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An investigation of reflective thunderstorm tops continues. Additional results from a climatological study are given in Figures 1a and 1b (see other results in the RAMMB-CIRA 2nd quarter report for 2005). The curves represent the monthly variation of percent of ice cloud pixels whose shortwave albedo exceeds 5% for GOES-12 (1a) and GOES-10 (1b), divided into longitudinal bands across the CONUS. For the east, only the area along the front range of the Rockies has an appreciable number of “reflective” cloud tops, and there are 2 distinct maxima: one in the summer associated with convective activity, and one in the winter likely associated with mountain wave clouds. For GOES-10, the overall frequency of reflective clouds is much larger, but the monthly variation is more complex; it is not known what types of ice clouds contribute most heavily to these western maxima.
Figure 1. Monthly variation of percent of ice cloud pixels whose shortwave albedo exceeds 5% for various longitudinal bands. Shown are results for, a) GOES 12 and b) GOES 10.
In order to determine what conditions are favorable for reflective thunderstorm tops along the front range of the Rockies, the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) dataset was used to compute mean soundings for 16 days with reflective thunderstorm tops, and for 16 days with non-reflective thunderstorm tops (defined as shortwave albedo values less than 5%). The resulting mean soundings are given in Figure 2. Days with reflective storms tend to be dryer in the lower troposphere and have steeper mid-level lapse rates. Values of several individual variables are given in Table 1. Reflective storm days have significantly larger mean CAPE, lower precipitable water values, steeper lapse rates, and larger zonal shear values. Work is underway to determine the physical link between these environmental parameters and small cloud-top ice crystals.
Figure 2. Mean sounding profiles for reflective (solid) versus non-reflective thunderstorm tops (defined as having shortwave albedo values less than 5%).
Table 1. Comparison of various atmospheric variables for airmasses associated with reflective versus non-reflective thunderstorm cloud tops.
For more information on this topic see:
http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/research/severe/reflective.asp
D. Lindsey traveled to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma from May 30 – June 3 to participate in the SPC/NSSL Spring Program 2005. The primary goal of this year’s program is to evaluate a near-cloud-resolving version of the WRF model (4-km and 2-km grid spacing). Even though official results will not be available for a few months, the preliminary feeling is that these high resolution versions of the WRF do amazingly well at forecasting the timing and location of convective initiation between 18 and 24 hours in advance. In addition to participating in the program, a meeting was also held with a few SPC personnel to discuss the potential for future collaboration between SPC/NSSL and NESDIS in developing a satellite-based severe weather forecasting/nowcasting product. This prospect seems quite promising, and follow-up correspondence will soon be made.
The manuscript entitled, “The Role of GOES Satellite Imagery in Tracking Low-Level Moisture Advection” by D. Bikos, J. Weaver, and J. Braun has been peer reviewed, comments have been addressed by the authors, and the corrected manuscript had been returned to Weather and Forecasting.
All severe weather related, web-based VISIT teletraining sessions now have audio versions available (see VISIT category)
Code which converts Global Forecast System (GFS) model analyses from grib format to a packed ASCII format running on a NESDIS operational computer has been updated. In particular, the option now exists to receive the GFS grib files from a National Weather Service server in the event that the grib files are not available from NESDIS.
As part of a Joint Hurricane Testbed Project, a password protected web site was established at CIRA to display real-time experimental tropical cyclone strike probabilities. In addition to the cumulative probabilities of 34, 50 and 64 knot winds at 0-120 hours, the web site now includes 12-hr incremental probabilities of 34, 50 and 64 knot winds for 0-120 hours, as well as the zero hour wind speed for all tropical cyclone basins in the northern hemisphere from a program developed by RAMM Branch.
Atlantic Intense Hurricanes, 1995-2004: Various characteristics of Atlantic intense hurricanes have been compiled using “Best Track”, aircraft, and satellite data. . Intense hurricanes are defined as those that attain at least Category 3 (100 knots (kt) maximum wind speed) on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. In 2004, there were six intense hurricanes bringing the 10-year total to 38. This gives an annual average of 3.8 compared with the long term (1950-2000) average of 2.3. This project is nearing completion with a manuscript that compares the very active decade of 1995-2004 to the longer term record
New data for the 2004 hurricane season have been compiled. Hurricane Ivan with 10.0 intense hurricane days surpassed all other 1995-2004 Atlantic hurricanes, and ranked second with a minimum sea-level pressure of 910 hPa. There were three 2004 hurricanes – Charley, Ivan, and Jeanne—with U.S. landfall maximum surface wind speeds exceeding all other 1995-2004 hurricanes.
Intensity estimates using the Objective Dvorak Technique (ODT) have been completed for the six 2004 cases. Several new categories have been added, with computations for all 38 Atlantic intense hurricanes during 1995-2004. New data has been added for environmental pressures and the associated differences between minimum sea-level pressure and environmental pressure. The storm motions at the time of maximum intensity and IR cold cloud area data at maximum intensity have also been added.
Pressure-Wind Relationship Study for Atlantic Intense Hurricanes: A study of the pressure-wind relationship based on 42 pairs of minimum sea-level pressure (MSLP) and maximum surface wind (Vmax) from the Best Track data set for 1995-2004 Atlantic intense hurricanes was performed. The data set was limited to matching times for which aircraft observations were available, near the time of maximum intensity for Category 3 or greater hurricanes. Using the operational pressure-wind relationship from the Dvorak (1984) NOAA Technical Report, a small bias (about 3 hPa) toward a higher MSLP was found from the pressure-wind relationship applied to Vmax, compared with the Best Track MSLP. However, it was shown that this bias is reduced to near zero by computing the environmental pressure, and using an equivalent pressure-wind relationship for the difference between the environmental pressure and the MSLP. The environmental pressure was computed from the re-analysis data as the average sea-level pressure at 800 to 1000 km radius from the hurricane center. J. Knaff (CIRA) is currently investigating the pressure-wind relationship more thoroughly with a much larger data sample.
National Hurricane Center Briefing: M. DeMaria gave a briefing at NHC in Miami on the progress of Joint Hurricane Testbed and Hurricane Supplemental projects at RAMMB.
Southern Hemisphere Tropical Cyclone IR Archive: Using the automated tropical cyclone IR archive routine developed by J. Knaff, images from the complete 2004-2005 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season have been added to the RAMM Tropical Cyclone IR Archive. This includes 5737 images from 26 tropical cyclones, half of which reached hurricane intensity, and eight that exceeded Saffir-Simpson Category 3. The images were from Meteosat-5, GOES-9 at 155E, and GOES-10. The entire RAMM archive now contains more than 102,000 images with 373 tropical cyclones.
Code which uses atmospheric profiles from the ATOVS (Advanced-TOVS (Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder)) to analyze mid-latitude cyclones over the eastern North Pacific was condensed into a simpler format, as well as modified for use on a faster machine.
An article entitled, “Heavy Snowfall in the Midst of a Drought” by J.F. Weaver, which appeared in the fall issue of the CIRA magazine, was re-written in partnership with Assistant Colorado State Climatologist, Nolan Doesken. It will appear with a companion piece on the climatology of Colorado heavy snowfall in the next issue of the Colorado Climate Center’s semi-annual magazine, Colorado Climate. The revised article, with improved graphics, is now entitled, “An Unusually Heavy Snowfall in North Central Colorado, or odd things that happen during severe droughts. A Meteorologist’s Point of View.” The issue is currently in press.
The GOES-N Post-Launch Tests (PLT), that will take place after the launch of GOES-N, are still not finalized due to delays in the launch date of GOES-N. D. Hillger agreed to coordinate the NESDIS research and calibration/validation activities (between CIRA, CIMSS, and Washington DC) for these science tests. His contact for setting up the PLT is Kevin Ludlum at GOES Scheduling.
A variation of the GOES shortwave albedo product was created in order to highlight the reflectivity of cold cloud tops. Regions with 10.7 µm brightness temperatures warmer than -30˚C retain the traditional black-to-white enhancement of the 10.7 µm image, while cloud tops colder than -30˚C are replaced by the 3.9 µm albedo product with a color enhancement applied. Cooler colors (greens to light yellow) correspond to relatively low albedo (less than about 5%), while warmer colors (dark yellow to dark red) correspond to higher albedo (greater than about 5%). Figures 1a and 1b are examples of the new product and the 10.7 µm image, respectively, for a case with both less-reflective and more-reflective cloud tops. This product is being used to study the characteristics of thick ice clouds, in hopes of relating the observed cloud-top albedo to storm properties.
Figure 1a: GOES-12 10.7 µm image for brightness temperatures warmer than -30˚C, and 3.9 µm albedo product for the coldest cloud tops. The color enhancement applies to the shortwave albedo portion only, and ranges from cooler to warmer colors as the shortwave albedo increases. The image is from 11 June 2003 at 2345 UTC.
Figure 1b: GOES-12 10.7 µm image corresponding to the shortwave albedo image in Figure 1a, with a typical IR enhancement applied for cloud tops below -30˚C.
The software to generate shortwave albedo images has been upgraded to work on the shortwave and longwave bands of satellites other than GOES. The shortwave albedo product can now be generated from the equivalent bands of AVHRR, MODIS, and MSG (Meteosat Second Generation). The change was a requested by Dr. Randy Alliss of Northrop Grumman, after using an older version of the shortwave albedo program. The shortwave albedo product emphasizes fog/stratus (water) clouds and reflective land surfaces. In addition, the upgraded software takes advantage of more recent McIDAS code than the older version.
Figure 1: Examples of MSG full-disk images for a) shortwave band-4 (3.9 μm), b) longwave band-9 (10.8 μm), and c) Shortwave albedo product generated from (a) and (b). The shortwave albedo product emphasizes lower-level water clouds and reflective land surfaces. As a default option, cold cloud tops are filled in with longwave band temperatures and color enhanced.
Processing of the large sector U.S. climatologies continues on schedule. Products completed include monthly large sector composites for March, April and May, 2005.
Processing of wind regime products is on schedule. Monthly wind regime composites from both channel 1 and channel 4 for February, March and April 2005 have been completed. Combined monthly products have also been completed for these months and channels.
Collection of 10 th year of visible and infrared imagery began for the Tallahassee Summer Sea Breeze Climatology Project. This is a cooperative effort between the Tallahassee WFO and CIRA. The primary objective is to develop cloud frequency composites that reflect the development of convection along the sea breeze front under various background wind regimes for June, July, and August. Regular monthly cloud frequency composites can also be derived from this data set.
For a project see: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/research/climatology/tallahassee/
D. Molenar participated in the week-long ORA IT Infrastructure Review. The review produced many good recommendations for future ORA (and RAMM/CIRA) IT Infrastructure directions to best handle next generation satellite data.
D. Molenar participated in the review and drafting of the ORA IT Infrastructure Review final report.
Brazil Project:
Nothing New to Report This Quarter.
Japanese Interaction:
Nothing New to Report This Quarter.
MITCH Reconstruction Project:
V. Castro from the University of Costa Rica visited CIRA and gave an update on the status of the Mitch project. Although the project officially ended in 2002, the RAMSDIS systems are still operating in most of the Central American countries.
RMTC Project:
GOES-8 imageryfor March 2005 through May 2005 were processed for the Regional Meteorological Training Centers (RMTCs) in Costa Rica and Barbados. The archives are being used to study cloud frequency during the rainy and dry seasons and detect local variations from year to year. The monthly cloud frequency composites for March – May 1997-2005 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1.Monthly cloud frequency composites for March -May 1997-2005 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica.
A comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for March – May 1998 – 2005 for Barbados is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2.Comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for March – May of 1998 – 2005 for Barbados.
The archived imagery also provides access to examples for use in satellite focused training efforts.
The following web pages continue to provide on-line imagery in jpg format over Central and South America and the Caribbean.
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/RMTC.html
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/COS.html (for imagery over Costa Rica and Barbados
This site continues to display satellite precipitation estimates and fire products:
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/sica/main.html
SICA Project:
The project officially ended on December 31, 2001, but a web page displaying satellite precipitation estimates and fire products continues to operate at:
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/sica/main.html.
Two Dell Precision Workstation systems were procured and sent to Costa Rica and Barbados; a Red-Hat Enterprise Linux OS License was also purchased and sent to Costa Rica.
D. Hillger reviewed and provided feedback on a preliminary-draft manuscript entitled “Estimating Surface Wetness from GOES” by Robert Rabin and Tim Schmit.
J. Dostalek visited NOAA’s Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL) in Boulder, CO. Discussions concerning the use of ATOVS retrievals in the analysis of extratropical cyclones were held with a number of ETL researchers. J. Dostalek also gave a seminar entitled “RAMM Team Overview and PACJET Activities.” PACJET is the acronym for the Pacific Landfalling Jets Experiment, a field program that studied extratropical cyclones that impacted the West Coast of the United States. ETL was the lead agency in the PACJET field experiments.
A teletraining session on the use of GOES satellite imagery in tracking low-level moisture advection was completed this quarter. Several NWS offices helped review this session including; Springfield, MO, San Antonio, TX, Raleigh, NC, Jackson, MI, and Morristown, TN. The Storm Prediction Center, and CIMSS in Wisconsin, also participated in the beta-test. The session has already been taught to several offices, and an audio version has been produced.
The manuscript entitled, “Microscale Aspects of Rainfall Patterns as Measured by a Local Volunteer Network” by N. Doesken, J. Weaver and M. Osecky has been accepted by National Weather Digest contingent on a number of revisions. N. Doesken (Colorado Climate Center) continues to work on his portion of the reviewer suggestions.
The GOESR1 system suffered a hard drive failure due to an overheating caused by the air-conditioning failure. The hard drive was replaced and the contents were restored from a backup. Additional daily backup has been configured on this system.
The GoesR2 system has been reconfigured with the Linux Operating system and it will used mainly to host case-study datasets for the VISIT Project.
The GoesR3 server has been reconfigured to host various backup files. The backup includes files from servers: GOESR1, RAMMFTP, and various personal systems.
Mid-year review meetings were completed for all of CoRP. M. DeMaria reviewed J. Key, C. Brown and R. Ferraro as acting CoRP director, and ASPB and RAMMB were reviewed as usual.
High end Linux systems have been configured for Ulysses and Pasiphae/Helene replacements. The replacement systems will be used in parallel with existing systems through the summer.
The 3-year hardware upgrade cycle has been completed. Efforts are underway to determine the best direction for the next upgrade cycle.
All Linux systems have received 400 GB disk upgrades to facilitate research using large data sets.
An 8-port KVM switch was purchased for the 2 new rack mount servers.
Two rack mount braces were purchased to house RAMM Team’s two new Power Edge Pro Servers.
A high amperage power strip was purchased to power the two new rack mount servers.
| Team Members | Destination | Purpose | Funding | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. DeMaria | Miami, FL | Collaboration at the Tropical Prediction Center | Hurricane Supplemental | May 2-6 |
| D. Molenar | Camp Springs, MD | ORA Infrastructure of the Future Working Group | Base | May 15-21 |
| D. Hillger | Boulder, CO | NPOESS/COMET Workshop | Base | May 23-25 |
| D. Lindsey | Norman, OK | SPC/NSSL Spring Program | GIMPAP | May 30 June 6 |
| M. DeMaria | New York, NY | CoRP Directors’ Meeting | Base | Jun 1-4 |
| K. Fryer | New York, NY | CoRP Directors’ Meeting | CIRA | Jun 1-4 |
| M. DeMaria | Camp Springs, MD | Administrative Meetings | Base | June 14-17 |
April 14, J. Dostalek also gave a seminar entitled “RAMM Team Overview and PACJET Activites.” PACJET is the acronym for the Pacific Landfalling Jets Experiment, a field program which studied extratropical cyclones which impacted the West Coast of the United States.
The week of June 10, David Mitchell (Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV) presented a seminar entitled “Characterizing particle size, water path, and photon tunneling in ice and water clouds.”
D. Hillger participated in IPO/COMET NPOESS Curriculum Development Workshop on 23-25 May. The focus was training for future NPOESS instrumentation. Hillger showed results of the GOES-R Risk Reduction activities at CIRA that can be applied as well to data from NPOESS VIIRS and other instruments.
J. Dostalek gave a seminar entitled “RAMM Team Overview and PACJET Activities.” at ETL in Boulder. PACJET is the acronym for the Pacific Landfalling Jets Experiment, a field program which studied extratropical cyclones which impacted the West Coast of the United States. ETL was the lead agency in the PACJET field experiments.
Two RAMM Team members attended a Severe Storm Seminar sponsored by Denver’s Channel 7 TV News, and featuring meteorologist Mike Nelson. Other speakers at the seminar included Dr. Sandy McDonald from NOAA’s Forecast Systems Laboratory, Matt Kelsch from UCAR’s COMET Program, and Bob Glancy of the Denver/Boulder NWS office. Also featured at the seminar were storm chasers, showing a wide variety and very interesting selection of videos of tornadoes and flash flooding.
D. Hillger accompanied Tom VonderHaar’s Satellite Meteorology class on their tour of Ball Aerospace in Boulder CO on 18 April. Included in the tour were two meteorological satellites: CloudSat and NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project), in various stages of readiness. CloudSat was ready to be shipped to the launch site, and the NPP bus is awaiting instruments to be delivered from other vendors.
Visitors:
| Visitors | Dates of Visit | Affiliation | RAMMB Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michelle Mainelli | June 20 & 21 | TPC, Miami, FL | M. DeMaria |
| David Mitchell | June 8 | Desert Research Institute, Reno NV | L. Grass & D. Lindsey |
| Pat Naughtin | April 11 | Geelong, Australia | D. Hillger |
Meetings, Conferences, Workshops:
| Travelers | Location | Meeting, Conference, Workshop | Funding | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. DeMaria K. Fryer | New York City, NY | 4th Annual Cooperative Institutes Directors’ Meeting | Base CIRA | June 1-3 |
| D. Lindsey | Norman, OK | Storm Prediction Center/National Severe Storm Laboratory Spring Program | GIMPAP | May 30-Jun 3 |
| D. Hillger | Boulder, CO | COMET Curriculum Development Workshop | Base | May 23-25 |
| D. Molenar | Camp Springs, MD | ORA Infrastructure of the Future Working Group | Base | May 15-21 |
A visitor to CIRA from Australia, Pat Naughtin, gave a noon-time brown-bag talk on Australia and related topics on 11 April. Naughtin is a writer, speaker, editor, and publisher and has worked in many different fields/careers in Australia. He gave an interesting presentation and attended CIRA’s daily 3 pm weather discussion.
Michelle Mainelli visited CIRA from the Tropical Prediction Center in Miami to collaborate on the new Research to Operations project to better utilize ocean data in tropical cyclone forecasting.
AMS: American Meteorological Society
AMSU: Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
AWIPS: Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System
CAMEX: Convection and Moisture Experiment
CG: Cloud to Ground
CIMSS: Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies
CIRA: Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
COMET: Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training
CONUS: Continental U.S.
CoRP: Cooperative Research Programs
CSU: Colorado State University
EUMETSAT: European Meteorological Satellite
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
GIMPAP: Goes I-M Product Assurance Plan
GOES: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
HRD: Hurricane Research Division
IR: Infrared
JHT: Joint Hurricane Transition
LAPS: Local Analysis and Prediction System
LES: Lake-Effect Snow
McIDAS: Man Computer Interactive Data Access System
MODIS: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NCAR: National Center for Atmospheric Research
NDIC: Natural Disaster Information Cards
NESDIS: National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service
NHC: National Hurricane Center
NIDS: NEXRAD Information Dissemination Service
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NWS: National Weather Service
NWSFO: National Weather Service Forecast Office
OM: Office of Meteorology
ORA: Office of Research and Applications
PACJET: Pacific Landfalling Jets Experiment
POES: Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite
POP: Product Oversight Panel
RAMMT: Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Team
RAMS: Regional Atmospheric Modeling System
RAMSDIS: Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Team Advanced Meteorological Satellite
Demonstration and Interpretation System
RMTC: Regional Meteorological Training Center
ROL: RAMSDIS Online
SAB: Satellite Applications Branch
SHIPS: Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme
STIPS: Statistical Typhoon Intensity Prediction Scheme
SOCC: Satellite Operations Control Center
SOO: Science Operations Officer
SRSO/RSO: Super Rapid Scan Operation/Rapid Scan Operation
STAR: Office of Satellite Research and Development
STEPS: Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Preciptation Study
TPC: Tropical Prediction Center
USWRP: United States Weather Research Program
UTC: Universal Time Coordinated
VISIT: Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training
WMO: World Meteorological Organization
WV: Water Vapor
A new SID page has been created. The case of interest occurred in northeast Colorado on 24 May 2005. GOES and MODIS data are used to analyze the structure of the tops of severe thunderstorms which have interesting shortwave infrared reflectivity characteristics:
H. Gosden configured a Dell Power Edge Pro Rack Mount Server to host the RAMM Team’s Web site. The contents from the CIRA Web server are being ported over to the new RAMMB server, and it is currently operational.
H. Gosden configured a Dell Power Edge Pro Rack Mount Server to host the RAMM Team’s FTP site. The new server will benefit many projects that rely on remote server access for training as well as helping to distribute the file service load for the RAMSDIS Online projects.
Published:
DeMaria, M., J.A. Knaff, J. Demuth, R.M. Zehr, and J.F. Dostalek, 2005: CIRA contributions to the Joint Hurricane Testbed. CIRA Magazine, Spring, 5-7.
Bikos, D.E., J.F. Weaver, and J. Braun, 2005: The role of GOES satellite imagery in tracking low-level moisture advection. Weather and Forecasting.
DeMaria, M., M. Mainelli, L.K. Shay, J.A. Knaff, J. Kaplan, 2005: Further Improvement to the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (SHIPS). Wea. and Forecasting.
Doesken, N.J., J.F. Weaver, and M. Osecky, 2005: Microscale aspects of rainfall patterns as measured by a local volunteer network. National Weather Digest.
Ferraro, R.R., Pellegrino, M.Turk, Chen, Qui, R.J., R.J. Kuligowski, S.J. Kusselson, Irving, S.Q. Kidder, J.A. Knaff, 2005: The Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) Technique. Part 2: Validation. Weather and Forecasting.
Hillger, D., S.Q. Kidder, 2005: A simple GOES skin temperature product. National Weather Digest.
Kidder, S.Q., S.J. Kusselson, J.A. Knaff, R.R. Ferraro, R.J. Kuligowski, M. Turk, 2005: The Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) Technique. Part 1: Description and Examples. Weather and Forecasting.
Knaff, J.A., C.R. Sampson, and M. DeMaria, 2005: An Operational Statistical Typhoon Intensity Prediction Scheme for the Western North Pacific. Wea. and Forecasting.
Lonfat, M., S.S. Chen, J.A. Knaff, F.D. Marks, Jr., 2005: Effects of Environmental Vertical Wind Shear and Storm Motion on Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Asymmetries Deduced from TRMM. J. of Atmospheric Sciences.
Tuleya, R.E., M. DeMaria, and R.J. Kuligowski, 2005: Evaluation of GFDL Model Rainfall Forecasts for U.S. Landfalling Tropical Storms. Weather and Forecasting.
Bessho, K., M. DeMaria, J.A. Knaff, 2005: Tropical Cyclone Wind Retrievals from the Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit (AMSU): Application to Surface Wind Analysis. Journal of Applied Meteorology.
Bikos, D., J.F. Weaver, J. Braun, 2005: The Role of GOES Satellite Imagery in Tracking Low-Level Moisture Advection. Monthly Weather Review.
DeMaria, J., J.A. Knaff, and J. Kaplan, 2005: On the Decay of Tropical Cyclone Winds Crossing Narrow Landmasses. J. of Applied Meteorology.
Doesken, N.J., J.F. Weaver, and M. Osecky, 2005: Microscale aspects of rainfall patterns as measured by a local volunteer network. National Weather Digest.
Mueller, K.J., M. DeMaria, J.A. Knaff, T.H. Vonder Haar:, 2005: Objective Estimation of Tropical Cyclone Wind Structure from Infrared Satellite Data. J. Applied Meterology.
D. Bikos and J. Braun presented a poster at the Information Science & Technology Colloquium hosted by Colorado State University. The poster discussed the VISIT program and highlighted the use of the VISITview software for distance learning. A current VISIT teletraining session was shown on a laptop to illustrate how we conduct the training with NWS offices.
M. DeMaria gave a lecture on tropical cyclone applications of satellite data in T. Vonder Haar’s Satellite Meteorology class.
D. Hillger reviewed and provided feedback on a preliminary-draft manuscript titled “Estimating Surface Wetness from GOES” by Robert Rabin and Tim Schmit.
Received:
Training Received: D. Hillger participated in a half-day workshop on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Accessibility offered by CSU’s Computer Training and Support Services (CTSS). The workshop provided training in an improved way to develop Web-based applications.
Training Received: D. Hillger participated in a half-day workshop on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Accessibility offered by CSU’s Computer Training and Support Services (CTSS). The workshop provided training in an improved way to develop Web-based applications.
D. Hillger participated in COMET Curriculum Development Workshop on 23-25 May. The focus was training for future NPOESS instrumentation. Hillger showed results of the GOES-R Risk Reduction activities at CIRA that can be applied as well to data from NPP/NPOESS VIIRS and other instruments. After seeing the materials presented, Carl Hoffman at the Integrated Program Office (IPO) was very interested in having RAMMT/CIRA help with product development efforts for NPOESS instrumentation. Tom Lee of NRL also proposed that CIRA become involved in a potential COMET module on VIIRS that can be used as training material for GOES-R ABI, being that the instruments have many similar spectral bands. That could be part of a larger GOES-R training effort that should be entertained. Finally, it was announced that launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite will be delayed from late 2006 to April 2008, most likely leading to a delay in the launch of the first NPOESS C1 spacecraft as well!
The new FTP server has been loaded with the VISITview software to run the remote training sessions, and the new FTP server has been aliased with the hostname visit.cira.clostate.edu in order to reference older training sessions.
The WES workstation has been upgraded to WES 4.0. In addition, a 400 GB local data drive and a 1 TB NAS server have been configured for additional data storage.
During this quarter 54 VISIT teletraining sessions have been delivered, 829 students participated.
New VISIT teletraining sessions that debuted this quarter include:
Monitoring Gulf Moisture Return with GOES Imagery (developed/instructed by Dan Bikos, Jeff Braun and John Weaver).
The following table shows a breakdown of the metrics for each VISIT teletraining session valid April 1999 – June 12, 2005. For a complete list and description of each VISIT session see this web-page: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visit/ts.html
IST PDS/VISIT Teletraining Sessions Summary
April 1999 through June 12, 2005
A training certificate of completion is sent out to participants who have returned evaluations. The following graph shows the total number of certificates issued since we started this in April 1999. As of May 23, 2005 the total is 15,037 certificates.
The following map is self-explanatory.
Web versions of most VISIT sessions can be found at the following addresses:
Boundary Detection: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/boundaries1/title.asp
CONUS Cloud to Ground Lightning Climatology: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/lightning/title.asp
Convective Initiation by Low-Level Boundaries: http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/visit/lessons/bndry2/viewmaster.html
Cyclogenesis: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/cyclo/title.asp
Detecting Boundaries: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/boundaries1/title.asp
Elevated Mesoscale Ascent: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ascent/title.asp
GOES enhancements/color tables in AWIPS: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/istpds/awips/awips_1.html
Lake-effect snow I (basic): http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/les/title.asp
Lake-effect snow II (intermediate/advanced): http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/les2/title.asp
Lightning Meteorology I: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ltgmet1/01_title.asp
Lightning Meteorology II: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ltgmet2/title.asp
Mesoscale Analyses and Techniques: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/mesoana/title.asp
Mesoscale Anal. of Conv. Wx. using GOES RSO: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/newrso/title.asp
NDIC: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/ndic/title.asp
Rapid Scan Operations: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/rso/title.asp
Tropical Satellite Imagery and Products: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/tropical/title.asp
QuikSCAT: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/qscat/title.asp
Winter Weather: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/winter.html
Pre-recorded audio versions of a number of VISIT training sessions are now available on the web. The downloadable files can be found by going to the list of teletraining sessions at: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visit/ts.html
then selecting from titles that have small, microphone-shaped icons preceding the listing. Each link leads to a page that provides instructions for various aspects of participation in VISIT training, including instructions for downloading audio versions.
Short loops of AMSU and SSMI products for precipitable water and rain rate along with the 85 and 89GHz brightness temperature composites and SSMI winds have been added to the VISITview RAMSDIS Online site: (http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html).
This site is used for live, interactive weather discussions between the US and many Central and South American and Caribbean countries to promote the enhanced use and understanding of satellite imagery. It also fosters communication among many of the participating countries.
The program MEANWIND, which computes from model data the 200-850 hPa pressure-weighted mean wind, the average wind vectors at the model levels, and the 200-850 hPa and 500-850 hPa wind shear vectors within a user-defined circular or annular domain, has been updated to account for the change in the name of NCEP’s AVN model to GFS.
D. Molenar attended a working group with FSL and COMET personnel. The goal of the group was to determine if the Unidata NOAAPORT products could be ingested and displayed on AWIPS workstations. The group determined that some of the products could be used, but others would need header modifications. Additional information was obtained regarding NOAAPORT vendors and required configurations, and it was determined that a local NOAAPORT ingest would be the best way to support a RAMM/CIRA AWIPS configuration. Efforts are underway for the NOAAPORT procurement. .