ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 11, 2008

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

Third Meeting of WMO Space Task Group for IPY: The World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Space Task Group (STG) for the International Polar Year (IPY) held its third meeting May 5-6, 2008, in Frascati, Italy. The meeting was hosted by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN). The STG was established for the purpose of space agency planning, processing, and archiving of IPY Earth Observation legacy datasets. The primary task of the STG is to determine the "portfolio" of IPY satellite data products that each space agency is developing. The portfolios may be comprised of special acquisitions, new products, new ways of accessing existing products, operational support for IPY field programs, agreements to release data that was not otherwise freely available, and plans for archiving IPY legacy datasets. Jeff Key and Pablo Clemente-Colon are NOAA representatives on the STG; Key attended the meeting and reported on NESDIS' IPY portfolio. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu; P. Clemete-Colon, E/RA3, pablo.clemente-colon@noaa.gov)

Significance: Space agency contributions to IPY are providing much-needed observations of the polar regions not only during IPY, but as part of an IPY legacy. Observations from space are an essential component of the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) and, therefore, part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).

NOAA Mission Goals: Serve Society's Needs for Weather and Water Information; Understand Climate Variability and Change; Support the Nation's Commerce

NOAA Cross-Cutting Priorities: Sound, Reliable State-of-the-Art Research; Integrating Global Environmental Observations and Data Management

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

IDEA Team Recieves EPA Scientific and Technological Achievement Award: R. Bradley Pierce (NOAA/NESDIS), Elaine Prins, and Liam Gumley (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS) received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2007 Level I Scientific and Technological Achievement Award (STAA) for “Developing an Operational Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Air Quality Index Forecast Tool to Improve Public Awareness” as part of a team of EPA, NASA, CIMSS, and Sonoma Technology scientists involved in Infusing Satellite Data into Environmental Applications (IDEA). STAA is among the most prestigious of EPA scientific award programs and Level I awards are for accomplishment an exceptionally high-quality research or technological effort of national significance high impact on a broad area of science/technology. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@ssec.wisc.edu)

RAQMS/CMAQ Manuscript Published: A manuscript assessing the impact of the downscale linkage of the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) on the simulated O3 concentration within the EPA Models-3 Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model (Song, et al., J. Geophys. Res., 113, D08308, doi:10.1029/2007JD008951) was published on April 30, 2008 in Journal of Geophysical Research. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

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Figure caption: Horizontal distribution of O3 concentration differences of the CMAQ simulations with the lateral boundary condition estimated between from RAQMS output and from predefined default vertical profiles at different s-levels (0.998, 0.650, 0.350, and 0.150).

Paper on the UW/CIMSS Global IR Land Surface Emissivty Database Published: A paper titled "A global infrared surface emissivity database for clear sky atmospheric sounding retrievals from satellite-based radiance measurements" was published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (Vol. 47, No. 1, January 2008, pp. 108-123). The authors are S.W. Seemann, E.E. Borbas, R.O. Knuteson, G. R. Stephenson, and H.- L. Huang (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS). A global database of infrared (IR) land surface emissivity is introduced to support more accurate retrievals of atmospheric properties such as temperature and moisture profiles from multispectral satellite radiance measurements (like MODIS). Emissivity in the database is available globally at 10 wavelengths chosen as hinge points with 0.05 degree spatial resolution.

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

AMS Hurricane Conference: Several Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) scientists participated in the 28th Americal Meteorological Society (AMS) Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, held in Orlando April 28-May 2. In addition to presentations given by these scientists, the work being done on hurricane research at CIMSS was frequently referenced and displayed in many other attendee presentations. Chris Velden and James Kossin chaired important topical sessions during the meeting, which was attended by well over 400 scientists from around the world. (C. Velden, CIMSS, 608 262-9168, James Kossin CIMSS, 608 265-5356)

Chaiten Volcano as Seen by the GOES-10 Imager and Sounder: The Chaiten volcano located in Chile, South America (42.8S and 72.6W) first erupted on May 2, 2008. Since then, nearly continuous eruptions have been periodically monitored by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) -10 Imager and Sounder. The Imager can provide nearly continuous (15 min) coverage of the evolving ash cloud, while the Sounder can provide details on the upper-level SO2 plumes once every four hours. The former is derived by differencing the 11.0 micrometer and 12.0 micrometer bands from the Imager. SO2 plumes are revealed by differencing the 7.4 micrometer and 13.3 micrometer bands. More information can be found at: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/650. (T. Schreiner, CIMSS, 608-263-6754, S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608,263-3958, T. Schmit, E/RA2,608-263-0291)

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Figure caption: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) -10 Imager showing the ash cloud (Top panel). Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) -10 Sounder showing the upper-level SO2 plume (Lower panel). The black square (Top panel) and white square (Lower panel) indicate the location of the Chaiten Volcano. Both images are from May 6, 2008 at approximately 18:30 UTC.

Interview on GOES Applications: For a potential upcoming story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, T. Schmit was interviewed by Harvey Black, an independent journalist. The topics covered Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) history, current (-10/-11-/-12), near-term (-13/O/P) and future (-R) instruments and applications. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291)

CIMSS VISIT Activities: The Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) distance learning lesson "Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Products in Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS)" (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/visit/modis.html) was offered by staff from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) on May 9, 2008, with a member of the Forecast Decision Training Branch (FDTB) in Boulder, Colorado taking in the lesson. With the addition of the FDTB, 50 different locations have now participated in the "MODIS in AWIPS" VISIT lesson since it was first offered in November 2006. (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958)

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Figure caption: Locations of National Weather Service forecast offices (and other institutions) that have participated in the "MODIS in AWIPS" VISIT lesson since it was first offered in November 2006.

Other Meetings and Telecons:

None.

VISITORS:

Visitor from National Severe Storms Lab : Dr. Qin Xu from the National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL), Norman Oklahoma, visited the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Studies (CIMSS) on Thursday and Friday. He has published work on extracting wind information from consecutive radar images and is interested in applying his technique to geostationary imagery. He presented a CIMSS Seminar: "A Simple adjoint method for retrieving vector wind field from radar imagery movement". Using images from the GOES imager and sounder, he expects to produce winds that will be useful for initializing numerical weather prediction models. (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071, robert.aune@noaa.gov)

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