIMSS, 608-890-1982; T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

CIMSS Scientist visit to WFO Sullivan: Scott Lindstrom (CIMSS) and Bill Smith, Sr. visited the National Weather Service Office in Sullivan WI (NWS MKX) on Tuesday 29 October to discuss that forecast office's use of thermodynamic fields derived from combinations of Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) data that are used to drive a local model. NWS MKX has been receiving these fields for several months now and plans were drawn up to heighten awareness before the next convective season (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608 263 4425)

NUCAPS Soundings on the CIMSS Satellite Blog: The CIMSS Satellite blog now includes a post (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/34876) describing horizontal fields derived from NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Profiling System (NUCAPS) profiles. These fields include thermodynamic variables on mandatory pressure levels and layer differences (that is, lapse rates and stability parameters) and can give valuable thermodynamic information to National Weather Service forecasters halfway between the standard radiosonde launch times at 0000 and 1200 UTC. (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608 263 4425)

Guest lecture in UW-Madison AOS graduate course: STAR/ASPB scientist Yinghui Liu gave a guest lecture in a graduate course on meteorological satellite applications at the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS), University of Wisconsin at Madison. The lecture was titled "Cryosphere Products Overview" and covered all the snow and ice products and algorithms for the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 and products from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) on GCOM-W1. (Y. Liu, E/RA2, 608-890-1893, yinghui.liu@noaa.gov)

Paper Accepted in BAMS: The paper "An intuitive metric to quantify and communicate tropical cyclone rainfall hazard" has been accepted for publication in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The paper is based on a collaboration between NOAA and CIMSS scientists, and faculty and students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Civil Engineering Department. (J. Kossin, NOAA/NCEI, 608-265-5356, Derrick Herndon, CIMSS)

VISITORS:

EUMETSAT Supported Visiting Scientist Benedikt Strajnar at CIMSS: Dr. Benedikt Strajnar of the Slovenian Environment Agency visited SSEC/CIMSS the week of October 21-25, 2019 in Madison, Wisconsin. This was the third week of a U.S. tour supported by EUMETSAT to visit with personnel within NOAA and at the University of Wisconsin. The CIMSS visit followed discussions in Washington D.C. and Boulder, CO. Dr. Strajnar is working on a high temporal and spatial data assimilation capability in anticipation of the EUMETSAT METEOSAT Third Generation Infrared Sounder (MTG IRS) to be launched in 2023. At Wisconsin he met with numerous investigators on a variety of topics including ground-based, LEO, and GEO infrared remote sensing. Of particular interest was the SSEC project to assess the quality of the CMA GIIRS geostationary infrared sounder. Several areas were identified for the potential of future collaboration.

NEXT WEEK:

LOOKING AHEAD: