ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 28, 2009

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Historical AVHRR Winds Paper Published: A paper titled “Twenty Years of Polar Winds from AVHRR: Validation and Comparison with ERA-40” by Richard J. Dworak (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) and Jeff Key was published in the Journal of Applied Meteorolgy and Climatology (Vol. 49, January 2009). The historical Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) polar wind product described in the paper is currently being reprocessed to include more satellites and to extend the coverage through 2007. (R. Dworak, CIMSS, 608-265-8620; J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu)

WMO Regional/Specialized Satellite Centers Executive Panel Meeting: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is developing a Regional/Specialized Satellite Centers for Climate Monitoring (R/SSC-CM) program, and held its first Executive Panel meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 25-26, 2009. Jeff Key, Mitch Goldberg, and Andrew Heidinger participated by phone. Key represented the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) on the Panel; Goldberg represented the Global Space-Based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS) project. Heidinger is the lead on the cloud and aerosol R/SSC-CM proposal. Jaime Daniels and Jeff Key are both involved in the atmospheric motion vectors (wind) proposal. John Bates (National Climatic Data Center) is the NOAA representative on the Panel. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu; A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, andrew.heidinger@noaa.gov)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Polar Winds from NOAA-19: A demonstration of deriving winds over the Arctic and Antarctic was performed using data from the recently launched NOAA-19 satellite. This utilizes the same technique that is applied to the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 11 micron images from the other NOAA polar orbiting satellites. Further testing and validating is needed before the NOAA-19 winds product is generated routinely and made available on our ftp server. (D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410; J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: Cloud drift winds over the Antarctic derived from a time sequence of NOAA-19 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 11 micron images. The wind vectors are color-coded according to height as noted in the figure.

CIMSS VISIT Activities: The Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) distance learning lessons "The Enhanced-V: A Satellite Severe Storm Signature" (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visit/ev.html), "Trough of Warm Air Aloft (TROWAL) Identification" (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visit/trowal.html), and "Water Vapor Imagery and Potential Vorticity Analysis" (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/visit/wv_pv.html) were led by staff from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) on February 24, 26, and 27, 2009. Forecasters from five National Weather Service (NWS) offices (Aberdeen, South Dakota; Birmingham, Alabama; Davenport, Iowa; Glasgow, Montana; Riverton, Wyoming) participated in the VISIT lessons. (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958, S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608-263-4425)

Property Inventory Completed for ASPB: The annual NESDIS “wall-to-wall” 2009 inventory for NOAA personal property at the Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) was completed. Verifying paperwork and forms accounting for the 52 assets at ASPB were provided to the appropriate NESDIS personal property management representative (B. Foreman) on 25 February 2009. (G. S. Wade, E/RA2, 608-263-4743, gary.s.wade@noaa.gov)

Proxy Dataset Validation Manuscript Accepted for Publication: A manuscript entitled “Validation of a large-scale simulated brightness temperature dataset using SEVIRI satellite observations” was accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. The paper by Jason Otkin (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies), T. Greenwald (CIMSS), J. Sieglaff (CIMSS), and A. Huang (CIMSS) used Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVERI) brightness temperature observations to examine the accuracy of a high-resolution (3 km) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation performed over most of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) viewing domain. The study showed that the combined numerical and forward modeling system at CIMSS is capable of producing realistic proxy radiance datasets for ABI algorithm development and demonstration purposes. (J. Otkin, CIMSS, 608-265-2476)

Global Chemical Analyses Used to Assess Impacts of Background Ozone Production on Air Quality: A manuscript entitled "Impacts of background ozone production on Houston and Dallas, TX Air Quality during the TexAQS field mission" by R. B. Pierce et al. has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. A major objective of the 2006 Second Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS II) focused on understanding the effects of regional processes on Houston and Dallas ozone non-attainment areas. The manuscript presents results of a Lagrangian modeling study that quantifies the contributions of background (continental scale) ozone production on Houston and Dallas air quality. Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) global scale chemical analyses, constrained with composition measurements from instruments on the NASA Aura Satellite, are used to characterize background ozone production. Results show that the majority (6 out of 9 or 66%) of the periods of high ozone in Houston during the TexAQS field mission were associated with periods of enhanced background ozone production. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

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Figure caption: Synoptic distribution of 5-day Lagrangian averaged O3 P-L (ppbv/day colored) for parcels initialized at the surface at 1:00pm CDT on Sept. 02, 2006. 5-day Houston (white) and Dallas (blue) ensemble back trajectories initialized at 1:00pm CDT on Sept. 02, 2006 and surface wind vectors and sea-level pressure (mb) are also shown.

VISITORS:

Visitor to CIMSS from the Japan Meteorological Agency: Dr. Kazuki Shimoji from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is visiting the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) for a one month period to work on the development of atmospheric motion vectors from MTSAT and GOES rapid scan imagery. The goal is to optimize the processing through shared methodologies. His research will be accommodated by the CIMSS Winds Group. (C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168).

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