ASPB and CIMSS Weekly Report
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ASPB AND CIMSS WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JANUARY 19, 2013

IN THE PRESS:

ITEMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR:

ITEMS FOR THE OFFICE DIRECTOR, STAR:

Manuscript on Transported Background Pollutants Published: A manuscript entitled “Impacts of transported background pollutants on summertime western US air quality: model evaluation, sensitivity analysis and data assimilation” was published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Huang, M., Carmichael, G. R., Chai, T., Pierce, R. B., Oltmans, S. J., Jaffe, D. A., Bowman, K. W., Kaduwela, A., Cai, C., Spak, S. N., Weinheimer, A. J., Huey, L. G., and Diskin, G. S.: Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 359-391, doi:10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, 2013). The manuscript describes the use of a multi-scale assimilation system that combines global analyses from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) with regional analyses from the Sulfur Transport and dEposition Modeling (STEM) system to explore the impacts of transported background (TBG) pollutants on western US ozone (O3) distributions in summer 2008. The study demonstrates the importance of air masses over the eastern Pacific being transported inland and entrained into the planetary boundary layer to impact surface O3. The study also shows that assimilation of satellite ozone retrievals in both global (used as regional model boundary conditions) and regional models is useful for improving the model estimated TBG contributions and total O3 concentrations. (R.B. Pierce, E/RA2, 608-890-1892, brad.pierce@noaa.gov)

Meeting with USGS on Collaboration with Global Cryosphere Watch: Jeff Key visited the the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Center for Integrated Data Analytics (CIDA; http://cida.usgs.gov) in response to CIDA's request to collaborate with the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW) on data standards and management. CIDA, located in Middleton, WI, is involved in the development of the U.S. Antarctic Resource Center (USARC). CIDA is interested in better integrating USGS-managed Antarctic observation data with the international scientific community. The starting point for CIDA-GCW collaboration is metadata interoperability. (J. Key, E/RA2, 608-263-2605, jkey@ssec.wisc.edu)

ITEMS FOR THE DIVISION CHIEF, CoRP:

CIMSS Activities at Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting: The Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) was held in Austin, Texas from 6-11 January 2013. The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison had strong participation at the meeting. Sixteen (16) oral presentations were made by CIMSS scientists, including three by students. Twenty six (26) poster presentations were made, including six by students. The majority of these presentations involve collaboration with NOAA scientists, including the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR/ASPB team stationed in Madison. (T. Achtor, CIMSS, 608-263-4206; S. Ackerman, CIMSS, 608-263-3647; W. Feltz, CIMSS, 608-265-6283)

CREST Brown Bag Seminar on the History of the ABI: On 15 January 2013, T. Schmit remotely gave a Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (CREST) Brown Bag seminar. The title was “The History and Evolution of the ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R Series”. As with any instrument, the ABI leverages heritage instruments and the input from many. These heritage instruments include aircraft instruments, previous GOES, other geostationary sensors, and both research and operational polar-orbiters. The ABI began as a proposed eight-channel imager, all with fairly wide instrument spectral responses. Over time, eight more bands were added to better meet the stated requirements. The presentation is available at ftp://ftp.ssec.wisc.edu/ABI/2013/CREST_BB_2013_Schmit_History_ABI.pptx. (T. Schmit, E/RA2, 608-263-0291, tim.j.schmit@noaa.gov)

CIMSS VISIT Activities: S. Lindstrom led the Virtual Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (VISIT) lesson "Forecaster Training for the GOES-R Fog/low stratus (FLS) Products" on January 15, 2013. S. Lindstrom and S. Bachmeier also participated in a VISIT Satellite Chat session (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/visit/satellite_chat/) that was held on January 16, 2013. In addition, the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog was updated with posts on baroclinic leaf and conveyor belt satellite signatures, sea ice motion in the Arctic Ocean, and a mesolow over Lake Superior. (S. Lindstrom, CIMSS, 263-4425, S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958)

  (Click image to enlarge)

Figure caption: GOES-13 6.5 µm water vapor channel image showing a classic example of a "baroclinic leaf" satellite signature exhibited by a storm that produced snow over parts of the Deep South and Mid-Atlantic states on January 17-18, 2013.

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