{"id":3736,"date":"2003-12-27T12:24:17","date_gmt":"2003-12-27T18:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:47:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:47:23","slug":"monthly-news-summary-december-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/3736","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary – December 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy Winter Solstice!<\/em><\/h1>\n

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

As it has annually for almost ten years, SSEC has strung lights around its 24-foot dish antennas atop the roof of its home, the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences building. When lit, the lights can be seen from across Lake Monona. If you\u2019re in the area, and you need uplifting in this cold, bleak winter, turn your face toward the south campus and scan the rooftops for this bit of cheer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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On the elevator is antenna crew chief Dave Jones, Will Robus is on the antenna. Kevin Ma assists on the penthouse roof. Building manager JoAnn Banks took the picture.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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

Eclipse<\/strong><\/a>\u2014A solar eclipse occurred Sunday, November 23, 2003, the first in more than a hundred years over Antarctica. SSEC\u2019s Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), the only group that provides Antarctic composite images from satellite data, had hoped the eclipse would be visible in composites or other imagery. For the eclipse, the AMRC began to produce composites using visible (what the eye can see) data; previously, all composites were made using imagery in wavelengths sensitive to temperature (infrared) and water vapor. However, visible data is available over the continent only sporadically, and the Sunday of the eclipse was no exception. However, the NOAA group stationed at SSEC\u2014the Advanced Satellite Products Team\u2014helped make data available from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA\u2019s Terra satellite for posting on the AMRC Web site. For\u00a0polar research<\/a>, Jeff Key, ASPT leader, routinely receives MODIS data over both Arctic and Antarctic regions in near real-time via the Internet from a NOAA computer located at Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The AMRC also experimented with\u00a0Automatic Weather Station<\/a>\u00a0data during the time and in the path of the eclipse to see if the shadow would cause the temperature to decrease appreciably. Thus far, the data show at most a small change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This visible MODIS image (channel 1) shows the arc of the eclipse shadow. You can see the TransAntarctic Mountains at the lower left of this black and white image. Note that they\u2019re not all white; some of them don\u2019t have snow on all sides.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

NASA\u2019s Earth Observing site<\/a>\u00a0provided a true-color image. From the ground, Ethan Dicks took his own composite of eclipse images. Ethan works at the South Pole with the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA<\/a>), a project within the UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Antarctic Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Institute (A3RI) and the precursor to\u00a0IceCube<\/a>. He reported that, although the day was beautiful, \u201cthe wind chill was -66F and we set a low-temp record for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Icebergs<\/strong><\/a>\u2014A Terra MODIS image, provided by SSEC\u2019s Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, showed the breakup of B-15A on October 3. On October 20,\u00a0Space Daily<\/a><\/em>\u00a0covered the breakup, based on a\u00a0release<\/a>\u00a0from UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Communications Office.\u00a0Wisconsin Week<\/em>\u00a0published the satellite image on October 22. Yahoo!News linked to the AMRC iceberg site from an article about the iceberg breakup from the Canadian Press reported from New Zealand. The AMRC was among the first groups to note the breakup of the giant iceberg, formerly about 100 miles long. Since the breakup, new satellite imagery shows pieces of the original iceberg (now B-15A, B-15J, and C-16) moving farther apart, possibly due to a low pressure system in the Ross Sea. See the image marked November 28.<\/p>\n

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

The Schwerdtfeger Library<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at SSEC maintains a large\u00a0collection<\/a>\u00a0of photomicrographs taken by pioneering ice crystal photographer Wilson Bentley. In its Winter 2003 issue,\u00a0On Wisconsin,<\/em>\u00a0UW\u2013Madison\u2019s alumni magazine, tells how the collection came to the Library. According to librarian Jean Phillips, \u201cBentley was adamant that his pioneering work belonged to the world, not to him or Vermont, so he made his pictures available to as many scientists as possible.\u201d One of those was physics professor Benjamin Snow, who collected about 1200 of them to use in lectures. When Snow retired, the Meteorology Department (now the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, or\u00a0AOS<\/a>), acquired the collection and it was passed on to The Schwerdtfeger Library as were the contents of the Meteorology Reading Room, in the same building as SSEC. In 2002, Phillips had the ice-crystal collection digitized and made available to the public. It is publicly available on the Library\u00a0Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

GIS<\/strong>\u2014SSEC research was represented in the November 19 GIS Day exhibits on campus. At UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Memorial Union, local GIS organizations exhibited their wares and talked about their research. Organizations included local branches from State and federal agencies, such as the Department of National Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey. UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Environmental Remote Sensing Center gave ample credit to SSEC for its\u00a0direct broadcast<\/a>\u00a0of MODIS data from NASA research satellites Aqua and Terra. The\u00a0ERSC<\/a>\u00a0serves MODIS data over Wisconsin in a user-friendly format on their\u00a0Web site<\/a>. SSEC contributes to the Precision Agricultural-Landscape Modeling System (PALMS<\/a>) through the research of Christine Molling, who works on the model with researchers in the Colleges of\u00a0Engineering<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Agricultural and Life Sciences<\/a>. PALMS is a GIS-based model for agricultural decision making, and, according to Molling, \u201cPALMS is playing a major role in the Wisconsin Buffer Initiative (WBI), a group which has been tasked by the State of Wisconsin to come up with policy recommendations for the State\u2019s Buffer Standards that are scientifically defensible, practical for landowners, fiscally responsible, and supported by all WBI constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange<\/a><\/strong>\u2014CIMSS\u2019 Tom Whittaker and Steve Ackerman have provided teaching applets (small but powerful Java software applications with instructions) to the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange, a resource for managers of oceanographic data centers. Although labeled \u201dUnder construction,\u201d the applets are available for use in the\u00a0teacher resource kit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

SPIE<\/strong><\/a>\u2014CIMSS scientist Allen Huang will chair jointly with NOAA\u2019s Hal Bloom a newly established conference within the annual meeting of the Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers. The Atmospheric and Environmental Remote Sensing Data Processing and Utilization: an End-to-End System Perspective will be held concurrently with SPIE\u2019s 49th Annual Meeting, August 2\u20136, 2004 in Denver\u2019s Colorado Convention Center. This conference recognizes that those who use remote sensing data have increasingly sophisticated needs and the conference committee hopes for papers that address those needs. The committee membership draws on expertise in the satellite data utilization community, most long-time collaborators with SSEC\u2019s CIMSS. They include Gerald Dittberner (NOAA), James Dodge (NASA), Jeff Hawkins (Naval Research Lab), Mervyn Lynch (Curtin University of Technology in Australia), William L. Smith, Jr. (NASA Langley Research Center), and others. Committee members from UW\u2013Madison are, beside Huang, John Mecikalski and Chris Velden (with SSEC) and Tim Schmit (NOAA, at SSEC).<\/p>\n

ITOVS<\/a><\/strong>\u2014 The International Working Group for use of the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder held its thirteenth Conference in Ste. Adele, Quebec, Canada from October 29 to November 4. Scientists from 20 countries and from all agencies who provide weather satellites attended the meeting. Key topics included initial research with the newly launched Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument, weather and climate applications with the Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder, and the impact of satellite data on numerical weather prediction. Several modeling centers reported that satellite data now has the greatest impact of all input, primarily from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A. Scientists in SSEC\u2019s CIMSS and NOAA scientists stationed at SSEC presented 10 oral talks and 11 posters.<\/p>\n

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Ice Coring and Drilling<\/em><\/h1>\n

IceCube<\/a><\/strong>\u2014The\u00a0Antarctic Sun,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0official newspaper for the U.S. in Antarctica, featured IceCube in its November 2 issue, the second issue of the southern summer season. South Pole correspondent Tracy Sheeley notes that preparation for IceCube, a major project for SSEC\u2019s\u00a0Ice Coring and Drilling Services<\/a>, begins this year at the South Pole. Currently, a giant hose reel and all supporting equipment and buildings are assembled on the grounds of UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Physical Sciences Lab near Stoughton, WI, getting ready for shipment to Antarctica. Program Manager Mark Mulligan noted that, to find out more about the weather they\u2019d face, ICDS used data from UW\u2019s Automatic Weather Station program and Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, which have weather data holdings since 1956. At the South Pole, all 80 IceCube holes have been surveyed and staked out, according to IceCube implementation manager Robert Morse.<\/p>\n

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From top left: Mark Mulligan, project manager, stands before the hot water hose drill on its Bucky Badger red sled; a pumping tower looms over operations; engineers and videographer are shown for scale.<\/h5>\n

(Photos, T.Gregory)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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

Neptune on Sphere<\/a><\/strong>\u2014SSEC planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye took images of Neptune to the Minnesota Science Museum in November where they were finally projected onto a medium worthy of them. In April 2002, Larry Sromovsky, Pat Fry and Sanjay Limaye (all of SSEC) and Kevin Baines (Jet Propulsion Lab) released images of Neptune taken with the Hubble Space Telescope showing increased brightness in Neptune\u2019s southern hemisphere, a probable sign that the planet not only had seasons, but that spring had come to the planet\u2019s south. In November 2003, the images were displayed on NOAA\u2019s Science on a Sphere globe at the annual meeting of the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Four projectors shine images onto the large sphere, produced by NOAA\u2019s Forecast Systems Laboratory.<\/p>\n

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

On Wisconsin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(Winter 2003) noted that UW\u2013Madison\u2019s\u00a0tropical cyclones research team<\/a>\u00a0monitored the progress of Hurricane Isabel. The magazine noted correctly that \u201cthe team created a series of images based on real-time satellite data, which were used by the National Hurricane Center, the Weather Channel, and other storm trackers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In November, members of SSEC\u2019s McIDAS team provided information for the weather record books. Gary Cannalte, WISC-TV Chief Meteorologist, needed to answer a question in his column, \u201cHey, Gary!\u201d in Madison\u2019s\u00a0Wisconsin State Journal.<\/em>\u00a0SSEC researcher Dave Santek provided record high and low temperatures set on the same day in not only one but three U.S. cities. On November 11, 1911, Oklahoma City had a record high of 83 and set a record low of 17 \u201cjust before midnight after passage of a powerful cold front.\u201d Record high\/low temperature combos have also been set in Sioux City, Iowa (91\/33, May 16, 1997) and Melbourne, Florida (97\/68, May 22, 1998).<\/p>\n

SSEC researcher Scott Lindstrom provided these Wisconsin weather record tidbits:<\/p>\n