ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 9, 2009

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

AVHRR HRPT Winds from Rothera, Antarctica: As part of the continuing effort to make polar wind information available to numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers as quickly as possible, winds are now being generated from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data collected at the United Kingdom's High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) receiving station in Rothera, Antarctica. The first winds were generated on May 1, 2009. Rothera is on the Antarctic Peninusula and therefore provides excellent coverage of western Antarctica, complementing the direct broadcast Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) winds generated at McMurdo. All processing is done on-site at Rothera. In contrast to the AVHRR Global Area Coverage (GAC) winds generated at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and in NESDIS operations, the HRPT wind information is available much sooner and at a higher spatial resolution. The Rothera HRPT winds will be made available to NWP centers after testing and validation. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu; D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410; C. Velden, CIMSS, 608-262-9168)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: AVHRR winds generated with direct readout data at Rothera, Antarctica, on May 9, 2009. Data are from NOAA-18.

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Paper on Hurricane Forecasts with Full Spatial Resolution AIRS Soundings Published: A manuscript entitled "Improved Hurricane Track and Intensity Forecast Using Single Field-of-View Advanced IR Sounding Measurements" was published in the Geophysical Research Letters (2009GL038285). This paper demonstrates that the hurricane track and intensity forecast is substantially improved when Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) full resolution soundings are assimilated. The AIRS full resolution soundings are derived using CHISR (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS, hyperspectral IR sounding retrieval) algorithm. Co-authors are Jun Li (CIMSS) and Hui Liu (NCAR). (Jun Li, CIMSS, Jun.Li@ssec.wisc.edu, 608-262-3755)

Data Summary Meeting for West-Pacific Typhoon Field Campaign: Howard Berger and Chris Velden from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) participated in the summer Thorpex Pacific Asian Regional Campaign (TPARC) Data Management Workshop in Monterey, California. TPARC was a field campaign during the fall of 2008 investigating the genesis and intensification of typhoons in the West-Pacific. The purpose of the data meeting was to provide fellow TPARC collaborators with overviews of their collected data and exchange ideas about managing that data. Berger presented a summary of the available atmospheric motion vector and other satellite data that CIMSS had generated throughout the campaign. (H. Berger CIMSS, C. Velden 608-262-9168)

Interview with COMET Regarding Geostationary Soundings: On May 6, as one of the Subject Matter Experts (SME), T. Schmit was interviewed remotely by P. Dills and B. Guarente, Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET). They are developing a module that describes the evolution toward a high spectral resolution infrared sounding capability in geostationary orbit and its potential benefits. The working title is "Atmospheric Sounding with High Temporal and Spectral Resolution: Critical Observations for Climate, Water, and Weather". (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov)

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