CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS-NOAA WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 15, 2023

DATA, INFORMATION, AND USE-INSPIRED SCIENCE:

UW-CIMSS Sea Ice Concentration Product Monitors World's Largest Iceberg A23A: Since late November, the world's largest iceberg garnered plenty of media attention as it has broken free from the ocean floor along the Antarctic Peninsula (e.g., https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67507558). Currently it is moving away from the peninsula into open ocean in the far north Weddell Sea. The iceberg is so large that it is easily detected by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Sea Ice Concentration products, such as from NOAA-20 VIIRS (see figure). The CIMSS/NOAA cryosphere group will keep monitoring the iceberg as it moves further into open ocean and interest grows as it has potential to effect shipping routes across the Southern Ocean. (R. Dworak, CIMSS 608-347-1204)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure: VIIRS NOAA-20 Sea Ice Concentration from December 11, 2023 daily composite over northwest Weddell Sea near the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula.

Prototype Correction for NOAA-21 CrIS Eclipse-Exit Region Artifacts Demonstrated: As described in the recent maturity reviews, the calibration of the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) on NOAA-21 shows artifacts in narrow latitude bands when exiting eclipse. The root cause of the problem is under investigation, and the basic resulting effect is that there are temporally fast changes in the sensor calibration behavior immediately following eclipse exit. Similar effects are expected for follow-on CrIS sensors on NOAA-22 and NOAA-23. As part of the CrIS Sensor Data Record (SDR) team efforts, CIMSS introduced a new calibration approach which accounts for this behavior and produces valid spectra with no artifacts and low noise, and is also computationally efficient, as demonstrated with prototype software and off-line processing of a large ensemble of NOAA-21 CrIS SDRs. This new approach is under consideration for operational implementation. (D. Tobin, CIMSS, 608-265-6281)

NOAA-21 Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties Product Provisional Maturity Review: The NOAA/NESDIS/Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) Cloud Products Team - composed of Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and STAR scientists - presented operational Daytime and Nighttime Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties (DCOMP/NCOMP) product assessments at a recent NOAA-21 Beta and Provisional Maturity Review. Andi Walther (CIMSS) provided an in depth analysis of operational NOAA-21 DCOMP and NCOMP products compared with similar cloud products generated by NOAA-20, S-NPP, MODIS, and AMSR2 sensors. The analyses presented demonstrated that both DCOMP and NCOMP meet the criteria to receive combined Beta and Provisional Maturity status. All of these products were recently declared ready for distribution for operational users. (M. Kulie, E/RA2, 608-263-6583, mark.kulie@noaa.gov)

FUTURE OUTLOOK:

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

TRAVEL AND MEETINGS:

Central Weather Administration of Taiwan Annual Meeting: The Central Weather Administration (CWA) of Taiwan held its annual meeting in Taipei to discuss collaborative efforts with NOAA. The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) presented results from the Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) to track Tropical Cyclone (TC) storm tracks and intensity over the western Pacific, currently running at CWA, as well as work on developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to produce atmospheric cloud-based products from Himawari-9 imagery. (M. Foster, CIMSS, 608-261-1361, T. Olander, CIMSS, S. Moeller, CIMSS, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

TRAINING AND EDUCATION:

Sharing Satellite Data with Future Scientists and Decision Makers: Scott Lindstrom from NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) presented remotely on Wildfire Detection and Monitoring with Satellite Data to a middle school science club in Decatur, Georgia on Thursday December 14th. Following the Q&A, Margaret Mooney from CIMSS provided pointers for a successful submission to the NOAA Satellites Virtual Science Fair which is open to all middle and high school students every school year. The presentations were recorded to be resources on the GOES-R Education Proving Ground web page: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/education/goesr/. (M. Mooney, CIMSS & S. Lindstrom, CIMSS)

CIMSS demonstrations of AWIPS for UW-Madison Atmospheric/Oceanic Sciences Students: Alexa Ross, Lee Cronce and Scott Lindstrom from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), gave AWIPS-II (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System-II) demonstrations to University of Wisconsin-Madison Atmospheric and Oceanic Department students enrolled in AOS 441: Radar and Satellite Meteorology. The 20 students included 3rd - and 4th-year undergraduates and graduate students. The demonstration included descriptions of how AWIPS creates imagery, how special CIMSS-created imagery are ingested into AWIPS, and concluded with the students loading up and investigating satellite imagery within AWIPS. (A. Ross, L. Cronce, S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608 263 4425)

VISIT Training on GOES-R IFR Probability: Scott Lindstrom from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) gave the following live Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) webinars:

• GOES-R Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Probability fields, the GOES-R Fog/Low Stratus product, to staff at the National Weather Service office in Missoula Montana (WFO MSO); the Missoula CWA is feeling the effects this week of a strong inversion that is trapping stratus in the valleys. After the training, the PowerPoint slides were forwarded to the office, as well as a link to the Quick Guides. 
• Troughs of Warm Air Aloft (TROWALs) to forecasters from the Charleston WV (WFO RLX) and Indianapolis, IN (WFO IND) forecast offices on 14 December 2023. The brief training (15 minutes) serves to remind the forecasters of the importance of recognizing the presence of TROWALs as a way to anticipate development of precipitation as upper level features approach. (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608 263 4425)

CIMSS and CIRA coordinate for FDTD Satellite Applications Webinar: Dan Bikos from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and Scott Lindstrom from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) coordinated the presentation of a Forecast Decision Training Division (FDTD) Satellite Applications Webinar on 13 December 2023 and 1800 UTC. TJ Turnage, the Science and Operations Officer (SOO) at the National Weather Service forecast office in Grand Rapids (WFO GRR) gave a presentation titled "A Climatologically rare November morning hailstorm in southwest Lower Michigan: Using the airmass RGB to diagnose an intense localized PV Anomaly." The presentation included imagery generated in the WFO GRR office, and from a CIMSS Satellite Blog entry (https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/archives/55525) on the event. More than three dozen attendees (representing 23 different WFOs) were present for the half-hour webinar; a recorded version is available here: https://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/visit/satellite_chat/20231213/. (D. Bikos, CIRA; S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608 263 4425)

MEDIA INTERACTIONS AND REQUESTS:

SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOG Posts:

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, Scott Lindstrom and Margaret Mooney published the following case studies: "30-second imagery of severe thunderstorms across the Mid-South and Deep South" (Dec. 9), "Heavy Rain and lightning over American Samoa" (Dec. 12), "Cyclone Jasper makes landfall in Australia" (Dec. 12) and "Solar Wind reaches Earth" (Dec. 14). Read more at the CIMSS Satellite Blog: https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/. (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608-263-4425; S. Bachmeier, CIMSS; M. Mooney, SSEC; E. Verbeten, SSEC, 608-263-4206)

PUBLICATIONS:

OTHER: