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CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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IN THE PRESS:
ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:
Input Provided for NOAA Press Conference and Department
of Commerce Press Release: In response to a request from P. Viets
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters
public affairs office, graphics and text were provided regarding Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning
Algorithm (WF_ABBA) wildfire detection and monitoring applications in the
Western Hemisphere and transition of the algorithm to operations this summer.
This material was included in a NOAA press briefing on the current drought/fire
conditions in the western U.S. on Thursday, June 13; a separate Department
of Commerce public affairs office media fact sheet focusing on the GOES Wildfire
ABBA was released on Friday, June 14. As a result of the Thursday press
conference, several online news services (USA Today, CBS News, and the Wall
Street Journal ) published articles containing material on the GOES satellite
derived fire products. The Wildfire ABBA and transition to operations
is also featured in the drought update within NOAA News on the noaa.gov
web site. (E. Prins,
E/RA2, 608-263-6607, C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973, J. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-263-3434)
GOES Wildfire ABBA Observations of Wildfire Activity
in the Western U.S.: Over the past week the Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellite (GOES) Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm
(WF_ABBA) has monitored diurnal variability in numerous fires in the western
U.S. including the wildfires in Colorado. R. Rabin (National Severe
Storms Laboratory) has been providing the Storm Prediction Center (SPC)
with 24-hour composites of the GOES Wildfire ABBA fire product and indicated
that SPC fire weather forecasters have found the composite Wildfire ABBA
fire products very useful as they compare the locations with their fire weather
outlooks. An overview and animations of WF_ABBA observations of the
wildfires in Colorado and Utah are featured on the Cooperative Institute
for Meteorological Satellites (CIMSS) GOES gallery web site at: (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/misc/020609/020609.html).
(C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973, E. Prins, E/RA2, 608-263-6607)
(Click on image to enlarge)
Figure Description: This GOES-8 Wildfire ABBA composite image at
0245 UTC on June 10, 2002 shows a number of wildfires burning in Colorado
and Utah. The color coding of the fire locators indicates if the fire
pixel is processed, providing estimates of sub-pixel fire size and temperature
(red); saturated (yellow); or cloudy (magenta). Possible fire pixels
indicate areas that may contain fire activity and should be closely monitored
over time; high possibility fires are indicated in orange and low possibility
fires are indicated in blue.
ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD:
Sub-committee reports at the GOES Users' Working
Group Meeting: W. P. Menzel and T. Schmit presented summaries of two sub-committees
at the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Users' Working
Group meeting. The two sub-groups are: GOES-R+ Data and New Products Needs
and GOES-R+ New Technology. The presentation files are available upon request.
The meeting was convened by J. Gurka and held on Thursday, June 13 in Fort
Collins, Colorado at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
(CIRA). Menzel and Schmit attended via tele-con.
(T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)
Journal Paper Reviewed: J. Key reviewed a paper on the classification of clouds in geostationary satellite data. The paper was submitted to IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)
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IN THE PRESS:
ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:
ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:
2002 Verner E. Suomi Scholarship Awardees Announced:
The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) is
pleased to announce the winners of the fifth annual Verner E. Suomi Scholarship
Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Physical Sciences: Seth Bruch of
Arrowhead High School (Hartland, WI), Sean McLaughlin of Wauwatosa East High
School (Wauwatosa, WI), Kelly M. Sheahan of Neenah High School (Neenah, WI),
Adam Varble of Franklin High School (Franklin, WI), Greta Videen of Rice
Lake High School (Rice Lake, WI), and Nicholas Zachar of Hudson High School
(Hudson, WI). CIMSS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) have offered the Suomi Scholarship since 1998 as a way to honor Professor
Verner E. Suomi’s lifelong commitment to the education of undergraduate students.
This year over 40 students applied for the prestigious award -- a $1000 scholarship
recognizing outstanding achivement in the physical sciences. To be eligible
a student must be a graduating high school senior who plans to attend a University
of Wisconsin System undergraduate program in the physical sciences: especially
meteorology, earth science, oceanography, physics, astronomy, science or math
education, environmental science and engineering. (L. Avila , CIMSS, 608-262-0783)
ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD:
New CIMSS Employee for ABI/ABS: On June 1, 2002, Fengying Sun joined the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). Fengying received her Masters of Science degree from both the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and the Department of Computer Science in 2000. She previously worked on data analysis and assimilation. Fengying will work on the Advanced Baseline Sounder/Advanced Baseline Imager (ABS/ABI) program with Jun Li and Tim Schmit. (J. Li , CIMSS, 608-262-3755, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)
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