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CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 6, 2006
IN
THE PRESS:
ITEMS
FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR
GOES WF_ABBA Monitors Wildfire
Activity in Southern Plains:
Over the past week the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES-12) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning
Algorithm
(WF_ABBA) has monitored the wildfire activity in the Southern
Plains. As of January 4, wildfires killed 5 people, destroyed
at
least 470 homes, and consumed over 600,000 acres in Oklahoma, Texas,
and New Mexico (Associated Press). The composite figure below
shows
fire pixels detected by the GOES WF_ABBA from December 23, 2005 through
January 4, 2006. Fire activity is also evident in Arkansas
and
Louisiana. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) generates
similar composites that SPC fire forecasters can
access through N-AWIPS. (C. Schmidt, CIMSS,
608-262-7973, J. Brunner, CIMSS,
608-263-3434, E. Prins, CIMSS Consultant, 530-271-2256)
(Click image to enlarge)
Paper Published on Climatology of
Multilayer Cloud: A recent Journal of Climate
issue (volume 18) contains an article written by A. Heidinger and M.
Pavolonis, titled "Global Daytime Distribution of Overlapping Cirrus
Cloud from NOAA’s Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer",
describing a new climatology of the occurrence of multilayer cloud
derived from NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
(AVHRR). The paper represents the first publication of
results from the AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x)
project. The results indicate that roughly 40% of
all clouds determined to be ice clouds can also be classified as
multilayer clouds. The results were shown to compare well
with surface based observations of cloud vertical structure.
(A. Heidinger, E/RA2,
608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov, M.
Pavolonis, E/RA2,
608-263-9597, mpav@ssec.wisc.edu)
MODIS Science Team
Meeting: J. Key attended the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Science Team Meeting January 4-6, 2006 in
Baltimore, Maryland. Key gave a presentation in the MODIS
Atmosphere Group meeting on the polar winds project, and had a poster
on direct broadcast products in the Arctic and Antarctic. (J. Key,
E/RA2,
608-263-2605, jeff.key@noaa.gov)
ITEMS
FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP
Nothing to report.
Other Meetings and Telecons:
(None)
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