ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report [ Archive ]

IN THE PRESS:

GOES-R Highlighted in NASA Science News: The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) were highlighted in NASA Science News. The article is titled "Next-Gen Weather Satellites to Improve Tornado Warnings" (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/29feb_tornadosurprise/). T. Schmit and S. Goodman were quoted on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, Timothy.J.Schmit@noaa.gov)

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

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ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

CIMSS Severe Weather Nearcasting Model Predicts Southern Missouri Storms: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) runs a prediction model that "near-casts" (out to 9 hours) the potential for the development of severe weather. The model is initialized hourly using retrieved profiles of equivalent potential temperature from the GOES-13 sounder, which are projected forward in time along trajectories and then monitored for vertical destabilization. The 01 UTC run on February 29 isolated an area of strong destabilization near Branson, MO at 07 UTC (1:00 AM CST), six hours in advance of the storms that spawned multiple tornadoes. Real-time near-casting products can be viewed online at http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/model/nrc/. (R. Aune, E/RA2, 608-262-1071).

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Figure caption: 6-hour near-cast of equivalent potential temperature lapse rate valid 07 UTC, February 29, 2012. Larger negative values (purple or red) indicated the atmosphere becoming strongly unstable.

Velden Receives Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research: Chris Velden is the recipient of the University of Wisconsin Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research. This award, given to an independent university researcher, recognizes a lifetime achievement for significantly impacting their discipline. Velden's nomination package included strong recommendations of support from international and national institutions, including NOAA's National Hurricane Center. The award will be presented in April at a special Chancellor's honors ceremony. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu)

Field Phase of GOES-R TORERO Airborne Cal/Val Completed: The data acquisition phase of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Tropical Ocean Troposphere Exchange of Reactive halogen species and Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (TORERO) mission (http://www.eol.ucar.edu/deployment/field-deployments/field-projects/torero) was completed on February 28, 2012 with 17 successful research flights, 5 from Antofagasta, Chile and 12 from San Jose, Costa Rica. Data collected during TORERO will be used by NESDIS and Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) scientists to validate GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) cloud, aerosol and legacy sounding products over the Equatorial Pacific. Scientists from the Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) provided daily chemical and aerosol forecasts using the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) and real-time cloud products from the AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres – Extended (PATMOS-x) which were used extensively for flight planning during TORERO. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, A. Heidinger, E/RA2, 608-263-6757, A. Walther, CIMSS, W. Feltz, CIMSS)

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Figure caption: Map of TORERO research flights overlaid on the RAQMS mean aerosol optical depth analysis during January 19th -February 28th, 2012.

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