CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 13, 2004

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, ORA:

Input Provided for Upcoming Homeland Security Drill:  In preparation for an upcoming Homeland Security Drill which may include a fire in the Western U.S., E. Prins provided Jane Daguanno with a document summarizing contact information and possible products that the Office of Research and Applications and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS, UW-Madison) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA, Colorado State University  Fort Collins) can provide in support of this drill.  Examples of the types of satellite imagery and products available were provided in a Powerpoint file. (E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, ARAD

Presentation on the VIIRS Cloud Mask Analyses at Operatonal Algorithm Team Meeting:  A presentation on the NESDIS efforts to improve the cloud mask from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) was given by A. Heidinger at the recent NPOESS Operational Algorithm Team (OAT) meetings in Redondo Beach, California. NESDIS (through A. Heidinger and P. Menzel) is conducting research in the improvement of the VIIRS cloud mask in collaboration with the NPOESS contractor (Northrup-Grumman).  The results indicate that some methods used by NOAA on its heritage sensors may offer significant improvement to the current VIIRS algorithm.  (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757)

Input Provided for VIIRS Active Fire EDR:  In response to a request from P. Menzel, E. Prins reviewed recommendations regarding shortfalls with the Visible/Infrared Imager and Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fire Environmental Data Record (EDR).  System requirements for sub-pixel active fire EDRs include estimates of fire temperature and fractional coverage, but due to a low saturation threshold on the longwave infrared M15 band at 11 microns, these requirements will not be met.  Several recommendations were presented to the VIIRS Operational Algorithm Team (VOAT) to address this shortfall including use of the shortwave infrared band to provide fire emitted power (or energy) as an indication of total combustion, but in the end, core requirement for sub-pixel fire characterization will not be fulfilled.  Additional items that need to be addressed include flagging saturated pixels prior to aggregation and characterization of co-registration errors. (E. Prins, E/RA2, 530-271-2256)

VISITORS:

NEXT WEEK:

POP and TAP Meetings: T. Schmit will be traveling to Washington, DC to give two seminars and participate in several meetings. The seminars are a noontime seminar at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Science Center on February 17th and co-speaker to the National Weather Service (NWS) Science and Technology Seminar on February 18th. The titles are "The next generation imager on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R" and "Introducing GOES-R: Ensuring User Readiness for 2012", respectively .  The meetings are a GOES-style SPOP, an Atmosphere, Ocean and Land (AOL) Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) and a meeting on data compression of hyperspectral data. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

LOOKING AHEAD:

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