CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS AND ASPB WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 25, 2021

PRODUCTS AND APPLICATIONS:

AMSR2 Ice Motion Validated with Buoy Motion: Daily output from the experimental Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) sea ice motion product estimates the change in position of sea ice features on a 24-hour time scale throughout the spring, summer, and fall seasons. This product is currently being developed at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) using both AMSR2 and the Visible Infrared Imagine Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). In an effort to calibrate and validate the many thousands of ice motion vectors produced each day, buoy information hosted by the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) is compared to nearby ice motion. Over a 50-day period (March 21 to May 10, 2021), changes in buoy position in the northern Beaufort Sea were tracked and compared to ice motion from AMSR2 within 50 km. The results in the figure below (left) show daily change in buoy motion (black) plotted against daily AMSR2 ice motion (blue) at the closest location. Overall, the AMSR2 motion showed a linear correlation coefficient of 0.84 with buoy -4270 motion over the test period. Efforts to validate VIIRS ice motion in a similar manner are underway, but cloud cover often prevents collocation within the sparse Arctic buoy network. In the figure (right), information from two other buoys (-4350 and -7540) was compared with nearby ice motion and the resulting distribution of daily motion differences is shown. Similar efforts to validate ice motion from the Sentinel-1 synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) series with buoy motion have been made, with excellent results. This work is supported by the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) program. (A. Letterly, CIMSS, 608-890-1981)

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Figure: Left: Daily buoy motion (km/day) compared to nearby AMSR2 ice motion (blue). Right: Distribution of differences between three Arctic buoys and AMSR2 ice motion over a 50-day test period in the Beaufort Sea.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

PUBLICATIONS:

CIMSS Scientist publishes paper in Computers In Science & Engineering (CiSE): Leigh Orf published an article in Computing in Science & Engineering describing current research being conducted on the NSF-sponsored Frontera supercomputer (http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MCSE.2021.3069771, Orf, L., 2021: Modeling the World’s Most Violent Thunderstorms. Computing in Science & Engineering, 23, 14–24). (L. Orf, CIMSS, 608-890-1983)

WORKSHOPS, CONFERENCES, AND MEETINGS:

TRAINING AND EDUCATION:

Debut CIMSS Weather Camp: NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) conducted an on-line Weather Camp this week (June 21-25) co-directed by Derrick Herndon and Margaret Mooney, hosting 42 high school students from more than 30 states, including Alaska and Puerto Rico. Initially conceived as a one-time event to substitute for the CIMSS residential Earth Science Camp, which was not offered in 2021 due to the pandemic, the program seems destined for future summers. Students were enthusiastic and engaged all week, interacting via the chat, live polls, and word clouds. They even started a side community in Discord where they discussed weather topics well after camp hours. Numerous researchers shared their expertise throughout the week and students learned about a different "weather job" daily, including NOAA's National Weather Service. The camp culminated with a forecast challenge and student presentations. A detailed agenda is available for download via https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxcamp/. (M. Mooney, CIMSS, margaret.mooney@ssec.wisc.edu, D. Herndon, CIMSS, J. Shates, CIMSS)

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MEDIA AND OUTREACH:

Informal Science Talk on VIIRS Day Night Band and the Aurora Borealis: Margaret Mooney from NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) co-presented in a remote outreach forum for the University of Wisconsin-Madison on the evening of Wednesday June 23rd. The title of the talk was “Aurora from Above and Below” and Mooney addressed the satellite perspective, emphasizing the unique capabilities of the Day-Night Band sensor on the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) before sharing numerous spectacular images of the Aurora Borealis from space. (M. Mooney, CIMSS, Margaret.mooney@ssec.wisc.edu)

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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 interviews, imagery and case studies to promote science. This week: 1) CIMSS Satellite Blog contributors Scott Bachmeier and Scott Lindstrom published case studies on "Satellite signatures of solar farms across Minnesota" (June 23), "Severe weather in the central Plains" (June 19), "Tropical Storm Claudette makes landfall along the central Gulf Coast" (June 19), and "Severe weather associated with the landfall of Tropical Storm Claudette" (June 19). Read more: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/. (J. Phillips, SSEC, 608-262-8164, S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, S. Lindstrom, CIMSS)

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Figure: The Potential Tropical Cyclone that had been moving northward through the Gulf of Mexico made landfall southwest of New Orleans, LA on June 19, 2021 as Tropical Cyclone Claudette. This animation of total precipitable water from the Morphed Integrated Microwave Imagery at CIMSS - Total Precipitable Water (MIMIC-TPW) website shows most of the storm's moisture east of its center. Read the CIMSS Satellite Blog post: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/41209. Credit: CIMSS.

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Figure: GOES-16 one-minute imagery with time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports showed severe thunderstorms associated with the landfall of Tropical Storm Claudette on June 19, 2021. Overshooting tops were evident with some of the storms. Read the CIMSS Satellite Blog post: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/41221. Credit: CIMSS.

OTHER: