{"id":3824,"date":"2003-07-03T08:29:59","date_gmt":"2003-07-03T13:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=3824"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:58:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:58:08","slug":"monthly-news-summary-july-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/3824","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary &#8211; July 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 align=\"left\"><em>SSEC&#8217;s New Web Offerings<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><em>This issue of\u00a0<\/em>SSEC In the News<em>\u00a0covers news and research results primarily from June into July 2003.\u00a0<\/em><em>Aslo be sure to read\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/July2003.htmlhttps:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/July2003.html#wings\">In the Wings<\/a><em>\u00a0for an important forthcoming public lecture. Use images freely with credit to the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, but please notify\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/cgi-bin\/email_form.cgi?name=media\">SSEC&#8217;s Public Information Officer<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SSEC has added some new pages to its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/\">Web site<\/a>. You may not find them unless you know what you\u2019re seeking, so here are highlights. Also included are some old favorites with new information.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/gi.ssec.wisc.edu\/rig\/index.html\">New Rooftop Instrument Suite<\/a><\/strong>\u2014SSEC has collaborated with our collocated colleagues in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in a new set of atmospheric instruments on the top of our building with corresponding Web site. Rooftop instruments were made possible primarily through the initiative of Grant Petty, AOS professor and an SSEC scientist, and by the work of SSEC technicians and researchers. Fred Best, SSEC\u2019s Executive Director for Technology, coordinated the effort. Tom Whittaker, SSEC Java programmer, designed the clever applets on the Web site. Whittaker says that the page is still evolving and hopes to include \u201cthe ability to download and run the meteorogram and real-time applet locally on your desktop rather than through the browser\u201d so that \u201cthe titlebar will show the current temperature\/dewpoint\/wind data.\u201d<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/July.2003meteorogram-screen-shot.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3830\" alt=\"July.2003meteorogram-screen-shot\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/July.2003meteorogram-screen-shot.gif\" width=\"420\" height=\"349\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<h5>This picture of a meteorogram is an example of what you&#8217;ll see on the AO&amp;SS Building Rooftop Instrument Group (RIG)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gi.ssec.wisc.edu\/rig\/index.html\">Real-time Weather Data Access page<\/a>. It shows temperature and dew point, pressure, wind speed and direction, accumulated precipitation and solar flux (the amount of sunlight received in a place, varying over time). All the instruments are mounted on a pole on the top of our roof on the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison campus.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Petty gives some easy instructions for best use of the page. He, Scott Lindstrom and Chris Schmidt (SSEC) and Peter Pokrandt (AOS) point out some handy on-line tools.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cGo to the [<a href=\"http:\/\/gi.ssec.wisc.edu\/rig\/index.html\">Web site<\/a>] and then scroll down to, and click on, the \u2018launch meteorogram\u2019 button. \u2026 The real-time trends in the meteorological variables are best appreciated by squashing the window horizontally and stretching it out vertically.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Also see the latest regional\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aos.wisc.edu\/weatherdata\/mapmaker_scr2\/wxp\/wicomp1.fli\">radar loop<\/a><\/li>\n<li>And the corresponding cloud-to-ground\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aos.wisc.edu\/weatherdata\/nldn\/msn\/latest.ltg.fli\">lightning map<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aos.wisc.edu\/fli.html\">FLI players<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>For x-windows, xanim works.<\/li>\n<li>For windows, get powerflic or waaplay<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Or, if you have had problems with powerflic on Win2k and XP with Netscape 7, Quicktime 5 and higher also handles .fli files.<\/li>\n<li>If you don\u2019t have an fli player, but support java on your machine, &#8230; [SSEC provides]\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/localweather\/radar.html\">short loops<\/a>\u00a0&#8230; .<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While you\u2019re there, check out all the useful information on SSEC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/localweather\/\">Wisconsin and Midwest Weather<\/a>\u00a0page.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/aeri\/\"><strong>New AERI Page<\/strong><\/a>\u2014SSEC\u2019s Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer has a newly designed Web page, which explains the science behind the instrument and gives examples of the data it collects, such as the atmospheric profile below. On the Data page is information collected in real time at the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) sites in Oklahoma where AERI instruments operate automatically.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/aeri\/data\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3827\" alt=\"july.2003AERI\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003AERI.gif\" width=\"400\" height=\"162\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/gifts\/\">A Gift of GIFTS<\/a><\/strong>\u2014The Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer-Indian Ocean METeorological and OCeanographic Imager GIFTS-IOMI, an advanced atmospheric-measuring instrument concept in development for a planned launch in this decade, now has its own Web site at SSEC. The site explains SSEC\u2019s deep involvement in the project, including instrument and software applications development and processing the voluminous amount of data the instrument will send us.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/baryons\/\">Missing Astrophysics Found<\/a><\/strong>\u2014SSEC has long had an active collaboration with UW\u2013Madison\u2019s Space Physics group, and an astrophysics program of its own led by physicist Wilton Sanders (who also works with Space Physics). An astrophysics page is beginning to form, currently including proposals and other information about the Missing Baryon Explorer, a proposed project studying low energy x-rays to learn more about the structure of the early universe. A previous x-ray astronomy project is the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/dxs\/\">Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer<\/a>, which flew on Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993 to learn more about the interstellar medium.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satmet_workshop\/index.html\">Science Teacher Training<\/a><\/strong>\u2014SSEC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/tellus.ssec.wisc.edu\/outreach\/\">Office of Space Science and Education<\/a>\u00a0organizes and gives numerous useful workshops, listed on their Web site. The 24 July GLOBE workshop is noted toward the bottom of OSSE\u2019s front page, with links to workshop information. Applications are still being accepted for both GLOBE and Satellite Meteorology Workshops, both perfect for teachers seeking new ideas for teaching science.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/links.htm\">Links to Everything<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Well, almost everthing. SSEC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/\">Media page<\/a>\u00a0now sports a page of links to many useful and interesting Web sites, including agencies with whom SSEC often collaborates. Many other links to useful science and technology agency Web sites are also included. Also among the links are general technology and science sites as well as many devoted to the Earth sciences and many devoted to satellites and imagery. Dozens of links are meant for children, but adults will enjoy them, too. This page\u2019s content provider has a special interest in Women in Science, so if you\u2019re interested, too, there are plenty of links. We\u2019ve linked to SSEC stories, as well, but don\u2019t forget to check out the SSEC\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/media.html#features\">Media Features<\/a>\u00a0page, which lists stories as far back as the 1990s, including our contribution to the Galileo mission to Jupiter. The Media page itself links to our Acronyms list and In the News, which you may also find useful. The Links page features (left-hand bar) a handy email link to use if you find outdated links or have suggested additions.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/tropic\/tropic.html\">Always Another Hurricane<\/a><\/strong>\u2014It\u2019s true that the page isn\u2019t new, but this is the heart of the Atlantic hurricane season, and where better to track them than at SSEC\u2019s Tropical Cyclones Web site? Even the National Hurricane Center links to this site. SSEC, and its Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, has been in the hurricane-tracking business using satellite data since the early 1980s. The Web site provides constantly updated imagery and other hurricane news. Click on links in the left-hand navigation bar for weather satellite images and movies.<a name=\"Antarctica\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Antarctica<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uwamrc.ssec.wisc.edu\/amrc\/iceberg.html\"><strong>AMRC Monitors Icebergs<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Iceberg C-19 continues to crumble. Shelley Knuth, meteorologist with the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center, informed the National Ice Center that the \u201cAMRC has found that C-19A has broken off three more pieces of ice; two large enough to be called icebergs.\u201d Knuth found evidence of the icebergs breaking in an image from 10 June. An image from 13 June was the earliest image to clearly show the new icebergs. The AMRC has tracked the new crop of large tabular icebergs since they started calving in March 2000. According to Knuth, \u201cThe use of satellite data allows the AMRC to frequently observe the position of existing icebergs in and around the Ross Sea, as well as monitor the calving of new icebergs. Without this valuable tool, the icebergs would go unnoticed, potentially causing problems for those who travel [on and] to the continent.\u201d It is the mission of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.natice.noaa.gov\/\">National Ice Center<\/a>\u00a0to announce and name new icebergs.<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/juluy.2003babyberg7-9-2003.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3826\" alt=\"juluy.2003babyberg7-9-2003\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/juluy.2003babyberg7-9-2003.gif\" width=\"280\" height=\"207\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<h5>All six icebergs can be seen in this infrared image taken on 9 July 2003 by the NOAA-16 polar-orbiting weather satellite. You can also see that sea ice continues to build in the region.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Pearson Education Australia will use an iceberg image in a new textbook,\u00a0<em>Longman Geography 10<\/em>\u00a0by Malcolm Stacey et al. From the images that the AMRC has posted since the Ross Ice Shelf starting calving large tabular icebergs, they chose one taken by the NOAA-12 satellite on 9 November 2000.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Antarctic Programs Meeting<\/strong>\u2014In June, the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) program, the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), and users and developers of the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS, not based in Madison) met in Madison to discuss common interests and for status reports on their programs. This year\u2019s meeting was the 21st for the AWS program. AMRC was added in the last 10 years. This year, AMPS, a model designed specifically to forecast weather in Antarctica, was added. About fifty researchers attended from many university and governmental organizations in the United States, England, Australia, and Italy. Bernhard Lettau, program manager for Ocean and Climate in the NSF Office of Polar Programs, attended. Shelley Knuth coordinated the combined workshop; Matthew Lazzara organized AWS and AMRC parts; Jordan G. Powers of the National Center for Atmospheric Research organized the AMPS workshop.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Lazzara and the AMRC are featured on the\u00a0<strong>Antarctic Kiosk<\/strong>, an informational interactive display at the International Antarctic Center, Christchurch, NZ. Under \u201cForecasting Now and Then,\u201d the kiosk shows a video of Matthew talking about what the AMRC provides, including data from the Automatic Weather Station program, and why. Christchurch is a jumping-off point for researchers and tourists visiting Antarctica. NASA provided the display.<a name=\"Data\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Data and Imagery<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/terra.ssec.wisc.edu\/~gumley\/images.html\">MODIS Gallery<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Liam Gumley of SSEC\u2019s MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) group has posted some fine MODIS images, some recent ones from NOAA\u2019s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service with the many from SSEC&#8217;s Direct Broadcast Facility. Note the nearly cloud-free images of the southwest U.S. including southern California (7 July) and the U.S.Four Corners area (27 June). Most images on the SSEC MODIS Gallery page are received directly into SSEC\u2019s Direct Broadcast Facility through an X-band antenna on the building\u2019s roof. Those from NOAA and NASA are processed at SSEC.<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"71\" height=\"71\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003SouthWest_20030707_2055_thumb.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3831\" alt=\"july.2003SouthWest_20030707_2055_thumb\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003SouthWest_20030707_2055_thumb.jpg\" width=\"115\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td valign=\"center  \t\t\t\t  \" width=\"557\">\n<h5>This MODIS image of the southwestern U.S. was taken by the NASA Aqua research satellite on 7 July 2003, 2055 UTC and was received at SSEC\u2019s Direct Broadcast Facility. It shows a practically cloud-free southern California.<\/h5>\n<h5>The small image to the left links to a larger one at 1000 meter resolution. One is also available at higher resolution of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/terra.ssec.wisc.edu\/~gumley\/images\/SouthWest_20030707_2055_250m.jpg\">250 m<\/a>.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nap.edu\/catalog\/10658.html\">Towards Making Satellite Data More Useful More Quickly<\/a><\/strong>\u2014On June 5, NOAA and NASA announced their agreement with the National Research Council report,\u00a0<em>Satellite Observations of the Earth&#8217;s Environment: Accelerating the Transition of Research to Operations<\/em>\u00a0released this March. They say, \u201cThis report is an important step towards reducing the cycle time from research to operations by inserting operational considerations into the early stages of the satellite planning process at NASA.\u201d They also acknowledge that \u201cas leaders in the development and operation of Earth observing satellites, this study is one way the two agencies can administer their responsibilities to the public by designing a more formal bridge between their programs,\u201d and they hope to \u201cinvolve other agencies in the process to identify a range of civil Earth observation requirements in support of research to operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.webbyawards.com\/main\/webby_awards\/index.html\"><strong>Webby Awards<\/strong><\/a>\u2014NASA\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/\">Earth Observatory Web site<\/a>\u00a0received the 2003 Webby Award from the International Academy of the Digital Arts &amp; Sciences. The site received not only a Webby in the Education category, but the People\u2019s Voice Award, determined by popular vote, also in Education. David Herring, Earth Observatory Chief Editor at NASA&#8217;s Goddard Space Flight Center, calls the awards \u201cthe on-line community\u2019s pinnacle of achievement.\u201d Herring noted that the Academy\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.webbyawards.com\/main\/webby_awards\/judging.html#judges\">evaluates<\/a>\u00a0Web sites based on content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience. Herring thanked not only the NASA team of writers and researchers, but partners inside and outside NASA, including the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. Regular UW\u2013Madison contributors include the developers of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/earthobservatory.nasa.gov\/Laboratory\/ICE\/ice_intro.html\">Interactive Composite Editor<\/a>\u00a0and SSEC\u2019s MODIS group who regularly supply images from SSEC\u2019s MODIS\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eosdb.ssec.wisc.edu\/modisdirect\/\">Direct Broadcast Facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/data\/sst.html\"><strong>SSTs<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Java developer Ken Warner of Mammoth Lakes, CA has made a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/relay.cameraware.com\/cwtest\/sst.html\">demonstration movie<\/a>\u00a0using sea surface temperatures from the SSEC Web site. Warner said of his intent, \u201cIt would be fun to watch the ebb and flow of the sea surface temperatures.\u201d You can also see sea ice around Antarctica extend and recede and see temperatures change in the U.S. Great Lakes. Remember, though, the NOAA temperatures we use in our SST browse images are fairly coarse in resolution. Fine analysis is impossible with these. Warner\u2019s \u201cdemo,\u201d though, is pretty spiffy. He says of his project: \u201cI have about 15 images on the server. \u2026 There is one huge caveat. Performance over a WAN (Wide Area Network) like DSL and\/or cable modem speeds is dismal. It takes too long to down load each image and I don\u2019t want to cache the images because of memory constraints. \u2026 If the applet and the images are on the same disk on the same machine it really cranks. You can see about 3 to 4 frames a second on a modest machine. My development machine is an 800 mhz P3. \u2026[You] will see that it zooms nicely on large images and has a built-in bilinear anti-aliasing filter that depixelates zoomed images. The images are large and may take a few seconds to load.\u201d Warner is eager to work with other developers. Feel free to\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:kwarner@uneedspeed.net\">contact him<\/a>.<a name=\"planets\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Planets<\/em><\/h1>\n<p>In the August 2003 issue of\u00a0<em>Sky and Telescope<\/em>\u00a0magazine, J. Kelly Beatty notes Neptune\u2019s recent change in color, from a mostly overall pale blue towards a whiter, brighter hue. He tells how bands of cloud, particularly in Neptune\u2019s southern hemisphere, have increased from 1996 to 2002, when Lawrence Sromovsky and colleagues at the UW\u2013Madison and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Lab last observed the planet. Other scientists had hypothesized that cosmic ray bombardment was responsible for Neptune\u2019s increased brightening. Sromovsky\u2019s evidence \u201cargues that gradual heating of the upper atmosphere is somehow involved,\u201d indicating that Neptune has seasons.<\/p>\n<p>NASA featured an image of Neptune with a bright southern hemisphere in its\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov\/apod\/ap030613.html\">Astronomy Picture of the Day<\/a><\/em>\u00a0on June 13. Managing editor Hugh Westrup will feature \u201cSpringtime for Neptune and Uranus\u201d in<em>Current Science<\/em>, a twice-monthly magazine published by Weekly Reader for middle school and high school students.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"neutrino\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Software<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seanational.com.au\/SEAJournal.jsp?articleZoneID=17\"><strong>VisAD Featured<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Australia\u2019s Bureau of Meteorology and its use of VisAD are featured in the journal,<em>Software<\/em>, the official publication of Software Engineering Australia (National) Ltd (S|E|A|). Their work is used prominently on the cover of the June 2003 edition; the article, \u201cHigh performance computing,\u201d can be<a href=\"http:\/\/www.seanational.com.au\/articles\/files\/41-45_sea_june_Gigliotti.pdf\">downloaded<\/a>. In it, Peter Gigliotti of the Bureau, \u201cexplains the role of high performance computing and information technology in weather.\u201d Gigliotti is assistant director of Central Operations and Systems at the Commonwealth\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bom.gov.au\/\">Bureau of Meteorology<\/a>\u00a0in Melbourne. His is an extraordinarily well-written and lucid article that does indeed explain how technology, including software, is used in meteorology today, and how it has improved weather forecasting, especially in Australia\u2019s Bureau of Meteorology.<\/p>\n<p>In the section on software development at the Bureau, Gigliotti explains their use of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/~billh\/visad.html\">VisAD<\/a>, \u201can open source software suite for the physical sciences,\u201d created by SSEC\u2019s Bill Hibbard and in continual development by software users around the world. The Bureau of Meteorology is using VisAD extensively, Gigliotti noted, in the \u201cdevelopment of its next generation of forecaster workstation.\u201d SSEC and its CIMSS has collaborated with the Bureau of Meteorology for many years, on a variety of projects. The article ends with a profile of John Zillman, longest serving director of the Bureau of Meteorology, who has overseen the development of the Bureau\u2019s high-performance computing capability. Zillman leaves his position this year.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"cyclones\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Weather Events<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/goes\/misc\/030622\/030622.html\"><strong>Record Hail in Nebraska<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Severe convection (thunderstorms) in eastern Nebraska on June 22, 2003 produced record-setting hail (7 inches in diameter) and several tornadoes. Visible imagery from the GOES-12 satellite showed that this convection was initiated along the western edge of a region of stable boundary layer (low-level) wave clouds over southeastern Nebraska. These clouds were remnants of a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/itg1.meteor.wisc.edu\/wxwise\/satmet\/lesson10\/980529.html\">convective outflow<\/a>\u00a0from earlier in the day, a separate stream of dense moist air falling from the bottom of a thunderstorm, like a pancake on a griddle. GOES-12 infrared imagery revealed a classic, long-lived \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/goes\/misc\/warm_wake.html\">enhanced-v<\/a>\u201d signature and cloud top temperatures as cold as -78 C, while infrared imagery from the polar-orbiting NOAA-15 satellite showed cloud tops as cold as -87 C. Scott Bachmeier has posted image examples and animations on the CIMSS\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/goes\/misc\/\">GOES Gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"experts\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Weather Experts<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpr.org\/webcasting\/\"><strong>Weather Guys<\/strong><\/a>\u2014On their broadcast on 30 June, Steve Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, Weather Guys on Larry Meiller\u2019s WHA Radio call-in show, received a variety of questions related mostly to weather phenomena: What causes summer cloudbursts?\u2014Melted hail figures into the answer. Tornadoes?\u2014They&#8217;re thunder storms with strong vertical wind shear that can be tilted to the horizontal and, well, twisted. Amazing things fall out of them, like alligators in 19th century Charleston, SC. Did you know you\u2019re more likely to be killed by lightning than by a tornado? Why does it appear that there are more stars in winter than in summer?\u2014Less water vapor. Winters are getting warmer.\u2014Indicators are lack of snow and less ice on the lakes. What do AOS (meteorology) graduates do?\u2014Broadcast, research\/forecast the weather, teach at high school or university, work in private weather companies. What skills do you need?\u2014Math and physics. What kind of summer will we have\u2014After discussing the weather of the past few months, the Guys decided, \u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d The Weather Guys programs are archived (since February 2002) on Larry Meiller\u2019s Wisconsin Public Radio\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpr.org\/webcasting\/ideas_audioarchives.cfm?Code=mlr%20\">Web pages<\/a>. Search on \u201cweather guys.\u201d Generally, you can listen to the Weather Guys, live, on the last Monday of every month.<a name=\"research\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Weather Research<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Snow Albedo Product Validated<\/strong>\u2014J. Box of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University compared the albedo values (surface broadband) in the extended Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Polar Pathfinder (APP-x) data set to surface-based measurements taken on the Greenland ice sheet. Box found that the mean difference between the satellite-derived and surface-based albedos is near zero with a root-mean-square error of approximately 5%, indicating the high quality of the satellite estimates. The AVHRR-derived snow albedo is a product of the Advanced Satellite Products Team (ASPT) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Global Cloud-type Algorithm Constructed<\/strong>\u2014Michael Pavolonis, a CIMSS researcher, and Andrew Heidinger (NOAA, stationed at SSEC) have developed a way to determine cloud type on a global scale. For their algorithm, they simulated data from the future Visible and Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) using MODIS data. Cloud types were determined as in the Clouds from AVHRR (CLAVR) software suite. MODIS data was processed globally for 1 April 2003; the results were consistent with surface-based climatologies. The retrieval of cloud properties is heavily influenced by cloud type, so an accurate determination of cloud type is important. Pavolonis and Heidinger will aim future work at comparing the results of this VIIRS algorithm to the MODIS and VIIRS contractor algorithms.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003global_cloud_type.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-3828\" alt=\"july.2003global_cloud_type\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003global_cloud_type.png\" width=\"441\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003global_cloud_type.png 900w, https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003global_cloud_type-300x258.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003global_cloud_type-348x300.png 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 441px) 100vw, 441px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/goes\/realtime\/grtmain.html#g3pw\">GOES Sounder Coverage from Japan to Maine<\/a><\/strong>\u2014With the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-9 positioned over the far Pacific (155 East longitude), CIMSS continues to produce frequent geostationary sounding products, such as total precipitable water, in a wide midlatitude swath across the North Pacific Ocean and the U.S. real-time animations of select GOES Sounder imagery and products provide different perspectives of atmospheric evolution. Cloud top pressure imagery is forthcoming.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003goessoundersample-small1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3832\" alt=\"july.2003goessoundersample-small\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2003\/07\/july.2003goessoundersample-small1.gif\" width=\"500\" height=\"129\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5>When you click on the small image above, you will find a composite of GOES-9 (far Pacific), GOES-10 (East Pacific and West U.S.), and GOES-12 (East U.S.) Sounder imagery for 1800 UTC on 05 June 2003.<\/h5>\n<p><em>Top:<\/em>\u00a0Brightness temperatures derived from GOES Sounder band 11 (7.0 micrometers) show relative moisture patterns in the mid troposphere. Note large, dark, subsiding air masses in the far Pacific (around 25-30N and 155-170E) and East Pacific (around 20-35N and 110-140W) as well as distinctive small-scale closed circulations over central Japan and the northern U.S. plains.<\/p>\n<p><em>Middle:<\/em>\u00a0GOES Sounder band 4 (13.7 micrometers) brightness temperatures show broad large-scale thermal patterns (in clear, cloud-free air) in the mid troposphere. Note the two large longwave ridges, oriented along 160E and 130W.<\/p>\n<p><em>Bottom:\u00a0<\/em>GOES Sounder-derived total precipitable water (the small image, above). Note very moist tropical air (40-55mm) surrounding convection in the Gulf of Mexico with extension of moist air (30mm+) into the south central U.S., very dry air (&lt;10mm) across the interior western U.S., and modest moisture (30mm+) across the mid-Pacific (under the far Pacific ridge and into the mid-Pacific trough).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/model\/antarctica\/antarctic.html\"><strong>Antarctica Forecasts<\/strong><\/a>\u2014Bob Aune (NOAA, at SSEC) has used MODIS cloud-top pressure and total precipitable water to initialize water vapor and clouds in the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS) to model Antarctic weather. Due to MODIS data, significant changes were noted in forecast water vapor, precipitation and cloud fields. Daily forecasts for Antarctica are now being generated in preparation for real-time MODIS assimilation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Polar Winds for the Navy<\/strong>\u2014The U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) has asked CIMSS to provide MODIS polar winds data. Chris Velden and Dave Santek of CIMSS and Jeff Key of NOAA (at SSEC) have set up procedures to routinely transfer the winds data in real time to FNMOC.<\/p>\n<h2><em>Papers, Presentations<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><em>Where SSEC staff or students are first through third authors, or, if not, the contributions are substantial.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Journal of Applied Meteorology<\/em>\u00a0has published two papers by SSEC authors in its vol. 42, no. 6, 2003.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cMathematical aspects in meteorological processing of infrared spectral measurements from the GOES sounder, part II: Analysis of spatial and temporal continuity of spectral measurements from the GOES-8 sounder\u201d (pages 671-685). Authors are Youri Plokhenko (SSEC\/CIMSS), W. Paul Menzel (NOAA, at SSEC), Gail Bayler (SSEC\/CIMSS), and Timothy J. Schmit (NOAA, at SSEC).<\/li>\n<li>\u201cCloud phase determination using ground-based AERI observations at SHEBA\u201d (pages 701-715), by David Turner, Steven Ackerman, Bryan Baum, Henry Revercomb, and P. Yang.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology<\/em>\u00a0has published \u201cDry bias and variability in Vaisala RS80-H radiosondes: The ARM experience,\u201d by David Turner (CIMSS), B. M. Lesht, S. A. Clough, J. C. Liljegren, Henry Revercomb (SSEC), and David Tobin (SSEC) in volume 20, number 1, 2003, pages 117-132.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology<\/em>\u00a0has accepted \u201cDetection and analysis of clear sky, low-level atmospheric temperature inversions with MODIS,\u201d by Y. Liu and Jeff Key, for publication. The paper presents a method for estimating low-level atmospheric temperature inversion strength, defined as the temperature difference across the inversion, and height using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Inversion strength can be estimated with an uncertainty of 2-3 degrees C; the uncertainty in inversion height is 130-250 m.<\/p>\n<p>The CIMSS Biomass Burning Monitoring Team submitted abstracts to the American Meteorological Society\u2019s (AMS) 5th Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology Joint with the 2nd International Wildland Fire Ecology and Fire Management Congress, to be held November 16-20, 2003 in Orlando, Florida. The abstracts cover recent validation efforts and improvements in product speed for the GOES Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA). \u201cRecent validation studies of the GOES Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) in North and South America\u201d was submitted by Joleen Feltz (CIMSS), Michel Moreau (Environment Canada\/Meteorological Services\/Quebec region), Elaine M. Prins (NOAA), Kirsten McClaid-Cook (State University of New York-Albany), and Irving F. Brown (Woods Hole Research Center\/Federal University of Acre, Brazil). \u201cGOES Wildfire ABBA Applications in the Western Hemisphere\u201d was submitted by Christopher C. Schmidt (CIMSS) and Elaine M. Prins.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"education\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Education, Outreach<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/spacelink.nasa.gov\/Educational.Services\/NASA.Education.Programs\/Student.Support\/Summer.High.School.Apprenticeship.Research.Program.-.SHARP\/.index.html\">SHARP at SSEC<\/a><\/strong>\u2014This summer, SSEC is hosting three high school students in NASA\u2019s Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program (SHARP). Ashley Minor is assisting Jim Kossin with hurricane research, William Salinger is working with Sanjay Limaye on a proposed Venus mission, and Charles Rivenbak is working with Larry Sromovsky in research into atmospheres of the outer planets. Limaye also directs SSEC\u2019s Office of Space Science Education. NASA SHARP is designed to foster and increase the involvement of high school students in science, mathematics, technology, engineering and geography. The program is especially designed to focus on students from groups traditionally underrepresented in those fields, both academically and in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, June 27, 2003, 21 students participating in SHARP at UW\u2013Madison visited SSEC for a building tour. Also, Gary Wade (NOAA, at SSEC) and Ana Picon gave presentations, promoting the NOAA presence at UW. Wade showed real-time satellite data and CIMSS products. Picon told the students about NOAA\u2019s recently established Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center (CREST) in Puerto Rico, where she is a graduate student. Picon is visiting CIMSS this summer to compare cloud height retrievals from different satellite sensors.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"honors\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>Honors<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Aqua Award<\/strong>\u2014SSEC scientists have received NASA\u2019s Group Achievement Award for their work on the mission to launch the Aqua satellite. The Goddard Space Flight Center presented the award to SSEC scientists for \u201cOutstanding Teamwork\u201d toward the success of the Earth Observing System Aqua Mission Team. Aqua was launched 16 May 2003. Award recipients are Hank Revercomb (SSEC director), Steve Ackerman (director, CIMSS), Dave Tobin (SSEC researcher), and Paul Menzel (NOAA Chief Scientist, at SSEC). The researchers contributed expertise toward the satellite\u2019s MODIS and AIRS instruments and will receive an attractive certificate and metal medallion.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/my.unidata.ucar.edu\/\">Unidata Committee<\/a><\/strong>\u2014Tom Whittaker, CIMSS software programmer, has been asked to serve on the Steering Committee for Unidata\u2019s Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) to help guide its future development. The IDV is a new display and analysis tool based on VisAD, for 2D\/3D visualization and next-generation, collaborative data analysis. Unidata is a program operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and sponsored by the National Science Foundation that enables universities to acquire and use meteorological and other data in teaching and research. SSEC, and Whittaker, have been involved in Unidata since the planning stages in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, Whittaker\u2019s picture is one of four at the top of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.noaatech2004.noaa.gov\/\">NOAATech 2004<\/a>\u00a0page, right over Agenda. The NOAATech Workshop serves \u201cas a showcase for NOAA\u2019s achievements in high-end computing, network and web technologies.\u201d Whittaker, who designs creative Java applets for Earth science\u2014you\u2019ve read about them often in In the News, is a worthy representative.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOAA Great Lakes Area Coordination<\/strong>\u2014As part of NOAA Administrator Vadm. C. Lautenbacher\u2019s plan for pilot programs on NOAA regionalization, Steve Brandt of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL, Ann Arbor, Michigan) will lead a committee to coordinate NOAA activities in the Great Lakes region. Each NOAA line office is represented on the committee, including the Advanced Satellite Products Branch, the NOAA group at SSEC. Jeff Key, team leader of the ASPB, will represent the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, the ASPB\u2019s parent group within NOAA. The two main goals of the regional committees are to improve intra-line office communication and to develop and enhance NOAA\u2019s image in the region.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wings\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><em>In the Wings<\/em><\/h1>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/erebus.phys.cwru.edu\/~krauss\/krauss.html\">Physics of Star Trek Author at Space Place<\/a><\/strong>\u2014SSEC is pleased to announce that Lawrence M. Krauss, author of\u00a0<em>Physics of Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0and other generally understandable science books, will give a public lecture at UW Space Place on August 12. Professor Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology. His studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He has written more than 200 scientific publications and numerous articles and books for the nonscientist. Space Place, located at 1605 South Park Street in Madison, regularly hosts free lectures on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. The visit is organized by Sanjay Limaye, director of SSEC\u2019s Office of Space Science Education.<\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks to\u00a0<em>Tim Schmit, Gary Wade and Don Wylie for help with meteorological terms; to Bill Bellon and Brian Kayon for screen shots and other technical assistance; to Rose Pertzborn, Leeanne Avila, Jean Phillips, and Jeff Key; and to all the content providers in the top story on SSEC&#8217;s Web sites.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the News &#8211; July 2003 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3824","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\/3824","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=3824"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4340,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824\/revisions\/4340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}