ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL 14, 2012

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Paper on Radiative Forcing Due to Asian Wildfires Published: A manuscript entitled “Radiative forcing due to enhancements in tropospheric ozone and carbonaceous aerosols caused by Asian fires during spring 2008” by Natarajan, M., R. B. Pierce, T. K. Schaack, A. J. Lenzen, J. A. Al-Saadi, A. J. Soja, T. P. Charlock, F. G. Rose, D. M. Winker, and J. R. Worden was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research (117, D06307, doi:10.1029/2011JD016584). The paper describes simulations of tropospheric ozone and carbonaceous aerosol distributions, conducted with the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS), coupled to an off-line radiative transfer model to study the radiative effects of major Asian wildfire outbreaks during spring 2008. For clear sky, the monthly averaged radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) is found to be mostly negative with largest values occurring near the fire regions. However, at high latitudes, the TOA radiative forcing is positive due to the presence of absorbing aerosols over regions of high surface albedo and could therefore contribute to Arctic warming. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

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Figure caption: Calculated distribution of TOA clear sky (left) and total sky (right) radiative forcing due to changes in tropospheric ozone, black and organic carbon from Asian wildfires for April 2008.

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

Amanda Terborg Hired as NWS Aviation Weather Center "Satellite Champion": Amanda Terborg was hired as a Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) employee to be stationed in Kansas City, MO at the Aviation Weather Center as the GOES-R "satellite champion" on April 9, 2012. She was in Madison from April 9-11 for orientation and employment paperwork completion. Amanda will participate in the NOAA Science Week (30 April - 4 May, 2012), Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) in May, and Aviation Weather Testbed in June before returning to Madison in July for additional CIMSS training. (W. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-265-6283)

PhD Dissertation Successfully Defended: Matt Sitkowski (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, CIMSS, and the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, AOS) successfully defended his PhD dissertation on 9 April 2012. Matt has been working with Jim Kossin (NCDC/RSAD) as his advisor since June 2007, and they have authored five journal articles together. Matt’s research was on hurricane eyewall replacement cycles, and has produced new climatologies of this process using a combination of microwave and geostationary infrared satellite data, aircraft data, and model analysis data. (J. Kossin, NCDC/RSAD, 608-265-5356)

CIMSS VISIT Activities: The Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT) sessions "The University of Wisconsin Convective Initiation Product", "The University of Wisconsin Nearcasting Product", and "Objective Satellite-Based Overshooting Top and Enhanced-V Anvil Thermal Couplet Signature Detection" were led by S. Lindstrom on April 9, 2012. Staff from the National Weather Service forecast office at Jackson, Kentucky participated in the VISIT lessons. In addition, the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog was updated with a post containing a variety of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) images of the large "County Line Fire" that was burning in far northern Florida on April 7, 2012 (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/10155). (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 608-263-4425, S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958)

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Figure caption: Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR image showing the thermal "hot spot" from the "County Line Fire" in northern Florida on April 7, 2012. The large areal coverage of the most intense portion of the fire hot spot (red color enhancement) could be seen, along with the location of other active fire lines (black enhancement) out ahead of the main fire hot spot.

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