{"id":4263,"date":"2000-02-24T11:01:20","date_gmt":"2000-02-24T17:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=4263"},"modified":"2013-07-25T15:10:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T20:10:07","slug":"monthly-news-summary-february-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/4263","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary &#8211; February 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><em>Snow, Ice and Satellite Images<\/em><\/h1>\n<h5><em>by Terri Gregory, SSEC Public Information Specialist<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><em>February 2000<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>The Schwerdtfeger Library is one of several University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison campus libraries hosting exhibits about Wilson A. Bentley, a Vermont dairy farmer who first photographed snow crystals in the late 1800s. Campus news publications<em>Wisconsin Week<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Wisconsin Week Wire<\/em>\u00a0note the snowflake exhibits in an announcement of talks by award-winning author Jacqueline Briggs Martin, who wrote the children\u2019s book\u00a0<em>Snowflake Bentley.<\/em>\u00a0The Schwerdtfeger Library is displaying prints of some of Bentley\u2019s photomicrographs on the third floor of the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences building where the library is located and whose residents it serves.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more information, follow the links below.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/library\/bentley.htm\">Bentley, Schwerdtfeger<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.wisc.edu\/wisweek\/view.msql?id=3621#7\">Bentley, W.Week<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Weatherwise<\/em>\u00a0magazine (January\/February 2000) featured SSEC\u2019s research and some of the people behind it in two major articles. In \u201cAntarctica, A Land of Ice and Wind,\u201d Jack Williams, weather editor of<em>USA Today<\/em>\u00a0gives a detailed and realistic overview of life and work on the continent. He notes that without the Automatic Weather Stations of Chuck Stearns and his UW\u2013Madison group, \u201cno weather observations would be available across the 850 miles between McMurdo and the South Pole, which is the continent\u2019s busiest air route.\u201d After reading Jack\u2019s article, one wonders how the stations are kept operational at all, given the harsh conditions. The article also covers the research Chuck and his group did with Susan Solomon on the weather that killed the 1912 Robert Falcon Scott expedition. Susan and Chuck found it was much colder than normal the summer that Scott journeyed to the South Pole. Chuck is a principal investigator at SSEC for Antarctic projects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more information, follow these links.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/weatherwise.org\/\">Weatherwise<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/uwamrc.ssec.wisc.edu\/\">Antarctic Projects<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/weather\/resources\/coldscience\/acoldsci.htm\">Live from the Ice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In \u201cSentinels in the Sky,\u201d Jeff Rosenfeld celebrates the 40th anniversary of weather satellites with a brief history, complete with pictures. Among the many he used is an image of Hurricane Luis (1995) showing wind vectors, from the CIMSS\u2019 Tropical Cyclones Web page. He also credits Verner Suomi, SSEC\u2019s founding director, and his partner Robert Parent with the first meteorological instrument on a satellite that flew on Explorer VI in 1959. It measured \u201cincoming solar radiation and departing heat radiation.\u201d Jeff added, \u201cwithout such radiation budget assessments, the huge recent advance of climate modeling likely would be impractical.\u201d He also pays tribute to \u201cSuomi\u2019s legendary ability for simplicity\u201d and describes the black and white ping-pong balls acting as sensors. He also notes that the spin-scan camera gave the \u201cfirst frequent and hemispheric photos of weather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Orlando, Florida will use SSEC\u2019s image of North and South America in publicity material for the institute. The image is a high resolution version of Dawn of the Millennium, being offered by SSEC on its Web page. Creator Rick Kohrs used a combination of GOES 8 and 10 imagery to show dawn breaking on the year 2000 over the western hemisphere. Hubbs-SeaWorld Florida, a nonprofit organization doing marine science in partnership with NASA, is a new sibling of one established in San Diego in 1967.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more information, follow this link.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seaworld.org\/TurtleTravels\/hubbs.htm\">SeaWorld Research Inst.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"print\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><em>In Print<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/media\/newcool.html\">SSEC GIFTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/tellus.ssec.wisc.edu\/outreach\/gifts\/gifts.htm\">LaRC GIFTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SSEC\u2019s participation in NASA\u2019s GIFTS program was highlighted in<em>Wisconsin Week<\/em>\u2019s Research column on January 19. SSEC was picked to be a key partner with NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center and others in designing the Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS). As stated in the article, GIFTS builds on SSEC\u2019s 35 years of experience with weather satellite and spaceflight hardware technology. Hank Revercomb, SSEC\u2019s director, explained that GIFTS will be able to dissect the atmosphere \u201cin a far more detailed way than current geostationary satellites.\u201d Scientists hope to greatly improve weather forecasting accuracy with GIFTS.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov\/\">EOS<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.earth.nasa.gov\/\">Destination Earth<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s\u00a0<em>Science Writers\u2019 Guide to Terra,<\/em>\u00a0recently released by the EOS Project Science Office, describes capabilities of the five scientific instruments on the new Terra satellite by including individual projects that will use their data. One of them is Paul Menzel\u2019s study of \u201cwhat causes cirrus clouds to form and how their ice crystals trap radiation\u201d which will use data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. Don Wylie is a key scientist on this cirrus study. EOS lists only PIs in its project descriptions.<\/p>\n<p>The November helicopter lift of SSEC\u2019s 40-foot rooftop tower was highlighted in J.P. Cullen\u2019s\u00a0<em>Pride Update<\/em>\u00a0employee newsletter for October\u2013December 1999. The newsletter noted that a helicopter lifted the tower sections into place \u201cbecause of the 220-foot height of the building, and the relatively tight space requirements of the project.\u201d They used a picture showing Cullen employees finishing the tower on the roof. J.P. Cullen and Sons is the Janesville contractor who is erecting the tower and antenna on our building\u2019s roof, preparing to receive data from Terra, the new NASA Earth science satellite.<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2013\/07\/febtowrltl1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4264\" alt=\"febtowrltl1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2013\/07\/febtowrltl1.gif\" width=\"250\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<h5>A helicopter lifts a section of tower to the top of the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Science Building where workers wait to fit it into place.<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/goes\/realtime\/realtime.html\">Realtime GOES<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/orbit35i.nesdis.noaa.gov\/arad\/index.html\">NOAA\/NESDIS\/ARAD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>GOES Products and Services Catalog,<\/em>\u00a0published June 1999, lists CIMSS contributors Paul Menzel, Elaine Prins, Tim Schmit, Gary Wade and Fred Wu. Other CIMSS people contributed as project members. CIMSS products include the Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm, the GOES Sea Surface Temperature image, High Density Winds (from infrared and water vapor imagery), winds from GOES visible imagery and many others.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/news\/state\/jan00\/moon18011700a.asp\">Blushing Moon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/em>\u00a0advertised an infrequent opportunity, a total lunar eclipse, on January 20. Sanjay Limaye, SSEC Outreach Coordinator, encouraged everyone to \u201cgo out and enjoy it. It should look beautiful.\u201d He was right. The next lunar eclipse visible from North America won\u2019t occur till May 2003.<\/p>\n<p>Dee Wade and Jerry Robaidek, Data Center manager and supervisor, are credited in\u00a0<em>Surviving the Storm: Coastal and Offshore Tactics<\/em>\u00a0with providing historical satellite photos. Authors Steve and Linda Dashew include satellite imagery of some of the storms profiled in this book for sailors.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.physics.wisc.edu\/\">Physics Dept.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>UW\u2013Madison\u2019s physics department is including SSEC in its new graduate brochure. Physics professor Mark Eriksson wanted to advertise SSEC\u2019s resources because \u201cSSEC is an important attraction for potential physics graduate students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The University of Tennessee\u2019s Physics Department is producing (with Brooks\/Cole Publishing) a Web-based astronomy textbook,\u00a0<em>Online Journey Through Astronomy.<\/em>\u00a0They\u2019ve asked to use SSEC\u2019s global montage and sea surface temperature images to \u201ccomplement and enrich our discussion on Satellite Observations of Earth and Sea Surface Temperatures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.satnews.com\/free\/pubs\/isd.html\">Directory<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SSEC is included in the\u00a0<em>International Satellite Directory,<\/em>\u00a0in its 15th year of publication with, they say, more than \u201c20,000 active readers in 140 countries.\u201d The 2000 directory will be printed early this year.<\/p>\n<p>Editors of the forthcoming\u00a0<em>Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change<\/em>\u00a0asked John Dutton of The Pennsylvania State University to write an entry for Verner Suomi, SSEC\u2019s late founding director. The piece stresses Professor Suomi\u2019s contributions to environmental science including the spin-scan camera which made possible a view of the earth from space. John Dutton is Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State. John Wiley and Sons is publishing the encyclopedia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"internet\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><em>On the Net<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.wisc.edu\/inthenews\/\">Newsmakers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SSEC newsmakers are featured in the Office of News and Public Affairs\u2019 online column, UW\u2013Madison Newsmakers, which lists media appearances, much as this column does. Sanjay Limaye was found quoted in the<em>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/em>\u00a0for December 20. He and Jim Lattis, Space Place director, spoke about a particularly brilliant moon in December. Sanjay explained that \u201cthe Earth and moon are \u2026 at their closest point to the sun. That convergence, which hasn\u2019t taken place in 133 years, will make the moon noticeably bigger and brighter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noted in Newsmakers and in\u00a0<em>Wisconsin Week<\/em>\u00a0for January 19, Chuck Stearns is quoted in\u00a0<em>Science News<\/em>\u00a0for January 1 on Chuck\u2019s group\u2019s contributions to research on the Scott expedition. The men apparently faced uncommonly cold weather, even for Antarctica. Chuck said, \u201cThey were just absolutely freezing to death. I think if it had been warmer, they\u2019d have made it back.\u201d He and Susan Solomon confirmed that 1912 temperatures \u201cstayed below -30 degrees Fahrenheit for more than a month, an exceedingly cold spell during the South Pole\u2019s mildest season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SSEC\u2019s In the News column has just been added as Newsmakers\u2019 first (and thus far only) link under \u201cMore campus newsmaker sites.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pumas.jpl.nasa.gov\/examples\/layout.asp?Document_Id=05_10_99_1\">PUMAS-&#8220;Who Hits Harder&#8230;&#8221;\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Don Wylie\u2019s piece on ski jumping, \u201cWho Hits Harder: The Nordic Skier or Aerial Jumper?,\u201d is being used as a teaching example in PUMAS, Practical Uses of Math And Science, an online education program of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On their Web site, PUMAS provides examples, usually written by scientists and teachers, of how math and science affect our every day life. Granted, ski jumping is not as ordinary an activity as some of the examples presented, but Don does show how basic principals of physics were used to model flight trajectories of two forms of competitive ski jumping, Freestyle Aerialist and Nordic.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"broadcast\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><em>Over the Air<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpr.org\/schedule\/ideas-webcast.htm\">Wisconsin Public Radio,<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Web<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/profhorn.meteor.wisc.edu\/wxwise\/\">WxWise<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Weather Guys Steve Ackerman and Jon Martin appeared again on Larry Meiller\u2019s WHA radio call-in show on Monday, December 27 and January 31. In December, the Guys fielded some complex questions about storms, winds, clouds and local weather (e.g., why is LaCrosse the warmest spot in the state, on average?) and one question about their eastern accents. Many questions in January focused on normal seasonal changes. The Weather Guys will appear indefinitely every last Monday in the month at 11:45 on WHA (Wisconsin Public Radio).<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin Radio Network reporter Jeff Wigton interviewed CIMSS researcher John Mecikalski on the question of the hour: why do we have so little snow? John\u2019s meteorologically cogent response, relating the lack of snow to current drought conditions, was broadcast on the state radio stations which syndicate WRN\u2019s pieces. Then, it snowed.<\/p>\n<p>Rosalyn Pertzborn appeared on WORT-FM on the Thursday, February 3 science show devoted to \u201cthe space program.\u201d Rose and Jim Lattis fielded some questions on university outreach programs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"outreach\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><em>In the Community<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/outreach\/home.htm\">OSSE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sanjay Limaye, planetary scientist and SSEC\u2019s outreach coordinator, made good use of a trip to India in October to give many talks to local groups of school children, their parents, educators, and others. His talk on October 22 at Mumbai\u2019s Nehru Planetarium was written up in the\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>\u00a0of India. This talk and many others he gave focused on exploring Mars.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wings\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><em>In the Wings<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><strong>For More Information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/\">SSEC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Watch for ads showcasing UW-Madison\u2019s weather research beginning in March and April. Ads aimed at a general audience will appear in magazines like\u00a0<em>Milwaukee<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Wisconsin Trails<\/em>\u00a0and other state-wide publications. The text specifically mentions the first space-based camera (Professor Suomi\u2019s spin-scan camera) and predicting the paths of hurricanes. The ads are too short to mention organizations, but those of us who contributed to the research can pat ourselves on the back and tell anyone reading a magazine with such an ad, \u201cI work there. I help with that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the News &#8211; February 2000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4263","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\/4263","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=4263"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4382,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263\/revisions\/4382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}