ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 27, 2008

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

AMS Annual Meeting: Many Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) scientists attended the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Over 60 CIMSS and ASPB papers and posters were presented at the conference, covering a wide variety of topics. The Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) also maintained a booth during the meeting to demonstrate some of our latest research and visualization tools. The 5th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Users' Conference was held January 23-24 as part of the AMS conference. (S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647)

GOES WF_ABBA Reports Record Fire Season in South America: The UW-Madison Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) recorded an increase of 50% in fire activity in the Western Hemisphere during 2007. In North America the WF_ABBA detected a 12% increase in fire activity associated with burning in California, Utah, Montana, Florida, Georgia, and across Canada. In South America the increase was the largest observed over the past eight years with nearly a 64% increase over 2006 and a 45% increase over the annual average for the previous seven years. The 2006 fire season showed a substantial reduction in fire activity which had been attributed to a tri-national policy put into effect to reduce catastrophic burning associated with drought conditions. As prices for soy and cattle surged in 2007, burning associated with deforestation and soybean production also soared in states along the southern and eastern perimeters of the Amazon (Mato Grosso, Para, Tocantins, Amazonas) (http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1021-amazon.html). (E. Prins, CIMSS Consultant, 530-271-2256, J. Brunner, CIMSS, 608-263-3434, C. Schmidt, CIMSS, 608-262-7973)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: GOES WF_ABBA annual fire summaries for the Western Hemisphere for the years 2000 through 2007.

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

CIMSS VISIT Activities: The Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) distance learning lesson "Water Vapor Imagery and Potential Vorticity Analysis" was led by staff from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) on January 22, 2008. Forecasters from the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices at Birmingham, Alabama and Lubbock, Texas participated in the VISIT lesson. (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958)

ASPB at the 5th GOES Users' Conference: The 5th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Users' Conference was held January 23-24 as part of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Tim Schmit presented “The ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) on the GOES-R series” and and “GOES-10 @ 60 West – A Wisconsin Perspective", and gave a summary of all the posters. Schmit also attended the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) in the Americas Integrate Satellite Capacity Building and Training Workshop Planning Meeting. Andrew Heidinger presented a poster illustrating the progress of the GOES-R Cloud Application Team. The poster discussed the Cloud Team's twelve products that are generated from five separate and distinct algorithms. Mike Pavolonis presented a poster on volcanic ash detection and mass loading retrievals relevant to the GOES-R and NPOESS eras. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov; A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757; M. Pavolonis, E/RA2, 608-263-9597; P. Heck, CIMSS, 608-262-7889) )

Other Meetings and Telecons:

None.

VISITORS:

NEXT WEEK:

LOOKING AHEAD:


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