{"id":3727,"date":"2004-01-27T12:09:25","date_gmt":"2004-01-27T18:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=3727"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:46:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:46:24","slug":"monthly-news-summary-january-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/3727","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary – January 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Southwestern Dust Colors Midwestern Rain<\/em><\/h1>\n

This issue of\u00a0<\/em>SSEC In the News\u00a0covers news and research results from December 2003.\u00a0<\/em>Use images freely with credit to the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, but please notify\u00a0SSEC’s Public Information Officer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

An image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA\u2019s Aqua research satellite showed significant structure in a large area of blowing sand and dust across Texas and New Mexico on December 15, 2003. On the 16th, it rained in the Midwest, including Wisconsin, and people noticed a red dust deposited on vehicles. According to Milwaukee\u2019s National Weather Service office, the clay-based dust originated in New Mexico from the dust storm seen in the satellite image. Forecaster Rusty Kapela referred people to the MODIS image on Liam Gumley\u2019s\u00a0MODIS imagery Web site<\/a>, repository for images received through SSEC\u2019s direct broadcast facility. Look for Aqua, 15 December 2003. Lee Bergquist of the\u00a0Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a><\/em>\u00a0spoke with SSEC researchers for an article on Milwaukee\u2019s outbreak of red dust. To rule out air pollution as a source, the \u201cDNR sent samples to the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison. The results showed it was clay, shale, some potassium and some silica.\u201d Or, dirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"jan2004.d\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
Imagery from the Geostationary Operation Environmental Satellite (the GOES-10 \u201csplit-window\u201d InfraRed difference product) showed that much of this airborne dust was rapidly transported northeastward to the Great Lakes region within 24 hours, where several reports of \u201cred rain\u201d were made. \u201cTrue color\u201d images are available in 1000-meter and 250-meter resolution on the SSEC\u00a0MODIS Gallery<\/a>.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tom Skilling, meteorologist at Chicago\u2019s WGN channel 9, used the image in his nightly weathercast after Chicago drivers also found red dust on their cars. Researcher Wayne Feltz spoke with WIBA\u2019s Katie Austin about the dynamics of the storm that brought the dust to the Midwest. Stories on the Internet documented that dust was seen in Arkansas, Illinois,\u00a0Wisconsin<\/a>, Michigan, and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

The image was featured on NASA\u2019s\u00a0Earth Observatory Web site<\/a>\u00a0on December 17 and in the emailedNatural Hazards Update<\/em>\u00a0on December 22.<\/p>\n

Bill Hopkins at the National Weather Service satellite focal point in Lubbock, TX provided\u00a0ground truth<\/a>\u00a0with stunning photos of the storm along with a GOES image for comparison. CIMSS\u2019 Scott Bachmeier followed with an impressive\u00a0GOES Gallery<\/a>\u00a0entry about the storm and its aftermath.<\/p>\n

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Antarctica<\/em><\/h1>\n

B-15A cracks and breaks \u2026 again<\/a><\/strong>\u2014On December 15, researchers in SSEC\u2019s Antarctic Meteorological Research Center and Douglas MacAyeal, a University of Chicago glaciologist colleague, noted that B-15A, the longest piece of the mammoth B-15, had cracked again. B-15 broke in two in October. The newest, smaller piece was called B-15J and has moved a little to the northeast of B-15A. The new sliver is called B-15K and is moving south of both pieces, as can be seen in this image from January 7.<\/p>\n

\"jan.2004B-15s1-8-04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Data, Imagery, Software<\/em><\/h1>\n

Bentley Archive<\/strong><\/a>\u2014The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)\u00a0Reviewed Collection<\/a>\u00a0has added The Schwerdtfeger Library\u2019s collection of ice crystals. According to Librarian Jean Phillips, \u201cOver the past 8\u201310 months, our Bentley site has been reviewed by specialists (scientific and pedagogical) selected by the CRS [Community Review System] editorial review board and by community reviews gathered via the World Wide Web from educators who have used the resource for teaching, learning or research.\u201d More about the topic is on the\u00a0Library\u2019s Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Appreciation<\/strong>\u2014Bill Lagerroos appreciates SSEC\u2019s\u00a0Local Weather page<\/a>\u00a0for its help in planning his weather-related activities. Writing on December 11, he says, \u201cI spent a bit of time watching the 1 km and 2 km radar displays on 12\/10, one reason being that I was curious to know when I should start removing snow. Sure enough, when the trailing edge of the storm got close to Madison on the map, the snow slowed down, then stopped. Such a service, provided by SSEC is helpful to friends who also shovel, and to whom I sent some web info. I also sent it to folks in the Verona school system. Kids will get to see the relationship between your imagery, and what is really happening as they look out the window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jorge Chira, Director of Synoptic Meteorology at Peru\u2019s Meteorological and Hydrological Weather Service, wrote to ask how he could save animations frame by frame. Researcher Tom Whittaker added Java functionality that will allow that. SSEC\u2019s Webmaster Bill Bellon said, \u201ctry the\u00a0Full Disk animations<\/a>. Click on the \u2018Stop\u2019 button and use the < > buttons to go to the image you are interested in and then click on the \u2018Show\u2019 button. This will pop up another browser window showing that image. You can then do a \u2018File –> Save As\u2019 or right click on the image to save it to your hard drive.\u201d This ability is gradually being added to animations on the SSEC Web site.<\/p>\n

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Field Experiments and Meetings<\/em><\/h1>\n

CIMSS Annual Board Meeting<\/strong><\/a>\u2014The Board of Directors for SSEC\u2019s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) met in Madison on December 12, 2003. The Board consists of representatives from NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center, the NESDIS Office of Research and Applications, the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison\u2019s Graduate School, the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), and CIMSS. Presentations summarizing CIMSS science activities are available on CD through CIMSS.<\/p>\n

Satellite Data Workshop<\/a><\/strong>\u2014In August 2003, a workshop was held to begin to plan and develop new satellite products for current and future data. Aimed at operational weather forecasters, this Workshop on Satellite Data Applications and Information Extraction concentrated on (1) current satellite capabilities and use, especially GOES; (2) capabilities of new and near-future satellites; (3) product displays; and, (4) analytical tools and requirements. This workshop was held in Madison by CIMSS and the Advanced Satellite Products Team (ASPT), in NOAA\u2019s research arm, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service\u2019s Office of Research and Applications. Participants came with a variety of backgrounds and included staff from NOAA\u2019s satellite research (NESDIS) and operational forecasting (National Weather Service) arms as well as CIMSS and other academic and government agencies. Organizers Gary Wade and Jeff Key of the ASPT have made their report available on the Web.<\/p>\n

\"jan.2004TPW\"<\/a><\/p>\n

DLESE 2004 Annual Meeting<\/strong><\/a>\u2014The NSF-funded Digital Library for Earth Science Education (DLESE) will hold its next annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin this summer. SSEC and its Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies will host the organization, made up primarily of high school earth science teachers. DLESE is an online resource for educators and includes lesson plans. The annual meeting allows the community of users to pool their ideas for future library development.<\/p>\n

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Planets<\/em><\/h1>\n

Mars Exploration<\/strong>\u2014WIBA Radio\u2019s Mike King interviewed planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye about the successful landing of the U.S.\u2019s\u00a0Spirit<\/a><\/em>\u00a0rover<\/a>\u00a0on Mars. Limaye also talked about the\u00a0European Mars Express<\/a>mission with its Beagle 2 lander, and the\u00a0Mars exploration<\/a>\u00a0program. Limaye also appeared on Madison\u2019s Fox channel 47 with John Valley, a UW\u2013Madison geophysics professor, and on Madison\u2019s public television weekly news program,\u00a0Here and Now<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0anchored by Frederica Freyberg.<\/p>\n

Limaye is also quoted in a Mars piece on\u00a0The Why Files<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0a UW\u2013Madison on-line publication supported by the National Science Foundation. Asked about the Beagle 2\u2019s failure to \u201ccall home,\u201d Limaye noted that the British project was complicated, and \u201cextremely ambitious.\u201d Limaye, a planetary scientist since before Pioneer Venus, spoke about an array of problems facing planetary explorers.<\/p>\n

Responding to the news that President Bush is expected to announce a new space initiative, Madison\u2019sWISC-TV<\/a>\u00a0(channel 3) interviewed Sanjay Limaye about the challenge of sending humans to Mars. He appeared on the evening newscast, January 9.<\/p>\n

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Tropical Cyclones<\/em><\/h1>\n

It\u2019s a thrilling event for a researcher when a theorized event appears in nature. CIMSS tropical cyclones scientist James Kossin experienced such a moment when a hurricane feature he had hypothesized appeared in Hurricane Isabel. Briefly, Isabel exhibited mesovortices, shown in a starfish pattern, in the hurricane\u2019s eye. A note on the actual occurrence will appear in the\u00a0Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for February 2004. Kossin\u2019s hurricane papers are available on his\u00a0Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather Events<\/em><\/h1>\n

Soot<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Chris Schmidt, a researcher in the CIMSS\u00a0group that monitors biomass burning<\/a>\u00a0using the GOES satellite, spoke briefly with reporter Lee Bergquist about the possible role of soot in global warming. ANASA study<\/a>\u00a0revealed that \u201cblack soot covering ice and snow absorbs sunlight, quickens the melting process and spurs warming.\u201d Schmidt noted that it was important to quantify the data. The issue is very complex, according to team leader Elaine Prins, and the NASA study covers only one aspect.<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather Experts<\/em><\/h1>\n

Weather Guys<\/strong>\u2014UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Weather Guys Steve Ackerman and Jon Martin appeared Monday, December 29 on WHA Radio, Jim Packard sitting in for Larry Meiller. The Guys answered questions on a wide range of topics, from forecasting the weather three months in advance, large-scale weather features (like the Arctic oscillation), the previous warm season portending global warming, the recent east-coast snow storm portending an ice age, the influence of the jet stream on the weather, the effect of volcanic activity on weather conditions, and many others. Add your voice to their astute audience every last Monday of the month, including January 26. Listen in at 11:45 a.m. either on the\u00a0Web<\/a>\u00a0(The Ideas Network) or the old-fashioned (but reliable) way at 970 AM or 90.7 FM.<\/p>\n

Steve Ackerman spoke with Katie Austin, WIBA-AM Radio news, after a strange winter storm over the Christmas weekend. Austin wondered about its connection with global warming. Although a single unseasonable storm does not indicate global warming, the string of \u201cwarmest years\u201d continues.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather Research<\/em><\/h1>\n

CRAS Forecast Uses Satellite Data to Predict Local and Regional Weather<\/a><\/strong>\u2014CIMSS researchers are investigating the possibility of using water vapor and cloud observations from GOES-12 to improve the prediction of fog over Wisconsin roadways. Three-layer precipitable water and cloud-top pressure retrievals from the GOES-12 sounder are being assimilated into the 20-km resolution CIMSS Regional Assimilation System. 36-hour forecast time series are being generated for instrumented sites of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which will be used to validate fog forecasts. The CRAS is particularly suited to this task because it is designed to accurately predict the movement of water vapor in the atmosphere. Among the next steps is a surface visibility product that will show areas of fog. Until then, fog must be deduced from relative humidity and other satellite products. Bob Aune (NOAA scientist at SSEC) is encouraged by results for a recent fog event.<\/p>\n

At recent workshops held by the U. S. Weather Research Program in Boulder, CO, Aune presented his CRAS modeling work to assess the impact of satellite observation on regional numerical weather prediction, demonstrating that information from satellites can be used locally to improve numerical weather forecasts.<\/p>\n

Cloud Typing Algorithm Explained<\/strong>\u2014Michael Pavolonis (SSEC, CIMSS) recently presented two algorithms for detecting cloud overlap and determining cloud type with daytime satellite data at NOAA\u2019s Office of Research and Applications. The first algorithm utilizes spectral channels that are available on the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and is part of the Extended Clouds from AVHRR (CLAVR-x) processing system. The second algorithm incorporates data from additional spectral channels that are available on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and will be available on the Visible\/Infrared Imager\/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). VIIRS replaces the AVHRR as the imager on the next generation of NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. Pavolonis develops the algorithms with Andrew Heidinger (NOAA, at SSEC).<\/p>\n

AIRS Captures Sulfur Dioxide Event<\/strong>\u2014Both the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) observed a sulfur dioxide (SO2) plume from the active Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat Island in the West Indies as it erupted in July 2003. Tim Schmit (NOAA, at SSEC) found good agreement between a set of AIRS channel differences with (SO2) estimates from TOMS data provided by S. Carn of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). His goal is to understand what a high-spectral resolution sounder will add over the information from a broad-band imager (as suggested by L. Strow, UMBC). Researchers are using AIRS and other weather satellite instruments such as MODIS to see what the next generation of high-spectral resolution sounders and imagers (such as the planned HES\/ABI system) will give us. It is also valuable to correlate measurements with the TOMS instrument, which operates in the ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Imager and sounder spectral response functions are compared on the CIMSS\u00a0GOES pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"jan.204so2_plume\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tracking SO2\u00a0plumes is important because they are (to varying degrees) associated with volcanic ash plumes, which can clog the engine of any airplane that flies through them. Scientists also want to understand the transport of SO2\u00a0as a trace gas, for example, in relation to air quality.<\/a><\/p>\n

Honors<\/em><\/h1>\n

Graduate Fellowship Awarded<\/strong>\u2014Robert Holz is the second Suomi-Simpson fellowship recipient and is working towards a Ph.D. in UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. He will work with researchers in CIMSS (primarily director Steve Ackerman) and NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center (Matthew McGill) in a project that compares data from three separate sources\u2014SSEC\u2019s Scanning-HIS, Goddard\u2019s Cloud Lidar, and the MODIS Airborne Simulator. It is hoped that this unusual collaboration can exemplify an integrated approach to data analysis and utilization.<\/p>\n

Holz and his collaborators will use their findings to answer broad questions about the role of clouds in climate. His particular interest involves assigning cloud heights and learning more about clouds\u2019 radiative transfer\u2014how much heat do they reflect and let through. According to Steve Ackerman, CIMSS director, \u201cRobert Holz is a great candidate. He has lidar expertise and is interested in studying clouds using combined observations from a lidar, an imager and an interferometer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Steve Ackerman, Leanne Avila, Scott Bachmeier, Bill Bellon, Alexis Johnson, Shelley Knuth, Matthew Lazzara, Sanjay Limaye, Jean Phillips, and Maria Vasys (all of SSEC), Robert Holz (AOS), Robert Aune, Jeff Key, and Tim Schmit (ASPT) who provided help and material for this issue.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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