{"id":3556,"date":"2005-06-19T11:32:44","date_gmt":"2005-06-19T16:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=3556"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:26:33","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:26:33","slug":"monthly-news-summary-june-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/3556","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary- June 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reaching Out to Jupiter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Evolution of Jupiter\u2019s biggest storm.\u00a0The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI\/AURA\/NASA) and Amy Simon (Cornell U.)<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

NASA has selected the $700 million Juno mission to Jupiter as the second in its New Frontiers planetary science program. Juno will study Jupiter in depth from a spacecraft in polar orbit. Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX, is principal investigator. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems will manage and build the spacecraft. Launch is scheduled for 2009 with the spacecraft to orbit Jupiter in 2014. The scope of Juno\u2019s study is very broad. According to a\u00a0NASA news release<\/a>, the mission would investigate Jupiter\u2019s core, atmosphere, and magnetosphere.<\/p>\n

Rosalyn Pertzborn<\/strong>, director of SSEC\u2019s\u00a0Office of Space Science Education<\/a>\u00a0will lead Juno\u2019s approximately $12 million Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program. Pertzborn said that \u201cSubstantial leveraging is achieved through strategic partnerships with two existing programs: the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Rural Systemic Initiatives, and the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) project. Our broad program targets rural America as the primary audience, including regions with substantial Native American and Hispanic populations, and young women in rural and urban areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pertzborn noted that the Juno EPO program is comprised of \u201cexperienced and capable partners in three key areas\u2014formal education, informal education and public outreach. Their program develops a coherent suite of core, quality education products and activities that align with Juno science objectives.\u201d The culminating event of the EPO program uses the\u00a0Junocam<\/em>\u00a0imaging camera. The camera and its accompanying educational program will enable students to interact with Juno scientists to produce and analyze the first images taken from above Jupiter\u2019s poles.<\/p>\n

SSEC was last involved in a Jupiter mission in the 1980s and \u201990s when SSEC scientist\u00a0Lawrence Sromovsky<\/strong>\u00a0led the instrument team that produced the Net Flux Radiometer for the Galileo Mission probe. The first mission in the New Frontiers series is New Horizons, scheduled to fly by Pluto and its moon, Charon, in 2014, and then target other Kuiper belt objects.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Data and Imagery<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ship Tracks<\/strong><\/a>: Contrails, clouds formed from airplane exhaust, are commonly seen in satellite images. Less common are tracks of ships, as seen in this image taken by the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS<\/a>) on NASA\u2019s Terra satellite on May 11. According to the NASA Earth Observatory Web site, these clouds \u201cform around the exhaust released by ships into the still ocean air.\u201d More details are provided on the page.\u00a0Liam Gumley<\/strong>\u00a0supplied the image through SSEC\u2019s Direct Broadcast facility. The image was also featured in the emailed column,\u00a0Earth Observatory: What\u2019s New\u00a0<\/em>for the week of 17 May 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"june.2005ShipTracks\"<\/a><\/td>\nMODIS image from 11 May showing tracks from ships, not contrails.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Wisconsin wildfire<\/strong>: On May 5, a relatively small brush fire near Big Flatts, WI quickly turned into a\u00a04,000-acre forest fire<\/a>. The fire caused the evacuation of more than 100 people in and around this small town in central Wisconsin and caused extensive property damage. CIMSS\u2019s GOES-12 Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) identified the fire at 1:15 p.m. Mirroring the intensity of the fire, the pixel became completely saturated by 1:32 p.m. The rapid intensification of this small brush fire resulted in the area\u2019s biggest wildfire in more than 20 years. Click on the image for an animation.<\/p>\n

\"june.2005Wisconsin_fire_inline\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Launch preparation<\/strong>:\u00a0Hal Woolf<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS) provided the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) with spectral transmittances for the High Resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), and the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS). This data helped NESDIS as they prepared for the May 20 launch of the\u00a0NOAA-N<\/a>\u00a0satellite.<\/p>\n

McMurdo winds<\/strong>: The\u00a0MODIS polar winds group<\/strong>\u00a0at CIMSS recently began generating polar winds data from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. MODIS data obtained through the National Science Foundation\u2019s direct broadcast system set up at McMurdo provides the necessary satellite information. After processing in McMurdo, wind data and plots come to CIMSS for analysis. Using McMurdo polar winds data, the polar winds group hopes to reduce the time needed to generate wind information and to provide forecasters in McMurdo with real-time products.<\/p>\n

Popular Whyfile<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0Steve Ackerman<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS) and\u00a0Tom Whittaker<\/strong>\u2019s (CIMSS) interactive tornado animation continues to attract attention in the UW\u2019s\u00a0Whyfiles<\/a>. User Graham Tate recently gave it a rave review. \u201cOH MY GOD! that java tornado is so cool!\u201d he responded via an online feedback form. This module earned Ackerman, Whittaker and the Whyfiles Sue Medaris a Pixie award nomination for the Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Engineering Feats<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Drilling deep<\/strong>: The Spring 2005\u00a0Observer<\/em>, a publication of UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL<\/a>), reported on the Deep Ice Sheet Coring (DISC<\/a>) drill, a project of SSEC\u2019s\u00a0Ice Coring and Drilling Services<\/a>\u00a0and PSL. ICDS engineers\u00a0Alex Shturmakov<\/strong>,\u00a0Bill Mason<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Grant Emmel<\/strong>\u00a0are working with PSL staff to realize their design, from part drawings to part fabrication, including the drill shaft, the heart of a drill that can core ice 3800 meters deep. The\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a>\u00a0supports this project which will benefit ice-core studies of climate change, the West Antarctic ice sheet, microbial biology of the ice, and biology and biochemistry. The drill is to be tested in Greenland this summer.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Polar Exploits<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Each year, the\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a>\u00a0compiles news clips on research they have supported. As is usual, many SSEC researchers\u2019 activities in Antarctica and in the Arctic are noted in the media, and some of them found their way into\u00a0Polar Press Clips 2004<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0New Zealand Herald<\/em>\u00a0covered the\u00a0Ice Cube<\/a>\u00a0project. A graphic representation explained that, to drill the 2.4 km deep holes, drillers \u201cwill use a 5 megawatt jet of hot water to melt a hole a bit wider than half a meter.\u201d The\u00a0hot water drill<\/a>\u00a0used to drill such large, deep holes was designed by SSEC\u2019s\u00a0Ice Coring and Drilling Services<\/strong>(ICDS<\/a>) and fabricated with the help of UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Physical Sciences Laboratory. Ice Cube is a project within the Antarctic Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Institute, an independent unit within UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Graduate School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"june.2005ehwd-drumassy-thumb\"<\/a><\/td>\nThe Enhanced Hot Water Drill is being assembled in Antarctica for use in the IceCube neutrino telescope.More drilling pictures are in the ICDS\u00a0picture gallery<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Also, ICDS engineers\u00a0Robin Bolsey<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Bruce Koci\u00a0<\/strong>are reviewing the concept of a hot water drill to be used in a project led by New Zealand scientist Gary Wilson called Andrill. Covered in the\u00a0Otago Daily Times<\/em>\u00a0(New Zealand), the project will drill through many meters of sea ice, water, and sediment to learn about Antarctica\u2019s ice sheets over time.<\/p>\n

NSF supports Arctic as well as Antarctic research. The Study of Environmental Arctic Change, or\u00a0SEARCH<\/a>, has begun a multi-agency effort to intensively study environmental change in the north polar regions. Researchers have met to pool their knowledge and discuss strategy, including\u00a0Jeff Key<\/strong>, team leader of the NOAA\/NESDIS Advanced Satellite Products Branch stationed at UW\u2013Madison\u2019s SSEC. Key leads a\u00a0group at SSEC<\/a>\u00a0whose satellite meteorology studies focus on Earth\u2019s polar regions, especially the Arctic.<\/p>\n

SSEC researchers, particularly those in the\u00a0Antarctic Meteorological Research Center<\/a>, engaged in many more newsworthy projects in 2004. You can find them and more in past\u00a0In the News<\/a>\u00a0columns.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Weather Research<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Improving cloud forecasts<\/strong>: Recently,\u00a0Andrew Heidinger<\/strong>\u00a0(NOAA\/ASPB at CIMSS) upgraded his program, Clouds from AVHRR-extended (CLAR-x) to read forecast fields from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. It produces estimates of the infrared radiances observed by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the NOAA polar-orbiting satellite. This product will help diagnose strengths and weaknesses of NCEP cloud forecasts.<\/p>\n

Orbiting the poles<\/strong>: In mid-May, the team working on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) project met to identify current issues and concerns with the process of developing this system and to foster collaboration among its members.\u00a0Andrew Heidinger<\/strong>\u00a0co-chaired a session on cloud remote sensing. At the meeting, project leaders announced that SSEC will head the development and implementation of the evaluation system for the Cloud\/Atmospheres product.<\/p>\n

Presentations and Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cloud-clearing publication<\/strong>:\u00a0Jun Li<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS),\u00a0Chian-Yi Liu<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS),\u00a0Allen Huang<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS),\u00a0Xuebao Wu<\/strong>\u00a0(CIMSS),\u00a0Tim Schmit<\/strong>\u00a0(ASPB with SSEC) and\u00a0Paul Menzel<\/strong>\u00a0(ORA with SSEC) with James Gurka (OSD) co-authored a paper discussing cloud data for certain measurements obtained using MODIS. Titled \u201cOptimal cloud-clearing for AIRS radiances using MODIS,\u201d the\u00a0IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing<\/em>\u00a0published this manuscript in their June 2005 issue.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Education, Outreach<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Like Venus<\/strong>: SSEC planetary scientist\u00a0Sanjay Limaye<\/strong>\u00a0spoke to the Rotary Club in Edgerton, WI in late March about global warming, giving a decidedly planetary spin to his talk.\u00a0The Edgerton Reporter<\/em>\u00a0on April 6 noted that Limaye compared global change slowly occurring on Earth to that on Venus, where the planet heated so much that over time the atmosphere came to be made entirely of unbreathable carbon dioxide. \u201cBe wise in your energy use,\u201d Limaye was quoted as saying, \u201clest we turn into Venus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mars by way of Fort Atkinson<\/strong>: During Fort Atkinson\u2019s Wisconsin Alumni Association Founder\u2019s Day Celebration on May 19,\u00a0Sanjay Limaye<\/strong>\u00a0gave a presentation titled \u201cGoing to Mars.\u201d He discussed the specifics of space exploration. The group\u2019s\u00a0Web site<\/a>\u00a0praised Limaye\u2019s work with SSEC: \u201cOur knowledge of the atmospheric conditions on other planets would be incomplete without the award-winning research and analysis of Sanjay Limaye.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the News – June 2005<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-summary"],"acf":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3556"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4320,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3556\/revisions\/4320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}