Editor: Jim Elliot
Contributors: Alan Weinstein, Ginny Frost, and Julie Burba
Copy Editor: Leah Whalen
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In response to General John Kelly's report on NWS, Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, wrote NOAA Administrator D. James Baker that he thought the report was "thorough," but indicated he was concerned with NOAA/NWS management and the lack of accountability in management. As a result, he asked Baker to provide him with his thoughts of "how your management style will change to address General Kelly's recommendations."
McCain's letter was sent shortly after the Kelly report was released in October, and he asked that Baker respond in writing by 21 November. In answer to a request, the senator's office provided a copy of the Baker response to the AMS Newsletter on 7 January.
In his letter, McCain wrote, "Throughout the past several years, there has been mounting evidence of the need for substantial reforms in the management structure of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Substantial cost overruns in the National Weather Service modernization effort, the inclusion of the NOAA Corps and Fleet among the list of top management and programmatic weaknesses at the department, and the recent termination of Weather Service Director Joe Friday are just a few of the issues which have preoccupied this committee.
"The specific concern for me arising from the Kelly report is the general lack of accountability in the management structure at NOAA. In fact, the Kelly report indicates that the lack of a structured management system prevents the accountability of any single individual. Knowing the character you have displayed on numerous other instances, I am certain that you accept ultimate responsibility for these problems as the administrator of NOAA."
The senator wrote that because the Congressional calendar "does not provide adequate time for a Senate hearing on this matter, I ask that you provide me in writing your thoughts of how your management style will change to address General Kelly's recommendations.
"I am not seeking information on how an organizational chart or budget projections will be altered. I want to hear your personal reflections on how you will interact with the individuals making key management decisions throughout NOAA. I may have specific organizational questions which will be presented to you under separate cover. ...
"I am confident that under Secretary Daley's and your leadership, the weakness identified by General Kelly will be overcome and the mission of NOAA will be achieved."
In his response, Baker wrote that he had taken "a number of steps during my tenure . . . to strengthen the management structure of NOAA and improve the overall effectiveness of our programs."
"First," he noted, "I have made several personnel changes in key senior positions to improve NOAA management. Some of these actions were taken to place highly qualified individuals in critical positions where they will provide the leadership necessary for NOAA to address new management and programmatic challenges. Other actions were taken to reassign individuals in whom I had lost confidence because they had provided inadequate or inconsistent information for decisions.
"General Kelly's report reaffirms to me the importance of having full confidence in the individuals that comprise NOAA senior management. Although personnel reassignments are frequently complex decisions to implement in the Government, I intend to continue to pursue all personnel actions necessary to make sure that I have confidence in the NOAA's senior management. It is clear from General Kelly's recommendation that I must continue to take a strong role in all NOAA personnel decisions so that our management is comprised of highly competent individuals ready to address the fiscal and programmatic challenges ahead of us.
"In the area of overall NOAA management, I have taken steps to ensure that the right systems and processes are in place for sound fiscal and program management . . ..We are participating with the Department of Commerce in the development of the Commerce Administrative Management System (CAMS) which is urgently needed to assure financial system integrity and accountability.
"In the area of program management, we have implemented improvements in our oversight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) satellite development activities, including placing additional personnel in NASA facilities, requesting more frequent financial reports and reducing forward funding of contracts.
"These efforts are complementary to the bimonthly/monthly reviews of NOAA's major acquisition programs conducted by the deputy undersecretary's (DUS) office.
"With regard to improved fiscal management, we are currently soliciting applicants for the position of NOAA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with qualifications consistent with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In addition, we are creating a new position of CFO in the National Weather Service (NWS) to address a number of the budget and management deficiencies identified by General Kelly . . ..
"Moreover, as part of our activities to address General Kelly's recommendations, I have asked each of NOAA's five Line Organizations to provide to me a written analysis of the applicability of General Kelly's recommendations to their own organizations.
"I am taking additional steps to improve accountability within NOAA. The acting DUS has already restructured the reporting process in his office, establishing a regular meeting focusing on NOAA management operations and near-term issues. I have asked the acting DUS to monitor carefully the review and implementation of General Kelly's recommendations, and he has established weekly meetings to review progress. I meet with the acting DUS weekly to discuss management issues and intend to continue my practice of meeting with senior NOAA management on a regular basis to discuss key management decisions."
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Because of a letter sent to House Speaker Newt Gingrich last fall by 201 representatives and another letter sent to President Clinton in December signed by Gingrich and more than 200 representatives, a once projected $1 billion cut in NASA's FY99 budget has been reduced, according to Congressional Quarterly.
The major force behind the first letter, Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL), has been told that cuts are more likely to be $200–$300 million, the American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News reported.
The officers of seven large aerospace companies addressed another letter to Clinton, the Bulletin reported.
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In his 10 January radio address, President Clinton focused on science and technology with particular attention to cloning.
However, on the broader issue of science, he said, "For five years, I have maintained our nation's solid commitment to scientific research and technological development, because I believe they're essential to our nation's economic growth and to building the right kind of bridge to the twenty-first century.
"The balanced budget I will submit in just a few weeks to Congress reflects that continued commitment. And, in my upcoming State of the Union address, I'll talk more about what we're doing to keep America on the cutting edge of the scientific and technological advancements that are driving our new global economy."
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House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. has criticized the global warming pact agreed to by the Clinton administration and warned that implementation of such an agreement would lead to higher energy costs and a loss of U.S. jobs.
"Vice President Gore came to Kyoto wanting a deal very badly," Sensenbrenner argued after having spent nearly a week in Kyoto observing the climate change negotiations. "Instead, what the administration and the American people got was a bad deal."
"It's inexcusable for the administration to agree to binding restrictions that will slow U.S. economic growth while letting some of the world's biggest energy users like China off the hook," the chairman continued. "While Americans will be paying higher energy costs and watching U.S. jobs go overseas, it will be business as usual for countries like China and India. I can't imagine that Congress will consent to such a one-sided agreement."
The Clinton administration agreed to a 7% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by no later than 2010. The administration's position going into the talks was to reduce gases to 1990 levels by no later than 2012.
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A collaborative field experiment designed to study winter storms in the Pacific to improve the skill and reliability of weather forecasts across the United States in the 1–4-day timescale has been launched on the West Coast.
The field experiment, a collaborative effort between NOAA, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force 53rd Weather Wing, is called NORPEX (North Pacific Experiment) and is designed to improve the skill and reliability of weather forecasts across the country in the 1–4-day timescale for this winter season and beyond.
At a press briefing during the AMS's 78th Annual Meeting in Phoenix on 15 January, Mel Shapiro, NORPEX Project Coordinator from NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory in Boulder, CO, said, "We believe that by taking additional observations in the Pacific and adding this data to numerical weather models, we can improve the forecasts." Computer modeling is the foundation of all NWS weather and flood forecasts. Weather models solve a series of complex equations that simulate the present and future states of the atmosphere.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has an extensive network of weather balloons, sophisticated radars, advanced satellites, and surface observing systems across the United States. The Pacific Ocean, where many weather patterns form, is data sparse by comparison. Given the possible impact of El Niño on daily weather events, providing accurate, timely forecasts and storm warnings is of particular interest during the 1997–98 winter season.
At the briefing, held at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport, officials also showed off NOAA's newest hurricane reconnaissance aircraft, the high-altitude Gulfstream-IV aircraft, a specially equipped jet and the first of its kind in the world. The G-IV was on its way to Honolulu, where it was to participate in the experiment until the end of January, according to Lt. Cmdr. Sean White, of the NOAA Corps, who is the G-IV project manager. The plane is stationed at NOAA's Aircraft and Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL.
The jet began its hurricane reconnaissance work last year and conducted operations during last year's hurricane season from 1 June to 30 November, according to James D. McFadden, Office of Programs, at the Tampa base.
"Data collected over the Pacific Ocean will be invaluable for improving weather forecasts over the nation," said Steve Lord, director of the Environmental Modeling Center, part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, MD. "Today's weather over the Pacific often has a major influence on tomorrow's weather on the West Coast and weather in 2–3 days over the eastern United States."
The NORPEX team will place special focus on better identification of West Coast storms in the 36–48-h range, officials explained. The NORPEX data will be shared with the CALJET project, a separate NOAA research initiative currently under way in California that seeks to improve forecasts in the 0–12-h range along the California coast. (See story below.)
Making use of the G-IV flying at altitudes of 45 000 feet, scientists will take observations and measurements by deploying instrument packages, called dropwindsondes, to measure vertical profiles of wind, temperature, and moisture in the atmosphere. In addition, two Air Force C-130 aircraft out of Anchorage, AK, and Honolulu, HI, will take similar measurements at lower altitudes.
Shapiro said that the researchers will assess new observational techniques, mixing and matching various observational tools to see which are the most efficient and helpful in forecasting weather in the 1–5-day range.
"For the first time," he explained, "computer models will identify the areas to be targeted for weather observations. This data will then assist forecasters looking at specific weather events and, ultimately, help improve forecasts for the entire country."
The following is a list of the principal scientists and institutions participating in NORPEX.
NOAA:
Mel Shapiro, Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, CO.
Nicholas Bond, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA.
Stephen Lord and Zoltan Toth, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD.
Capt. George Player and Lt. Cmdr. Sean White, Aircraft Operations Center, Tampa, FL.
U.S. Navy:
Rolf Langland and Ron Gelaro, Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, CA.
Fleet Numerical Meteorological and Oceanographic Prediction Center, Monterey, CA.
U.S. Air Force:
53rd Weather Wing, Biloxi, MS.
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Winter storms in California and Oregon—with the possibility of increased rainfall due to El Niño—are being studied by government and university scientists hoping to improve forecasts of heavy rain, snow, and wind along the West Coast.
The study, called CALJET (California Land-Falling Jets Experiment), began on 1 December and includes scientists and forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Navy, and various universities. It is particularly timely with the onset of the severe storms along the California coast. The study will run through March of 1998, which is the wet season in that area.
According to Martin Ralph, the principal investigator for the project from NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory in Boulder, CO, "One of the main causes of the severe weather experienced along the West Coast during winter is the low-level jet, which is a river of wind that occurs near cold fronts in winter storms. Many times this jet contains a great deal of moisture and can cause extreme coastal rains when it hits the mountains."
These land-falling winter storms can cause extensive damage along the West Coast due to the high winds and heavy rain produced in a short period of time as they come ashore. Because of limited data concerning these events, accurate warnings are not always as timely as are needed. The hope is that by improving the observations of the low-level jet, forecasts will be improved. This may prove to be a great benefit for people living along the coast if El Niño causes the increased rainfall that has been predicted.
CALJET will make use of a wide variety of special observing systems to augment existing operational systems. These include the NOAA P-3 aircraft with a variety of instruments such as GPS (Global Positioning System) dropsondes, which take meteorological measurements as they are dropped from the aircraft; dual-Doppler-capable radar; a gust probe; and other instruments. A special observing period will run from 18 January to 28 February, when the NOAA P-3 and the University of Oklahoma's Doppler on Wheels, a Doppler radar mounted on a truck, will participate, operating out of Monterey, CA. The P-3, flown by NOAA Corps pilots, will be sent to find the low-level jets associated with storms that occur within this time period. It will detect the jets about 12 h before the storm strikes the coast. The Doppler on Wheels will then be deployed to measure the heart of the heavy rains when the storm strikes.
In addition, 20 wind profilers are continuously monitoring upper-level winds and temperature. They have been positioned along the coast from San Diego to Seattle. A system of 30 drifting buoys will be installed by the NWS to measure conditions offshore 12–36 h before the storms strike the coast. Data collected from the P-3, buoys, and wind profilers will be used in nowcasting and operational numerical weather prediction. Special observing areas will be created along the coast near Santa Rosa, CA; in the area between Santa Barbara and Crescent City; and in the California Bight area from Santa Barbara to San Diego. These locations were designated due to the possibility of heavy rainfall in those areas and the high population density.
Ralph says that "one unique aspect of CALJET is that we intend the P-3 data to be transmitted in nearly real time for direct use by operational weather forecasters in winter storms approaching California. This approach is similar to what is done for hurricane forecasting during hurricane season. In addition, the data will be put into mesoscale research numerical models in a way that should provide improved short-term model guidance to forecasters." The result of this, says Ralph, is to improve operational warnings to the public 0–12 h before the landfall of winter storms during the experiment.
"One of the biggest challenges facing weather forecasters in California is accurate quantitative precipitation forecasts," says Dave Reynolds, a principal investigator from NOAA's National Weather Service in Monterey, CA. "Being able to accurately predict the low-level wind and moisture structure of a storm is critical to predicting the precipitation amounts. And precipitation amounts depend on the rate at which moisture condenses. On the West Coast, the strength of the winds blowing in off the Pacific Ocean combined with how the winds interact with the coastal terrain, determines how much precipitation is produced during a storm.
"It is critical that we be able to accurately predict the timing and intensity of precipitation to improve flood forecasts. To date, we do a good job at 24-h precipitation amounts but lack the skill to forecast in the 3–6-h time frame that produces most floods. We're hoping to use the wealth of real-time observations from CALJET to better predict rainfall this winter," Reynolds says.
According to Reynolds, these observations will provide input to a locally run weather model that will be set up for the San Francisco Bay Area. "This model will be run twice daily and should allow us to evaluate how these observations and forecasts are improving rainfall forecasts on a daily basis."
Scientists involved in the project include Martin Ralph, Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, CO; Dave Reynolds, National Weather Service, Monterey, CA; Ola Persson, Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, CO; and Wendall Nuss, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.
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The NWS Modernization Committee has released its assessment of the first AWIPS (Advance Weather Interactive Processing System).
In its report, entitled "Toward A New National Weather Service," the committee, headed by Richard A. Anthes, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, CO, strongly supports the incremental approach being undertaken for the development and deployment of the system. However, it cites weaknesses that should be reviewed and makes a number of other recommendations designed to improve the system and guard against failure.
The incremental approach calls for increasingly capable "builds" to be deployed to increasing numbers of field offices. With each build, the system grows in terms of both operable functions and the number of nodes in the operating network.
Each deployment of a major new build requires a period of field testing by real users (forecasters) engaged in real operations. The results are fed back to AWIPS program managers and developers to guide subsequent incremental development and deployment (IDD).
The first operational test and evaluation (OT&E) occurred in the fall of 1996 when AWIPS Build 1 was installed at 12 sites, nine of which are NWS weather forecast offices or river forecast centers.
In its executive summary, the committee listed four major system improvements made in response to OT&E results, reporting they "highlight the value and effectiveness of the OT&E process." The four examples cited are the following.
Based on these observations, the committee, which was formed by the National Research Council in 1990, concluded that the OT&E process is "an effective, valuable and necessary element in the incremental development and deployment of a system capable of fulfilling the objectives of the NWS modernization program."
In addition, the committee reported, "[t]he AWIPS program should continue and perhaps expand a deployment strategy of maximizing the diversity of weather office forecasting operations to test the performance ranges and to identify site-specific and systemic improvements as early as possible."
The committee suggested that improvements are needed in two areas: systems engineering and operational risk management. In systems engineering, it recommended that "NWS should establish the position of AWIPS project systems engineer with system-wide, comprehensive responsibility and delegated authority for performing the functions detailed in this report."
With operational risk management, the committee pointed out that the AWIPS program already had developed some practices "that have been valuable in reducing development risks." However, it said the committee was concerned "that the master ground system in this network is a potential single point of failure for the entire AWIPS.
"[A]lthough plans have already been made for improving the performance of the NCF (by addressing problems with its troubleshooting and recovery functions for active AWIPS nodes), the committee encourages the NWS to demonstrate that these corrections will provide a reasonable margin of safety for the fully implemented AWIPS."
Also, the committee noted that "the automated processes and operator procedures for a neighboring site backing up a 'down' field site and for recovering operational capability at the down site should be carefully reviewed and tested for the possibility of cascading failures, which could bring down many sites."
The committee noted also that "the mechanisms in place for emergency replacement of critical hardware components should be tested periodically" and "physical threats to external communication systems that support AWIPS or unauthorized access to AWIPS can jeopardize operational performance that should be included in the risk management plan."
The committee suggested that a "realistic operational test of the contingency plan for failure of the master ground station should be planned and conducted well before AWIPS is commissioned."
It warned, too, that "NCF performance should be watched closely to ensure that necessary improvements are forthcoming."
Later in the report, the committee indicated that field office staff has reported problems with NCF's performance of its designated troubleshooting and recovery functions for the active AWIPS nodes. "The NCF failed to meet its design concept," the report noted, "and, more important, the operational needs of the field staff at AWIPS nodes."
"The procedures for reporting problems also revealed staffing difficulties at the NCF," the report indicated, "including high turnover, staff who were not knowledgeable enough to address routine problems efficiently and insufficient staff on all shifts to handle problems even at the current AWIPS and Pathfinder sites. Although the contractor has taken steps to correct these deficiencies and improve staff performance, much remains to be done before NCF performance can be considered adequate."
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The National Weather Service's new interactive weather and communications system has earned one of 100 of the 1997 Best of What's New awards presented 11 November by Popular Science magazine in New York.
The Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) gives forecasters access to satellite imagery, Doppler radar data, automated weather observations, and computer-generated numerical forecasts, all in one workstation. The system helps NWS forecasters provide better weather and flood related services to protect life and property.
AWIPS integrates Doppler radar, advanced satellite data, and supercomputer model data to allow forecasters to easily display weather systems affecting their area. Early versions of the sophisticated workstation and communications network are installed at a number of NWS sites around the country for operational testing and evaluation. The NWS is developing AWIPS in incremental stages to allow for incorporating continuous user feedback into ongoing development efforts.
The 1997 Best of What's New award winners were featured in the December issue of Popular Science, and a list of the winners is available at the Popular Science web site at http://www.popsci.com.
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Commerce Secretary William M. Daley has approved the NWS's plan for production and installation of 19 interactive weather computer and communications systems designed to provide better weather- and flood-related services to protect life and property.
The AWIPS installations will allow forecasters to display and analyze satellite imagery, radar data, automated weather observations, and computer-generated numerical forecasts, all in one workstation, officials explained.
"As we cross this significant milestone in the $4.5 billion National Weather Service modernization program, the U.S. economy and American public will benefit from improved weather forecasts and more timely warnings," Daley said.
"AWIPS lets our forecasters display weather data in a variety of ways, quickly analyze evolving weather systems, and issue timely warnings for the protection of life and property," said Mary Glackin, NWS modernization systems manager.
The NWS is using an incremental development and deployment approach for this program, officials explained. It began installing AWIPS at 21 field sites this fall. The approval of the next 19 systems follows the completion of an operational test and evaluation of the third incremental software build. Installation of the first of these 19 systems will begin in about six months. A decision on installing the remaining systems is planned for early 1998, according to officials. In total, 152 AWIPS systems will be installed nationwide.
To date, 118 of the 123 planned state-of-the-art NWS Doppler radars and 247 of the planned 314 NWS Automated Surface Observing Systems are operational nationwide. Two advanced geostationary weather satellites, GOES-8 and GOES-9, are keeping watch over the United States and well into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. An identical third satellite, GOES-10, is available if one of the operational pair fails. In addition, 13 river forecast centers and 113 of the planned 119 new weather forecast offices are serving the country.
The 19 AWIPS systems will be installed as follows. Fourteen systems at NWS weather forecast offices in Boise, ID; Cincinnati, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Jackson, KY; Louisville, KY; Paducah, KY; Houston/Galveston, TX; Atlanta, GA; Melbourne, FL; Miami, FL; Amarillo, TX; Great Falls, MT; Missoula, MT; and Seattle, WA. Three systems at river forecast centers in Cincinnati, OH; Atlanta, GA; and Tulsa, OK. One system at the NWS Southern Region Headquarters in Fort Worth, TX, and one system at a Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education and Training (COMET) site in Boulder, CO.
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The warmest year of this century was 1997, based on land and ocean surface temperature data, reports a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC.
Led by the center's senior scientist, Tom Karl, the team analyzed temperatures from around the globe during the years 1900 to 1997 and back to 1880 for land areas. For 1997, land and ocean temperatures averaged three-quarters of a degree Fahrenheit above normal. (Normal is defined by the mean temperature, 61.7° F, for the 30 years 1961–90.) The 1997 figure exceeds the previous record warm year, 1990, by 0.15° F.
The record-breaking warm conditions of 1997 continues the pattern of very warm global temperatures. Nine of the past 11 years have been the warmest on record.
"Land temperatures did not break the previous record set in 1990, but 1997 was one of the five warmest years since 1880," said Karl. Including 1997, the top 10 warmest years over the land have all occurred since 1981 and the warmest five years all since 1990. Land temperatures for 1997 averaged three-quarters of a degree above normal, falling short of the 1990 record by one-quarter of a degree.
Ocean temperatures during 1997 also averaged three-quarters of a degree above normal, which makes it the warmest year on record, exceeding the previous record warm years of 1987 and 1995 by 0.3° F.
With the new data factored in, global temperature warming trends now exceed 1.0° F per 100 years, with land temperatures warming at a somewhat faster rate. "It is likely that the sustained trend toward increasingly warmer global temperatures is related to anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases," Karl said.
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A new generation of NOAA Weather Radio receivers introduced last fall enables listeners to screen out NWS watches and warnings that do not apply to their geographic area. NWS is now making programming the specially equipped receivers easier by providing state and county codes by a toll free telephone number.
Receivers equipped with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology allow listeners to choose which counties their radio will sound an alarm for when official NWS watches and warnings are issued. Older NOAA Weather Radio receivers continue to work but do not allow listeners to screen out weather service alarms for individual counties.
NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts NWS watches, warnings, and hazard information and local forecasts 24 h a day over a growing national network of more than 450 transmitters. Routine forecast information is updated every 1–3 h, and NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts are repeated about every 5 min.
"This new warning procedure is a breakthrough because it lets NOAA Weather Radio listeners screen out the severe weather alarms they don't want to hear," explained Louis J. Boezi, NWS deputy director for modernization. "If listeners are awakened at 3 a.m. for a severe weather warning 75 miles away, they may eventually tune out all together. We don't want that to happen."
During an emergency, NWS forecasters interrupt local NOAA Weather Radio programming and send out an alarm tone that activates NOAA Weather Radio receivers within the entire listening area. Because transmitters typically reach people within a range of hundreds of square miles, technical limitations have led to the appearance of "overwarning" for some severe weather events, officials explained.
By calling 1-888-NWR-SAME (1-888-697-7263) listeners can use a touch-tone phone keypad to enter the state and county of interest to get the SAME codes they need to program their receiver. Callers should have a pen or pencil and paper ready and will need to know either the two-letter postal abbreviation of the state or how to spell the state and the correct spelling of the county.
After the telephone system recognizes the county, it will provide the six-digit SAME code to program into the NOAA Weather Radio receiver. For people who do not have access to a touch-tone phone, the system's voice recognition mode allows callers to clearly spell out their state and county to receive the correct six-digit SAME code.
The list of codes also is available from NWS on the World Wide Web at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr.
The first brand of the new SAME-capable receiver is sold by Radio Shack, and other brands of receivers with the SAME feature are expected to be sold by electronics manufacturers this year.
Following a tornado that killed 20 people in a rural Alabama church on Palm Sunday 1994, Vice President Al Gore set a goal to make NOAA Weather Radio receivers as common as smoke detectors in American homes and to extend coverage provided by NOAA Weather Radio to 95% of the United States.
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NOAA's Central Library recently has completed WINDandSEA, an Internet site designed to assist NOAA personnel, teachers, students, and the general public locate Internet pages that have science and policy information related to oceanic and atmospheric sciences.
According to an article in the NOAA publication, Earth System Monitor, WINDandSEA is organized into three main parts—current interest, index, and the main body, composed of seven separate HTML pages. The site is divided into a number of pages to speed loading and access time, according to the article.
The current interest page has links to El Niño sites, Pfesteria sp. sites, and other sites that are potentially of great interest to the scientific community and public. These sites usually are, but not always, duplicated in the main body of WINDandSEA. The index page is the key to optimizing the use of this site, according to the article. The index currently has 39 major topics and more than 130 subtopics within the major topics. There is a browse option for those who wish to amble through WINDandSEA at a leisurely pace.
WINDandSEA was developed initially as a reference tool to assist NOAA librarians in answering the diverse questions that daily come to the reference desks. Officials soon realized that the value of such an Internet site locator transcended library use. As a result, its availability was broadened.
It can be accessed through the home page of the NOAA library at http://www.lib.noaa.gov/ or directly at http://www.lib.noaa.gov/docs/windandsea.html.
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"With space exploration and modern instrumentation, the tools to solve the mystery of life might be at hand. The innovative research and recent discoveries from space exploration may find that life is a natural consequence of planetary and chemical evolution, common in the universe."
That evaluation was expressed by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin before the American Astronomical Society at its winter meeting in Washington recently.
His remark followed a lengthy review of NASA activities of the past and present and a peek at things to come as the nation sets its sights on even more exploration of space.
Continuing his theme of "cheaper, faster, and better," Goldin said that "together with the National Science Foundation, we must search for planets with much lower masses than that which can be detected with today's techniques. We must look for planets more similar to Earth.
"We are going to challenge the community (technological) to execute the technology they developed and detect indirectly, from the ground, the gravitational effects of planets 10 to 100 times less massive than those found so far.
"First, the Keck interferometer will detect the presence of planets with masses as small as that of Neptune. And not long after that, we will launch the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), which we hope will detect the presence of planets down to a few times that of Earth's mass.
"Then, using techniques learned from SIM, we will build the Terrestrial Planet Finder, an interferometer in space at least the size of a football field. The Planet Finder will produce images of planetary systems and will analyze the faint light from planets and search for the fingerprints of biological activity."
The Planet Finder is expected to be launched in a decade, he said, and will require systems capable of picometers of precision over tens of meters to thousands of meters.
Goldin said a new space telescope project is challenging scientists to develop a deployable telescope "perhaps as large as 8 m—more than three times the size of Hubble—in diameter. And the surface accuracy will be fine enough to operate at wavelengths as short as half a micrometer and at operative temperatures just above absolute zero."
He said he has two teams that believe they can build that telescope with a specific mass of less than Hubble by a factor of 12 and a life cycle cost of a factor of 6 less than Hubble.
In exploring space, he explained, we just don't need to know where to look, we need to know what to look for.
He emphasized the importance of biological sciences in the search for life in space, pointing out that in spite of a NASA hiring freeze, the agency continues to hire biologists "because biology and biological evolution has passed us by."
"In this country, too often, we think as biology only in terms of medical care. We don't think about the implication of biology on the fundamental science we do, or the tools we're trying to build.
"Now, don't get me wrong. Physical scientists are good. But I think I made my point. The atmospheric scientists, planetologists and geomicrobiologists need to build a knowledge base, do the experiments and modeling. And in a little over a decade, planets orbiting other stars will be imaged and the question will be 'Is there life?'"
Goldin sees the twenty-first century as transitioning our society "from the century of air travel to the century of space travel."
"In the nineteenth century," he said, "we were citizens of nationality. In the twentieth century, we became citizens of a global interconnected economy. And in the twenty-first century, we will become citizens of the solar system."
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A team of Department of Commerce, U.S. Air Force, and contractor satellite operations experts has passed the first major development test of a satellite control system intended to operate the converged DOD Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites at the NOAA Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC) in Suitland, MD.
Operation of the DMSP and NOAA satellites from a combined SOCC is one of the early goals of the Polar Satellite Convergence Program.
Integral Systems, Inc. (ISI), under contract to NOAA and teamed with Harris Corporation and Lockheed Martin, developed the system, known as the Integrated Polar Acquisition and Control Subsystem (IPACS). Further testing of the system at the NOAA SOCC is planned through April, according to an article by Major Clive Paige (USAF) and Lt. Col. Neil R. Wyse (USAF) in the December issue of the NOAA publication Earth System Monitor.
NOAA is scheduled to assume operational responsibility for DMSP from Air Force Space Command in Omaha, NE, in the summer of 1998. After the transfer occurs, NOAA will be the sole agency responsible for operating all of the U.S. weather satellite programs. Currently, NOAA operates the Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).
The move to converge the DMSP and POES programs began when President Clinton directed the convergence of the nation's military and civilian polar-orbiting environmental satellite systems in his Presidential Decision Directive of 5 May 1994.
The merging of DMSP and POES operations at the NOAA SOCC, known as "early convergence," is the first phase of this effort and is to be concluded by this summer.
The next major phase is the development and acquisition of a single National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) capable of meeting both civil and miliary requirements for space-based environmental data. NPOESS is scheduled to become operational toward the latter half of the next decade, according to the article and eventually will replace both DMSP and POES.
The elimination of separate DOC and DOD environmental satellite systems is projected to save more than $550 million through 2003. That figure jumps to nearly $1.7 billion over the life of NPOESS when compared with operating separate programs.
A backup operations control center for the NOAA SOCC will be operated by the Air Force Reserve's 8th Space Operation Squadron at Falcon AFB near Colorado Springs, CO. The Falcon AFB site is scheduled to begin backup operations in October 1998.
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NASA has renamed the Mission to Planet Earth enterprise the Earth Science enterprise. The Earth Science enterprise is one of the four strategic enterprises of the agency, responsible for a long-term, coordinated research effort to study the total earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment.
In announcing the change of name, Acting Associate Administrator for Earth Science William Townsend said, "We feel that 'earth science' more clearly conveys to the American people the goals of our program and more directly focuses on the research that we're conducting. 1998 will include several major launches in the enterprise, including the first Earth Observing System missions, and we are pleased to enter this era with the new name."
The Earth Science enterprise is pioneering the emerging discipline of earth system science, with a near-term emphasis on global climate change. Earth science research capabilities under development will yield a variety of new scientific understandings and practical benefits to humankind.
The goals of the Earth Science enterprise are to expand scientific knowledge of the earth system using NASA's unique vantage points of space, aircraft, and in situ platforms, creating an international capability to forecast and assess the health of the earth system; to widely disseminate information about the earth system; and to enable the productive use of earth science results and related technology in the public and private sectors.
The title "Mission to Planet Earth" originated 10 years ago in a report on future directions for the U.S. civil space program by a commission led by former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride. The term and the concept of looking at Earth as NASA looks at other planets were furthered by the 1990 Report of the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program, prepared by a team of experts chaired by Dr. Norman Augustine. Since that time, NASA has organized its activities into four strategic enterprises, including human exploration and development of space, aeronautics and space transportation, and space science.
In a manner similar to the way that the space science enterprise has been broadened to include questions about the origins and destiny of the universe, the Mission to Planet Earth enterprise has been reshaped to answer key questions in five major earth system science disciplines: land surface cover, near-term and long-term climate change, natural hazards research, and atmospheric ozone.
The renaming of the enterprise to "Earth Science" is effective immediately. NASA will continue to use all supplies, such as stationery, that bear the former name of "Mission to Planet Earth" until such supplies are depleted, to avoid any unnecessary cost to the agency.
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This year has been declared the Year of the Ocean by the United Nations in recognition of the many challenges and opportunities offered by the ocean as we enter the twenty-first century. The ocean affects our weather and climate; provides a home to fisheries, which are a major food source for the world; and is largely unexplored in its depths. As the world population and standard of living grows, nations need to understand the impact of the ocean and the importance of sustainable use of ocean resources.
The immense impact of the ocean on all nations was particularly strong in 1997 as one of the strongest El Niños impacted weather all over the globe and toxic algal blooms poisoned fisheries in many U. S. coastal areas. These and other events have prompted a global wakeup call that lends urgency to the U.N. declaration. The U.S. Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is taking a leading role in the U.S. Year of the Ocean effort to promote public awareness and understanding of the ocean.
"One out of every six jobs in the United States is marine related," said Commerce Secretary William M. Daley. "What's more, 95% of U.S. foreign trade passes through U.S. ports and harbors in ships. One-third of our gross domestic product is produced in coastal areas through fishing, transportation, recreation, and related industries."
More than half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the coast and 40% of new commercial development in recent years has occurred near the coast. "As part of the Department of Commerce, NOAA is responsible for working with states and private industry to show how development can proceed while critical environmental issues are addressed," said NOAA Administrator D. James Baker.
"Shifts in weather patterns associated with El Niño are powerful reminders of how the ocean joins with the atmosphere to affect our lives," said Baker. "In addition, the recent outbreak of Pfiesteria in the Chesapeake Bay and the loss of fisheries in San Francisco Bay caused by newly introduced organisms remind us of the vulnerability of the ocean."
The goal of the Year of the Ocean is to raise public awareness about the importance and relevance of the ocean in our lives. It will also be an opportunity for governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals to become involved in helping sustain the marine resources on which we depend.
NOAA is working with other federal agencies, state governments, the private sector, academia, and other groups to highlight Year of the Ocean activities. Other federal agencies involved include the Departments of Defense, Transportation, State, Interior, Energy, and Agriculture; the National Science Foundation; NASA; EPA; FEMA; and the Maritime Administration. NOAA is also supporting the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment to develop a multistakeholder response to the Year of the Ocean.
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Dr. Eugene M. Rasmusson, senior research scientist in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD, is the new president of the American Meteorological Society. He assumed office at the conclusion of the 78th Annual Meeting in Phoenix where the reins of leadership were turned over by outgoing president Ron McPherson.
Rasmusson earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Kansas State University in 1950, an M.S. in engineering mechanics from Saint Louis University in 1963, and a Ph.D. in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Rasmusson served in the U.S. Air Force as a forecaster from 1951 to 1955. He joined the staff of the U.S. Weather Bureau in 1956 as a hydrologist and was a state forecaster from 1960 to 1963. He joined the Environmental Science Services Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory as a research meteorologist in 1964. In 1970, he became chief scientist for the BOMAP project.
In 1972, he joined the Center for Experiment Design and Data Analysis as the chief of the research division and served in that position for seven years. In 1979, he became chief of the Diagnostics Branch of the Climate Analysis Center and joined the faculty at the University of Maryland as a senior research associate in 1986. In 1990, he became a senior research scientist, his current position.
Professionally, Rasmusson has served on a number of advisory panels, committees, boards and commissions, including the National Academy of Sciences' Board of Atmospheric Science and Climate; National Research Council Committee on USGS Water Resources Research; NRC Expert Task Group, Strategic Highway Research Program; NAS Panel on Model-Assimilated Data Sets for Atmospheric and Oceanic Research; TOGA Scientific Steering Group; Science Steering Group, Atlantic Climate Change Program; chairman, NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Scientific Steering Group; advisory board for the Cooperative Institute of Mesoscale Meteorological Studies; member, Science Steering Group of the Pan American Climate Studies Program; and NRC Global Ocean Atmosphere Land Surface Programs.
Active with AMS since he became a member in 1953, Rasmusson has served on and chaired the awards committee, chaired the ad hoc committee on membership diversification, and served as co-convener of the symposium on GOALS. In addition, he was a councilor from 1993 to 1995.
An author and editor, he has published a number of papers in academic journals as well as 12 book chapters. He served as associate editor of the Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, 1982–87; was an associate editor for Monthly Weather Review, 1984–86; and currently is an editor for the Journal of Climate.
Rasmusson was honored by AMS in 1989 with the Jule G. Charney Award and again this year with the Robert E. Horton Lecture in Hydrology. His other honors and recognitions include the First Global Change Lecturer, University of Arizona, 1992; Starr Memorial Lecture, MIT, 1994; U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal, 1973; and the NOAA Administrator's Award, 1983.
A fellow of AMS, Rasmusson was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union this year.
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Approximately 2400 attendees flocked to Phoenix 11–16 January for the 78th AMS Annual Meeting at the Civic Plaza Convention Center. In addition, over 130 corporations and institutions exhibited at the week-long gathering which focused on the theme, "The Maturing of Our Predictive Capabilities."
The meeting featured a tribute to forecasting pioneer Carl-Gustaf Rossby in honor of the centennial of his birth. A special photo gallery containing memorabilia documenting Rossby's contributions to the knowledge and understanding of meteorology was on display throughout the meeting.
Meeting sponsors included AGU, AIA, ASA, AAEE, ACS, AWRA, AGI, AAG, GSA, ASAE, and WMO. Among the attendees was an eight-member delegation from China, headed by Professor Zou Jingmeng, president of the Chinese Meteorological Society. Cooperative exchanges between AMS and CMS go back to the 1970s.
Leading off the meeting was a keynote address by Daniel Albritton, Director of NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory in Boulder, CO, who was science advisor to the U.S. delegation at the recent Kyoto summit meeting on global climate change. Albritton said the summit meeting establishes a "keel" upon which future actions on climate can and should be taken.
Speaking at the conference luncheon, outgoing AMS President Ron McPherson told the audience that meteorology, indeed, had matured, having become more a driving force in our day-to-day activities than ever before. He said most of the growth in the future employment force will be in the applications of forecasting rather than forecasting itself.
Another highlight of the meeting was a session, called "Ten-Year Vision Study," a look into the future from a study undertaken by the Planning Commission aimed at setting priorities for the society in the next 10 years.
The meeting included 17 conferences and symposia and five short courses, as well as a number of special sessions, including space weather, weather on Mars, a GOES/POES evening presentation, and a panel on the social and economic impacts of weather forecasts. NOAA/FSL again hosted the popular daily weather briefing, and Fritz Hasler, of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, highlighted his electronic theater presentations with a new 40-ft wide screen featuring digital-IMAX images.
A second annual job fair was held in which an area was set up in the exhibit hall where companies, government agencies, and universities posted job announcements and conducted interviews.
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The theme for next year's 79th AMS Annual Meeting will be "Climate and Global Change; Focus on the Americas," according to AMS President Eugene M. Rasmusson.
Many of the AMS scientific and technical communities as well as other symposia conveners have been working on activities for the meeting, he said, and planning for the meeting in Dallas already is well advanced.
Leaders of many current national and international programs dealing with climate and global change issues and their impact on the Americas already have agreed to participate, he explained. Another important aspect of the meeting will be a focus on observations and impacts and the further strengthening of the bridge between scientific research and applications to societal needs.
Rasmusson said he plans to continue Ron McPherson's 1998 convention theme of "Maturing Our Predictive Capability" in the context of seasonal to interannual climate prediction. The centerpiece of this aspect of the annual meeting will be the Second Hayes Symposium on Seasonal to Interannual Prediction.
Also being planned is a special symposium to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE). Dates of the 79th Annual Meeting are 10–15 January 1999.
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AccuWeather founder and president, Dr. Joel N. Myers, was named one of the greatest entrepreneurs in American history with his biographical inclusion in Entrepreneur Magazine's Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurs, published by John Wiley and Sons. Entrepreneur Magazine has the largest newsstand circulation of any business monthly.
Myers was honored for parlaying his fascination with the weather into "a successful academic career and a successful business venture called AccuWeather, which today is the largest commercial weather forecasting organization in the world."
One of only 40 featured entrepreneurs born since the start of World War II, Myers's profile is included among 520 entrepreneurs representing 368 leading companies.
Entrepreneurs included along with Myers range from historical greats such as Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Dow and Edward Jones, F. W. Woolworth, John Deere, Levi Strauss, Oscar Mayer, Walt Disney, and Conrad Hilton, to contemporary leaders such as Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steven Spielberg, Steve Wozniak, Ted Turner, and Donald Trump.
Myers, born in 1939, first decided he would become a meteorologist when he was seven years old, and at the age of 11 determined he would start his own weather company. Myers founded AccuWeather in 1962, while working toward a graduate degree in meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University.
Since that time, AccuWeather has grown for 35 consecutive years under Myers's leadership. AccuWeather today serves more than 15 000 clients worldwide in media, industry, and government, providing weather forecasts, warnings, graphics, data systems, and consulting. AccuWeather has also diversified to provide news, sports, and feature information to the media and Internet sites. Among AccuWeather's clients are Associated Press, CNN, FOX, ABC, PointCast, Netscape, the Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno, more than 280 of the Fortune 500 companies, and over 500 government agencies.
Myers received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in meteorology from the Pennsylvaina State University and taught meteorology there for 19 years. He has served on the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees since his retirement from teaching in 1981.
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Robert W. (Bob) Corell, National Science Foundation Assistant Director for Geosciences, has been reappointed to his present position through December 1999, according to an NSF press release dated 9 January. In addition to overseeing the activities of the Geosciences Directorate, Corell will assist in the search for his year 2000 successor, according to the release. He then plans to remain actively engaged in the geosciences community in a different capacity, it read.
Corell was appointed in June 1987 to be the assistant director for geosciences, a directorate composed of the divisions of atmospheric sciences, earth sciences, and ocean sciences. Since 1987, Corell also has chaired the interagency committee that oversees the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
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Joseph H. Rothenberg, director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for the past three years, has left that post to head the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters. Alphonso (Al) Diaz, deputy director of the center, succeeds Rothenberg. The appointments were effective 12 January.
As associate administrator for the Office of Space Flight, Rothenberg will be responsible for all NASA human space flight programs as well as a variety of expendable launch vehicle operations and tracking and communications functions.
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Dr. Compton J. Tucker, research scientist in the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, has been awarded the 1997 William T. Pecora Award for his achievements in remote sensing. The award, sponsored jointly by the Department of the Interior and NASA, is presented annually to recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals or groups toward the understanding of the earth by means of remote sensing. The award was established in 1974 to honor the memory of Dr. William T. Pecora, a former director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Tucker is being honored specifically for his outstanding leadership in the use of remotely sensed data for ecology and in recognition of his pioneering applications of meteorological satellite data to study global vegetation dynamics.
Through his work, he has provided sustained, innovative leadership in the study of the earth's vegetation from space, and his research has focused international attention on global environmental change phenomena.
Some areas of recent and continuing work include quantifying expansion and contraction of the major deserts of Africa and Asia, determining tropical deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Amazon Forest of South America and investigating increased length of the growing season at higher northern latitudes.
Tucker is the winner of a number of honors for his work, including the National Air and Space Museum Trophy in 1993 and the William Nordberg Award for Earth Science in 1996.
He is the author of more than 80 scientific and technical publications and has been a Goddard Senior Fellow since 1988.
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