ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
[ Archive ]
ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 8, 2011

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

WMO-IUGG Volcanic Ash Science Advisory Group Meeting: M. Pavolonis (NOAA/NESDIS/STAR) attended the Second Meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)-International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) Volcanic Ash Science Advisory Group (SAG) in Vienna, Austria on April 8, 2011. The main purpose of the meeting was to work on developing consensual science position papers that will be presented at the International Volcanic Ash Task Force (IVATF) meeting in July 2011. M. Pavolonis leads the space-based observation sub-task aimed at determining ways to improve volcanic cloud detection systems needed by aviation operators and regulators to make pre-flight and en-route decisions. (M. Pavolonis, E/RA2, 608-263-9597, Mike.Pavolonis@noaa.gov)

Manuscript Published on California Air Quality Modeling Study: A manuscript entitled "Multi-scale modeling study of the source contributions to near-surface ozone and sulfur oxides levels over California during the ARCTAS-CARB period" by Huang, M., Carmichael, G. R., Spak, S. N., Adhikary, B., Kulkarni, S., Cheng, Y., Wei, C., Tang, Y., D'Allura, A., Wennberg, P. O., Huey, G. L., Dibb, J. E., Jimenez, J. L., Cubison, M. J., Weinheimer, A. J., Kaduwela, A., Cai, C., Wong, M., Bradley Pierce, R., Al-Saadi, J. A., Streets, D. G., and Zhang, Q. was published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (doi:10.5194/acp-11-3173-2011, 2011). This manuscript investigates the relative contributions of long-range transport and local sources to near-surface ozone and sulfur dioxide over California’s South Coast region during the June 2008 NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) collaborative study with the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Chemical analyses and biomass burning emissions from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) were used to constrain regional modeling studies during ARCTAS-CARB (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

2011 NOAA Direct Readout Conference: The 2011 NOAA Direct Readout Conference was held April 4-8 in Miami, FL. There was strong international participation, with 29 countries represented. T. Schmit was a program committee member, abstract committee chair, session co-chair, presenter, and subject matter expert during the break-out session on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) transition issues. Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) had a booth where Jordan Gerth, Liam Gumley and Kathleen Strabala exhibited products supporting Aqua and Terra Direct Broadcast. Along with promoting the use of the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS) data, live demonstrations of some of the new International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) software releases were shown at the SSEC booth, including the IMAPP Virtual Appliance, a complete, free, level 0 to level 2 processing system for Aqua and Terra that can be installed and run on Linux, MacIntosh and Windows operating systems. More information on the conference can be found at http://directreadout.noaa.gov/miami11. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov; K. Strabala, CIMSS, 608-263-8752)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: SSEC personnel demonstrate data and products created using software distributed as part of the International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP). The demonstrations took place at the SSEC booth in Miami during the NOAA Direct Readout Conference.

European Geosciences Union Meeting: M. Pavolonis (NOAA/NESDIS/STAR) and Corey Calvert (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) attended the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly on April 4-8, 2011. Pavolonis gave an oral presentation entitled “Using Infrared Satellite Measurements to Identify Volcanic Ash Clouds that Exceed Aircraft Exposure Thresholds: Capabilities and Limitations,” and a poster entitled “The Temporal Evolution of Satellite-Derived Deep Convective Cloud Properties.” Calvert presented a poster entitled: “Introduction of a Day/Night, Object-Based, Quantitative Fog/Low Stratus Detection Algorithm for GOES-R.” (M. Pavolonis, E/RA2, 608-263-9597, Mike.Pavolonis@noaa.gov, C. Calvert, CIMSS)

Ozone Assimilation Science Update in JCSDA Quarterly: A Science Update entitled "GOES Total Column Ozone Assimilation within the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Forecast Model" describing development and testing of methodologies for incorporating satellite based ozone observations into the National Air Quality Forecast Guidance (NAQFG) at the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) was published in the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) March 2011 Quarterly Newsletter (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: Scatter plots of total column ozone (TCO in Dobson Units, DU) analysis (black) and first guess (red) verses GOES TCO for assimilation experiments using time dependent (left) and fixed (right) lateral boundary conditions within the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The distribution of observation-first guess (O-F) is shown in the upper left corner of the scatter plots.

VISITORS:

Visitor from UC/LASP: Dr. Sebastian Schmidt visited the Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) this week. Sebastian is a scientist from the University of Colorado (UC) Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) who does research on cloud and aerosol remote sensing with airborne instruments. The purpose of the visit was to collaborate on the use of LASP data to validate GOES-R cloud products. Dr. Schmidt is collaborating with ASPB on a validation proposal to the GOES-R program. (A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892)

NEXT WEEK:

LOOKING AHEAD:


Archived Weeklies Page Submit a report item