ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 27, 2007

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

GOES-10 Sounder Support: As part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)-America’s capacity building, the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) delivered processing software to generate temperature and moisture profiles from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-10 Sounder data to Rodrigo Souza of Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE, Brazil). (Jun Li, CIMSS, Zhenglong Li, CIMSS, Jim Nelson, CIMSS, T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov)

Panel to Study Options to Ensure the Climate Record from NPOESS and GOES-R: C. Velden (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS) attended the first panel meeting to study options for ensuring the climate record from NPOESS and GOES-R at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Keck Center in Washington D.C. The charge to the Academy panel is to analyze the impact of the changes to the NPOESS and GOES-R programs, and to develop strategies to mitigate these impacts. The meeting focused on getting background information and updates on each program status. A workshop will be help in mid-June to synthesize the potential mitigation strategies. (C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168)

A New Dataset for Estimating Hurricane Size and Structure: One of the more critical needs of the NOAA National Hurricane Center is timely operational access to information about the size and structure of the hurricane wind field. This has always posed a significant challenge because outer winds are generally estimated from low earth orbit satellites that are not always available when needed, and estimating inner winds generally requires aircraft reconnaissance. We recently constructed skillful algorithms that estimate relevant size and structure parameters using Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data. The size and structure parameters comprise the critical wind radii. Using a new dataset recently developed in a collaborative effort between CIMSS and the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, we have now significantly extended the record of critical wind radii in hurricanes, covering the period 1983–2005. Response from the NHC forecasters has been positive. (J. Kossin, CIMSS, 608-265-5356)

(Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: An example of a general wind-radii climatology: mean critical wind radii as a function of hurricane intensity. R34, R50, and R64 are the radii of the 34, 50, and 64 knot winds; RMW is the radius of the maximum wind.

Satellite Imagery From Fatal Tornado Event at Eagle Pass, Texas: Satellite imagery from the Geostationary Operational Envronmental Satellite (GOES-12) imager and the NOAA-16 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) showed the development of severe convection that produced hail up to 2.75 inches in diameter, wind gusts up to 76 miles per hour, and the tornado that killed 10 and injured as many as 120 persons in the Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Mexico area on April 24, 2007. The GOES-12 InfraRed (IR) images showed that these supercells began to exhibit an “enhanced-v” signature about 30 minutes prior to the initial storm reports in Texas, and a pronounced anvil plume was evident on the GOES-12 visible images. A view of the storm with the 1-km resolution NOAA-16 AVHRR IR image revealed a striking “warm trench” signature surrounding the most intense overshooting top. Images and animations are posted on the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog (http://tinyurl.com/27an2x). (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608.263.3958)

(Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: Comparison of IR images from GOES-12 (top) and NOAA-16 AVHRR (bottom), about 2 hours prior to the Eagle Pass, Texas tornado event. An "enhanced-v" signature is forming on the GOES-12 image, while a pronounced "warm trench" signature is evident on the NOAA-16 image.

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

VISIT Activities at CIMSS: Two Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) distance learning lessons were conducted during the week by instructors at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). The "Water Vapor Channel Satellite Imagery" session was presented on April 25, with three staff from the Anchorage, Alaska National Weather Service (NWS) forecast office participating. The "Mesoscale Convective Vortices" session was presented on April 26, with eight staff from four NWS forecast offices (Caribou, Maine; Raleigh, North Carolina; Great Falls, Montana; Corpus Christi, Texas) participating. (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958, S. Lindstrom, CIMSS)

Public Talk on Current and Future Geostationary Satellites: On April 25th, T. Schmit gave a public talk as part of the University of Wisconsin’s Wednesday “Nite” at the Lab series. The title of the talk was “Weather Satellites: Current Capabilities and Future Needs”. Approximately 68 attended the talk, of which 15 were youths. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov)

Elementary School Talks on the GOES: T. Schmit gave two talks to elementary students. On April 25, 7th grade students visited from Edison Middle School in Janesville, WI. On April 27, a talk was given to the 6th graders from Blessed Sacrament School in Madison, WI. Both talks summarized Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov)

Seminar Given on Cloud Climate Work: A. Heidinger gave a seminar at the University of Wisconsin Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department on the progress in making useful and credible cloud climate records from NOAA’s operational imager data. A comparison of cloud products from a newly launched satellite LIDAR and cloud products from passive sensors was shown. This work demonstrated how these new observations could be used to characterize and improve the performance of the information from the thirty years of observations from NOAA’s operational satellites. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov)

Other Meetings and Telecons:

T. Schmit participated in several telcons, including the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Operational Requirements Working Group (GORWG), and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Atmosphere, Ocean, Land (AOL) Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) and the fifth GOES Users Conference (GUC) conference committee meeting.

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