Editor: Jim Elliott
Contributor: Stephanie Kenitzer
Copy Editor: Marcie Bernstein
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On 14 June, leaders of a number of scientific and academic organizations will be holding a breakfast for the new Chairman of the House Science Committee Sherwood L. Boehlert. AMS, along with AGI, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC), are sponsoring the event to acquaint Boehlert with the geosciences research and education community and to hear from him about Science Committee priorities in this area.
The chairman is expected to make an informal statement about committee work in this area, and each of the sponsoring organizations will then make a relatively short presentation on their activities that would be of special interest to the Science Committee. AMS will focus on its education program—training teachers to instruct students in meteorology and related sciences and offering a model of effective science education. AMS will endeavor to communicate that its programs “teaches the teachers” to provide a foundation and stimulate interest in all scientific disciplines.
Executive Director Ron McPherson will attend, along with Ira Geer, AMS Director of Education Programs.
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The AMS and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Summer Colloquium kicked off on 3 June with a special reception. Nearly 40 participants including midlevel managers in government and industry, and academic faculty and 14 graduate students are taking part in the 10-day colloquium.
The goal of the colloquium is to bring together future leaders in the field of atmospheric sciences to develop their understanding of the policy process, and at the same time contribute to building the public policy capabilities of the weather and climate community, broadly defined.
Throughout the colloquium participants will visit Capitol Hill and the White House to learn and to engage staff in dialog; examine case studies on the creation of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and how the World Meteorological Organization is working with the question of free and open data exchange; participate in a 1-day meeting of corporate members with policy-level agency officials of the Bush administration; and attend presentations and dialog on the role of policy, weather and climate events, and entrepreneurial vision in fostering the development of the private sector.
The complete schedule is available on the Internet at http://www.ametsoc.org/ams.
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On 1–2 May, the AMS participated in a function that brings hundreds of representatives from the science and technology communities to Capitol Hill to speak with members and key staff about critical needs in basic science funding. Jointly sponsored by the Science–Engineering–Technology Work Group (of which AMS is a member) and the Coalition for Technology Partnership, Congressional Visits Day is a 2-day series of events that culminated with a day of visits to offices on Capitol Hill.
AMS members from academia and the private sector enthusiastically participated in some or all of the events, and in most instances were able to meet with members of Congress from their home district or state. The core message was the need for increased and balanced federal investment in research and development, which is essential to U.S. global leadership, notably in economic and national security terms. Bringing the message directly to Capitol Hill was especially important this year, because of the near flat or declining funding in real dollar terms of many basic R&D programs of interest to the Society and to science in general.
Congressional Visits Days began on 1 May with a day of briefings from officials and staff from both the legislative and executive branches. Speakers included Daniel Goldin, Administrator of NASA, as well as Joseph Bordogna, Deputy Director, National Science Foundation, and Marcus Peacock of the Office of Management and Budget. Capitol Hill was represented by Ranking House Science Committee Member Ralph Hall (D-Texas) along with key staff member Robert Palmer, Minority Staff Director, House Science Committee, and Bryan Hannegan, Majority Staff Scientist to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
That evening a well-attended reception and ceremony was held to award the George E. Brown, Jr. Science–Engineering–Technology Leadership Award to Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) and Christopher Bond (R-Missouri) for their continued and strong support for funding basic science and technology research. Both have been leaders in the “doubling” effort in basic research at such federal agencies as National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and the National Institute of Technology, among others.
The next day, 2 May, included with a breakfast in honor of the new Chairman of the House Science Committee, Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-New York). Following that function, more than 200 individuals in science and technology fanned out across Capitol Hill to visit their members. AMS members visited representatives and senators from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Kansas.
AMS members were almost uniformly positive about the experience as an opportunity to meet their members of Congress and communicate some of the interests of the science and technology communities in general—as well as our own disciplines more specifically.
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The AMS staff, including Executive Director Ron McPherson, and Richard Greenfield, William Hooke, and Doug Stone of the Atmospheric Policy Program, have continued with their series of educational visits to offices on Capitol Hill. It is part of an ongoing effort to communicate the Society’s concern—and to convey information—about issues of interest to the atmospheric and related sciences community.
Over the past few months, McPherson led visits to key staff members of the Commerce Justice and State (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, as well as personal staff of Members on those subcommittees in both Houses of Congress. Perhaps most important was the time spent with the staff member from the House CJS Subcommittee, which is responsible for funding NOAA. The visit was cordial, and along with a representative from UCAR, AMS was able to highlight certain programs of special interest within the subcommittee’s purview.
Visits were also recently made with personal staff members responsible for appropriations activities from the offices of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Representative Charles Taylor (R-North Carolina). Once again, AMS was able to communicate funding areas of special need and emphasis.
In addition, the AMS staff met with Floyd DesChamps, senior professional staff member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Science Technology and Space. The issues discussed in this meeting were focused on overarching issues in meteorological and related sciences and the possibility of examining the various programs in the field, as well as the structure and interrelationship of the various programs, in a comprehensive way.
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Richard Hallgren, AMS’s Executive Director Emeritus and Society Fellow, was one of five individuals that testified on 9 May before the House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards. Chaired by Representative Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan), the hearing was titled “NOAA’s FY 2002 Budget: Predicting Weather and Climate.”
Hallgren told the subcommittee that he was particularly pleased with the title of the hearing, since “Weather and climate are two sides of the same coin,” with many needs in common. He emphasized the importance of increasingly accurate warnings and predictions, noting the extent of their impact on, among other things, the U.S. economy.
NOAA’s FY02 budget request for weather and climate services “is a significant step forward in the continuing process of investing in improved services,” said Hallgren. However, he stressed, “we still have a long way to go.” He testified that despite tremendous advances in the science and services, the “gap between capabilities and needs is widening” though on the whole—while perhaps hoping for larger increases—he believes the administration’s request has done a good job of supporting high-priority programs.
He noted that advances include tornado warnings that have gone from effectively zero time to 10 minutes, and 4-day weather predictions that are as accurate as 2-day forecasts in the 1980s. He expected advances to continue—even more rapidly than before—provided the United States continues to make adequate investments in developing the science and technology.
As for the FY02 budget, Hallgren was largely positive with respect to weather and climate services funding—which are “very much in the right direction”—but notes that they are constrained by the overall NOAA budget. He was especially enthusiastic about improvements in the less-than-glamorous areas of infrastructure and support, including adjustments to base to cover pay increases and other increased operating costs. However, he urged increased attention to the U.S. Weather Research Program.
In programmatic terms, he specifically applauded projected increases for the Environmental Data Centers; the cooperative observer network, as well as climate and ocean reference stations; high-speed computers at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (Camp Springs, Maryland), the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (Princeton, New Jersey), and the Forecast Systems Laboratory (Boulder, Colorado); the NCEP’s Environmental Modeling Center; polar-orbiting satellites; the system of floats for observation of the ocean; and the Environmental Observing Services. Hallgren also emphasized the importance of updating the Automated Surface Observing System, the NEXRAD radars, and the Advanced Weather Information Processing System as “extremely important.” With swift advances in technology, even the last two could benefit from upgrades, since the technology is aging. According to Hallgren, “Let’s not fall again into the mode of operating 20- to 30-year-old systems.”
Hallgren also noted the NOAA and NASA effort to create a joint Data Assimilation Center as “the most exciting new initiative” for the new fiscal year. The usefulness of all data—satellite and in situ—in defining the earth system will be increased, and increased even more by support for the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment.
“At the start, I said the gap between the capabilities and needs continues to grow. Let me emphasize that today, energy spot prices shoot up by factors of 10 whenever we fail to accurately forecast heating and cooling demand. Recent hurricanes have put millions of evacuees on the road, not just thousands. Winter storm airport closures create air traffic problems nationwide. We have to do a better job of seeing and coping with these problems. And better predictions will help.
“Finally, I want to say that predictions of weather and climate are vital to coping with climate change not only for determining the magnitude of potential changes in climate but also for adapting to the change. Making wise decisions in many sectors of our economy—agriculture, energy, water resources, transportation and others—based on short and long range predictions will be one of the key elements in coping with whatever climate change is in our future.”
Hallgren testified before the panel along with Scott Gudes, acting administrator of NOAA; Eric Barron, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, and Director, EMS Environment Institute, the Pennsylvania State University; Leonard J. Pietrafesa, Director of External Affairs, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, North Carolina State University, and Joe Hoffman, Executive Director, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and member, Interstate Council on Water Policy. (See other story on presentations to committee.)
A complete transcript of the entire hearing will be available shortly through the Environment, Technology and Standards Subcommittee, (202) 225-8844. Hallgren’s testimony is available at http://www.ametsoc.org/ams.
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The AMS and Weather Research Center are organizing a charity golf tournament to be held on Friday, 19 January following the AMS Annual Meeting in Orlando. The proceeds will benefit The Weather Museum. The Weather Museum was the idea of AMS members Jill F. Hasling and John C. Freeman. The museum was developed in order to stimulate interest in the field of meteorology and oceanography, to provide a facility for people of all ages to learn about the weather, to obtain weather safety information, and to look into the past to see how weather was observed. Schoolchildren, college students, and researchers nationwide will benefit from this unique museum.
To be a sponsor, donate a door prize, or play contact Jill F. Hasling at Weather Research Center, (713) 529-3076, or e-mail, wrc@wxresearch.com.
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While the Administration’s FY02 budget request for NOAA suffers a $60.8 million decrease from the enacted level of FY01, the agency is making infrastructure realignments that allow funding increases in such critical areas as severe weather prediction, coastal conservation, living marine resources, and climate.
“The funding requested in the FY 2002 President’s Budget Request will allow NOAA to ensure that our vision for environmental stewardship, assessment and prediction of the nation’s resources becomes a reality, and that NOAA will continue to excel in our science and service for the American people,” Acting NOAA Administrator Scott Gudes told the House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards during a hearing in Washington on 9 May.
Gudes led off testimony on the FY02 budget request before the panel. Others making presentations included Richard Hallgren, AMS Executive Director Emeritus; Dr. Eric Barron, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, and Director, EMS Environmental Institute, The Pennsylvania State University; Leonard J. Pietrafesa, Director of External Affairs, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, North Carolina State University, and Joe Hoffman, Executive Director, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and member, Interstate Council on Water Policy.
“The request for the people and infrastructure crosscutting initiative brings together the heart of what NOAA is and does,” Gudes explained, declaring that “human capital” is the agency’s “greatest asset.” He said he “must pay” bills like pay raises, benefits, inflation, and rent are maintained in the proposed budget. Failure to meet those adjustments in any given year, he said, would result in program dislocations and minor cutbacks that would have an accumulative, erosive effect that could be “programmatically devastating.”
To ensure mission capacity, he said, NOAA is requesting infrastructure funding of $73.3 million in the key categories of critical systems, construction, maintenance and repair, and program support.
On Climate Services, the acting administrator pointed out that the issues of climate variability and change will continue to be a major issue for the nation. “Whether responding to the ongoing drought in the Pacific Northwest and its effect on power generation and endangered salmon or in determining how much atmospheric carbon dioxide is taken up by the North American biosphere, these questions influence users from the Western water manager to the shapers of national policy,” he said.
“The challenge is to extend the research successes, maintain the observational backbone and improve the capability to provide useful information services to our customers. Improved climate predictions will enable resource managers in climate sensitive sectors…to alter strategies and reduce economic vulnerability.”
Gudes stressed the need for greater ocean exploration, saying that despite the fact that the oceans cover 70% of the globe “less than 5% of the ocean floor has been mapped in high resolution” and that scientists believe that fewer than 25% of the species that live in the ocean have ever been identified.
Barron said there are three fundamental elements to NOAA and U.S.climate programs: 1) a robust observing system, 2) a strong modeling prediction/projection capability, and 3) a strong link to the needs of the decision makers.
“The research community and every sector of climate-related decision makers, from the weather derivatives industry to those assessing the potential impacts of future climate change, calls for a stable, sustained, high quality observational base to the U.S. climate program,” he explained. “NOAA clearly recognizes this important need.”
He said societal needs lead to a vision that uses a regional framework as a stepping-stone to a “comprehensive national and global capability.” He said creating a series of “natural laboratories” can develop a comprehensive regional framework. They must have an integrated regional web of sensors, an integrated and comprehensive regional information system, directed process studies to examine specific phenomena, regional modeling foundation for constructing increasingly complex coupled system models and a strong user-centric function.
Pietrafesa, a member of NOAA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), cited the need for better observations over the oceans, in the atmosphere and on land. He pointed out that “under sampling” of in situ observations leads to devastating outcomes such as Hurricane Mitch.
He outlined how the SAB performs a useful function for NOAA by establishing critical R&D challenges, establishing protocol for evaluating NOAA research, providing advice in key areas of NOAA activities, assisting in science reviews, working to ensure that NOAA integrates the human dimension into many of its major research program and assisting the NOAA administrator with the budget process.
Pietrafesa underlined, however, the fact that the charter for the SAB is scheduled to expire in September 2001 and suggested that “it would not be without precedent for the committee to permanently establish the SAB through legislation, providing a more stable environment for the SAB to operate.”
In closing, he listed 11 issues that will challenge NOAA in the next 4 years:
Hoffman stressed the importance of flood forecasting by the NWS and its river forecasting centers. He said that the nature of the Midwest flooding allows days to activate the National Guard and others to help with sandbagging and flood fighting.
“However, the terrain in much of the eastern United States is different…,” he explained. “For example, in the Susquehanna River Basin of New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, there are steep slopes, more rapid runoff occurring from large rain events and narrow valleys to receive the rain. In this situation, emergency managers need much more rapid data for flood alerts as they only have hours—not days—in preparation time.”
The cooperation between NWS and USGS involving rain gage data and stream gage data has been vital, he explained. “This subcommittee does not have direct responsibility for the appropriation to the U.S. Geological Survey…,” Hoffman said, “but members should keep in mind the need for both sets of data as appropriations decisions are made.”
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The House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards passed H.R. 64, the Strengthening Science at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Act on 17 May 2001. The legislation, introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-Michigan), had bipartisan support and passed by voice vote.
H.R. 64 will create a Deputy Administrator for Science and Technology at EPA and will set a statutory term for the Assistant Administrator of the Office of Research and Development (ORD). These changes will coordinate the scientific effort among EPA’s numerous offices and ensure that sound science guides the agency. Also, it will stabilize ORD by removing it from the transition that occurs between administrations.
H.R. 64 must move to the full committee for consideration.
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The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) science and technology (S&T) budget request of $497 million supports critical research and development activities in eight of 10 agency strategic goals, according to Henry L. Longest II, acting assistant administrator for research and development at EPA.
Longest testified to that effect during a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards in Washington on 17 May. The S&T account is part of the $535 million request for EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) for FY02.
Key administration research priorities in the FY02 request for EPA include particulate matter, drinking water research, and global change research, Longest said.
The eight strategic goals that will be addressed with the FY02 funding involve 1) clean air, 2) clean and safe water, 3) safe food, 4) preventing pollution and reducing risk (of human health hazards), 5) better waste management, 6) reducing global and cross-border environmental risks, 7) quality environmental information, and 8) sound science.
Other hearing participants included William Randall Seeker, past chair, Research Strategies Advisory Committee, EPA Science Advisory Board, and Ronald Hammerschmidt, director, Division of Environment, Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Seeker outlined findings and recommendations by the Research Strategies Advisory Board, pointing out that the S&T component of the total agency’s budget request is approximately 9% and noting that “significantly greater increases will be required if the agency is going to make more use of science in its decision-making process.”
Hammerschmidt said that approximately 70% of environmental programs Congress has made delegable to states are being performed by state environmental agencies. Some programs, he explained, are implementable only by states.
“Though we have had many environmental successes,” he said, “EPA and the states still face numerous unaddressed public health and environmental challenges.” He noted that the President’s FY02 budget request for EPA would reduce investment in “Sound Science” goal by about $27 million and indicated “…this is not the time to reduce the Nation’s investment in EPA’s scientific effort.”
“The message I would like to leave with you today,” he concluded, “is the crucial need states have for EPA’s help in developing scientific information to guide and support our efforts to protect the public health and environment. We are obliged to address these responsibilities with the best information science can provide.”
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A lengthy parade of witnesses in two separate panels appeared before the House Subcommittee on Energy on 17 May for a hearing the “Department of Energy Office of Science—Issues and Opportunities.”
Making up the first panel were Frederick J. Gilman, Carnegie Mellon University; T. James Symons, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Geraldine L. Richmond, University of Oregon; Keith O. Hodgson, Stanford University; Richard D. Hazeltine, University of Texas, Austin; and Margaret H. Wright, Bell Laboratories.
The second panel included Robert C. Richardson, Cornell University; Charles V. Shank, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and James F. Blake, University of Maryland.
The purpose of the hearing was to examine the current status of DOE’s Office of Science programs, future opportunities, and major issues that confront that office.
The first panelists are the chairpersons of the six external Advisory Committees that provide strategic guidance and advice to the director of DOE’s Office of Science and help set priorities. Each of the panelists outlined their ideas and recommendations on their particular area of expertise.
Hodgson, who provided the opening testimony, outlined the goals and missions of the Office of Science, pointing out that to accomplish its mission the office supports highly successful, peer-reviewed basic research program at universities in every state of the nation. The programs include 4900 Ph.D.-level researchers, 3200 graduate students, and 1000 other technical and supporting staff.
In turn, then, the panelists reviewed 1) advanced scientific computing, 2) basic energy sciences, 3) biological and environmental research, 4) fusion energy sciences, 5) high energy physics, and 6) nuclear physics.
Of most interest to AMS is the Biological and Environmental (BER) portion of the testimony. That DOE BER program has three broad program elements—life sciences; environmental sciences, including global change; and medical sciences.
The panel pointed out that in the environmental research area, DOE is the third largest contributor to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), following NASA and NSF, and has taken the lead federal role in many key areas, including the role of clouds and radiation on the climate system, in carbon cycle research, ecosystem research, and climate modeling.
“BER has been a leader in research on atmospheric processes that control the passport, transformation and fate of energy-related chemicals and particulate matter and in the development of models to describe these processes,” the panel noted in its prepared testimony. “These processes cover regional, national, and global aspects of air quality and climate change. The results, at the core of many of the energy-related science issues found only in DOE, have important implications for energy policies.”
Under a section titled “New Opportunities in FY 2002,” the panelists noted that the opportunity is to “address the next grand challenge in the biological and biomedical sciences that comes from understanding the sequence of the human (and many other) genomes. That is to answer the question: ‘how do living things actually function and what factors—genetic, environmental, and others—influence life in positive as well as negative ways?’”
The panel said the advisory committee urges DOE to seek to 1) double the budget for the DOE BER program beginning in FY02, continuing for the next five years and, within this framework, that 2) increases be used to adequately support core capabilities and facility operations in addition to new initiatives, and 3) $500 million per year be allocated beginning in FY02 to the new initiative “Genomes to Life.” It further noted that it supports and endorses the doubling of DOE Office of Science budget over the next 5 years.
On the second panel, Richardson pointed out that the primary responsibility of DOE’s science and energy programs should be to provide the new knowledge needed for ensuring the scientific and technological base of our nation’s economic prosperity in the twenty-first century. To carry out that mandate, he suggested two options: 1) elevate the Director of the DOE Office of Science to the rank of Under Secretary for Science and Energy, with additional responsibilities as Science Advisor to the Secretary (a move supported by AMS and many other organizations and recommended by House Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards Chairman Vernon Ehlers) and 2) combine DOE science and energy programs with NIST, NOAA, and possibly USGS to form a major part of a new twenty-first-century Department of Commerce.
Drake spoke on the Fusion Energy Sciences Program and argued for the importance of primary funding for the program. He underlined the progress made in fusion power in recent years but pointed out that in 1996 the focus was changed from “goal-driven energy development program to a program which focuses on developing the scientific basis for fusion energy.”
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On 17 May 2001, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York) introduced a bill to expand the K–12 education programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The bill is designed to encourage colleges and universities and businesses to get more involved in improving precollege education.
The bill, H.R. 1858 (see full details below), would authorize Mathematics and Science Partnerships, along the lines outlined by President George W. Bush; create new scholarships to attract top college junior and senior math and science majors into teaching; and establish four new university centers on research into teaching and learning.
Boehlert said he planned to work on a bipartisan basis to bring the bill to the House floor next month.
H.R. 1858--The National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act
President Bush proposed in his budget to draw on the expertise of the National Science Foundation to encourage the establishment of mathematics and science education partnerships. The Partnerships Act authorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) to stimulate the development of innovative elementary and secondary mathematics, science, engineering, and technology education partnerships across the country.
Title I—Mathematics and Science Education Partnerships
Title I of the Partnerships Act authorizes the establishment by NSF of mathematics and science education partnerships to be run by universities in partnership with local education agencies. These partnerships will focus on a wide array of reform efforts ranging from professional development to curriculum reform. The partnerships may include the state education agency and 50% of the awards must go to partnerships that include business partners. The program is authorized at $200 million per year for each of the next five years as requested by President Bush.
The bill also establishes a small partnership program through which universities will provide scholarships to math and science teachers to allow them to participate in research projects at university, business, state or federal laboratories. This program is authorized at $15 million for each of the next 5 years.
Title II—National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library
The National Science Foundation has begun the process of establishing a digital library for the reform of undergraduate mathematics, science, engineering and technology education. The Partnerships Act authorizes the expansion of the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library to include peer reviewed elementary and secondary mathematics, science, engineering, and technology education materials. The purpose of the Digital Library is to provide teachers with a web site through which they can easily locate peer reviewed education materials and information for use in their classrooms. The program is authorized at $20 million per year for each of the next 5 years.
Title III—Strategic Education Research Program
Title III of the Partnerships Act responds to several recent studies by the National Academy of Sciences. The Act authorizes the establishment of four national centers at universities for research on learning and education improvement. The multidisciplinary research centers will not only conduct research in cognitive science and related fields, but also will reduce the results of that research to educational practice. The program is authorized at $12 million per year for each of the next 5 years.
Title IV—Robert Noyce Scholarship Program
Title IV of the Partnerships Act establishes a new scholarship program designed to encourage mathematics, science, and engineering majors to pursue careers in teaching. The program provides grants to universities to enable them to offer scholarships to mathematics, science and engineering majors. The students will be eligible for up to $7500 in each of their junior and senior years and must teach 2 years for each year of scholarship they receive. The institution will also be provided funds to operate education and support programs for the scholarship recipients before and during their years of teaching service. A smaller stipend may also be offered to math, science, or engineering professionals who need course work to enter teaching. The program is authorized at $20 million per year for each of the next 4 years. (Robert Noyce was an inventor of the transistor and founder of Intel Corporation.)
Title V—Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Business Education Conference
The business community is becoming more and more engaged in efforts to improve elementary and secondary mathematics and science instruction. Businesses seeking to establish partnerships in their own communities can learn valuable lessons from the experiences of existing successful partnerships. The Partnerships Act authorizes the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to convene a conference to explore ways that members of the business community can expand their efforts to improve elementary and secondary mathematics, science, engineering, and technology education.
Title VI—Requirements for Research Centers
Title VI of the Partnerships Act recognizes that the need to improve elementary and secondary mathematics, science, engineering, and technology education requires full participation by all segments of the research and education community. The Partnerships Act requires the Director of NSF to ensure that any NSF grants that establish new research centers at institutions of higher education incorporate an elementary and secondary mathematics, science, engineering or technology education component as part of their program.
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Vaisala Group has signed a Letter Of Intent towards purchasing the Meteorological Systems Unit of Radian International LLC, together with the existing Meteorological Systems Unit management. Vaisala aims to acquire controlling proportion of the shares.
The Radian Meteorological Systems is located in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Its most important product is the wind profiler, measuring the vertical profile of wind in the atmosphere. The information is used in the short-term weather forecasting, so-called nowcasting and mesoscale forecasting, which is an expanding field in weather forecasting.
Vaisala develops, manufactures, and markets electronic measurement systems and equipment for meteorology, environmental sciences, traffic safety, and industry. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Vaisala has operated in Boulder, Colorado, since 1999.
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Drought conditions in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast are expected to linger through August as the Midwest experiences cool, wet conditions this summer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) latest seasonal outlook issued in late May.
The outlook calls for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions to share the possibility of a drier-than-normal summer. Warmer-than-normal temperatures are predicted for the Deep South.
“Drought continues to be the major concern for many areas of the country,” said National Weather Service (NWS) Director Jack Kelly. “Areas of eastern Georgia, the western Carolinas and the Florida peninsula are entering their fourth year of drought.” He added that a lack of precipitation in the Northwest, where summers are usually dry, will provide “little, to no, relief” from drought conditions.
“During the summer, nearly every area of the country is normally subject to periods of extreme heat, wetness or dryness,” said James Laver, acting director of the NOAA Weather Service Climate Prediction Center (CPC), one of the nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction. “Summer weather patterns over the continental United States are more difficult to forecast than those in the winter season because they are not strongly tied to a climate indicator, such as an El Niño or La Niña.”
NOAA’s climate specialists base the summer outlook on statistical and dynamic models, which include soil moisture content and long-term trends. “Currently, the tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures are near normal,” explained Vernon Kousky, a CPC specialist. NOAA scientists indicate the possibility of a weak-to-moderate El Niño event in the late fall or next winter.
Summary of the 2001 Summer Outlook:
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The 2001 hurricane season likely will have normal levels of activity, bringing fewer storms than the past 3 years, according to the nation’s top hurricane forecasters.
At a press conference on 21 May, the panel of top officials said that the season likely will result in 8 to 10 tropical storms, of which 5 to 7 will be hurricanes and up to 3 will be major hurricanes, with winds of more than 110 mph.
“Although we expect an average level of activity this season, that is no cause to become complacent,” said Scott Gudes, acting NOAA administrator. “With the possibility of 5 to 7 hurricanes, residents in hurricane-prone areas can’t afford to let their guard down.”
In the past 30 years, he said, storm death tolls have been reduced to about 20 a year, largely because of improved forecasting, better warning dissemination and wider cooperation among partner agencies. While 20 deaths are still too many, he said the toll could be reduced further if the public will not drive their cars into flooded areas and would listen more carefully to NOAA Weather Radio and heed warnings by the media.
The news conference marked the start of a nationwide Hurricane Awareness Week campaign, involving NOAA, FEMA and storm-vulnerable states. (See related story).
National Weather Service (NWS) Director Jack Kelly pointed out that the hurricane season (1 June–30 November) was fast approaching. He said the reason for Hurricane Awareness Week was to inform the public what might happen in a storm and to urge people to be prepared. He explained that the coastal population is exploding with 1 in 7 residents of the coastal and gulf regions residing in storm-prone areas.
NOAA also introduced a new numerical model. “This year for the first time…,” he said, “we have the opportunity to introduce a new hurricane prediction model, developed by the University of Rhode Island in conjunction NOAA researchers which will couple sea surface temperatures with the atmosphere.” He added that this new model will improve intensity forecasts as well as track forecasts.
Max Mayfield, director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami, paid tribute to the aircrews who fly through the hurricanes to gather data that help forecasters with their predictions. They have suffered losses, he said, and should never be taken for granted.
Regarding this year’s prediction of normality, he explained that “it’s not a matter of numbers.” He went on to say that some of the most destructive hurricanes have occurred in years when the number of storms was normal or below normal. “Hurricanes Donna of 1960, David and Frederic of 1979, and Elena, Gloria, and Juan of 1985 are reminders of the destruction that can occur during seasons of normal hurricane activity,” he said. “Hurricane Andrew of 1992, the costliest hurricane on record, developed during a season of below-normal hurricane activity.”
He stressed that people facing the threat of a hurricane should know where they’re going to go and how they’re going to get there. “One of our biggest fears,” he said, “is the fear of having people stuck in their cars in a gridlock that would cause a major loss of life.”
Mayfield was also particularly emphatic in his warning about storm surges, pointing out that they occur in inland areas sometimes miles from a coast. He said nine out of 10 hurricane deaths can be attributed to storm surge. “When an evacuation order is given,” he emphasized, “residents should treat it as a life or death matter.”
Brig. Gen. Robert Duignan, deputy to the chief of the Air Force Reserve, outlined the role the reservists from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, play in their flights into the storms. They provide round-the-clock surveillance, he said, entering the storm at altitudes of 500 to 1500 feet, later going to 5000 to 10 000 feet and even higher as the storm intensifies. The “Hurricane Hunter” squadron is “one of a kind,” he explained, and is composed of 20 crews and 10 aircraft.
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President Bush recently signed the first Presidential proclamation of “Hurricane Awareness Week” (20–26 May), supporting NOAA’s efforts to bring about greater public awareness of the dangers of those storms and underlining the agency’s theme that preparations to cope with them should be made now.
NOAA officials have announced that early and accurate warnings will help keep people safe and property damage to a minimum during the 2001 hurricane season, but added that people should not be complacent and should prepare for the storms before they occur.
In his proclamation, Bush wrote, in part:
“Each year on average, six hurricanes develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. Many of these remain over the ocean with little or no impact on the continental United States. Unfortunately, though, on average, five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every three years. These storms can cause significant damage that can cost individuals, businesses and government billions of dollars. Worst of all, however, is the loss that can never be recovered: human life.
“Currently, more than 48 million people live along hurricane-prone coastlines of the United States. The growing number of residents living in these areas, as well as the millions of tourists who visit our Nation’s beaches annually, has increased the difficulties in evacuating people from areas that are threatened by an impending hurricane. This problem is further compounded by the fact that a large majority of people living in these areas has never experienced the force of a major hurricane and its devastating impact.
“Increasingly, many Americans have begun working to ensure that commonsense measures are implemented to protect themselves and their property from natural disasters, including floods, tornadoes and earthquakes....They are to be commended for this preventive work....
“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) researchers and forecasters continue to improve the accuracy of hurricane warnings that enable residents to evacuate and emergency personnel to effectively respond well in advance of the storm’s arrival. In addition, FEMA and NOAA have focused their resources toward encouraging community leaders to work with Federal, state and local agencies, as well as volunteer agencies, schools, the private sector and the news media to collectively undertake activities that diminish the destruction of natural disasters....
“Therefore…I call upon government agencies, private organizations, schools, news media and residents in hurricane-prone areas to work towards the prevention of needless storm damage and to join me in raising awareness of the hazards posed by hurricanes.”
In expressing his gratitude to the President, Acting NOAA Administrator Scott Gudes said, “Though we expect this to be a season of normal weather patterns and anticipate fewer storms this year, we can’t predict which communities may experience the awesome power of a hurricane....Accordingly, residents in all hurricane prone areas should be ready to act.”
FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh said, “The importance that President Bush has placed on reducing the loss of life and property is shared by FEMA and NOAA alike. With an ever-growing population living in vulnerable coastal areas, our charge this hurricane season is clear. FEMA stands ready to provide both the leadership and the necessary technical assistance and guidance to communities as they assume responsibility for becoming more disaster resistant.”
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U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists, working with partners in NASA, have developed a new map showing critical elevations of the south Atlantic coast that indicate relative vulnerabilities to storm surge overtopping and inundation by hurricanes and extreme storms. They also have developed a new scale that categorizes expected erosion and accretion that occurs during storms.
The map color codes segments of shoreline most vulnerable to overtopping by wave run up for a storm of the same intensity hitting the coast at approximately mean tide level. The magnitude of coastal change that occurs during a storm is related to how high on the beach wave run up reaches relative to the elevation of the beach and dunes.
The data used to create the map were acquired with NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper, which provides far better accuracy and data density than previously available from traditional topographic maps, officials said.
“Our ultimate goal is to provide sound, scientific information on where hazardous areas occur along the coast so that better decisions can be made on how far back new structures should be set from eroding shorelines,” explained USGS Coastal Geologist Abby Sallenger, one of the map’s creators. “Accurate measurements of coastal topography are important to understanding coastal vulnerability to storms. This map is a first step. The map would have been nearly impossible to put together using data from traditional means of beach surveying.”
As the aircraft flies along the coast, a laser altimeter scans a several hundred-meter swath of the earth’s surface, acquiring an estimate of ground elevation every few square meters. USGS and NASA scientists measure change by comparing prestorm to poststorm data.
In the future, similar maps will be made for the Gulf of Mexico and northeast United States coastlines, Sallenger said.
The map and scale are now available on the Web at http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/mappingchange/.
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Windblown desert dust can choke rain clouds, reducing rainfall hundreds of miles away, according to a study by scientists from Israel’s Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute.
The findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, present a new view of the decades-long drought in the African Sahel, which has been accompanied by increasing levels of airborne dust during the rainy season, according to the study. The higher dust frequency is not necessarily a result of the decreased rainfall, but rather its cause, the study reports.
“This impact of desert dust on rainfall was not known before,” wrote lead author Daniel Rosenfeld of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “Due to the large sizes of some of these dust particles, it had been assumed that desert dust would enhance precipitation rather than decrease it.”
Scientists had expected that the largest dust particles would form giant cloud condensation nuclei which would produce larger cloud droplets that speed the formation of rain. “Our laboratory analysis of the desert dust, however, showed that the particles contained very little water-absorbing matter,” noted coauthor Yinon Rudich of the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot. “As a result, even large dust particles form relatively small cloud droplets.”
The research shows dust actually amplifies the process of creating deserts. Activities that expose and disrupt topsoil, such as grazing and agricultural cultivation, can increase the amount of dust blown into the air. More dust reaching rain clouds produces less rainfall, which exacerbates the drought conditions and contributes to the desertification of the landscape.
Dust and other types of aerosol particles blowing into clouds act as nuclei where water vapor can condense to form cloud droplets. If a lot of dust enters a cloud, the available water is spread over many small droplets. These small droplets grow more slowly through collisions with one another, and the cloud yields less rainfall over the course of its lifetime, according to the study.
What the researchers saw in two separate cases, using different satellite observations, was that cloud droplets were smaller as dust concentrations increased.
NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft captured images of clouds over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of northern Africa during a major March 2000 dust storm. Droplet sizes steadily increased the farther the clouds were from dust-filled air. Rain was falling only from dust-free clouds even though all the clouds contained equal amount of water.
The researchers also observed similar behavior in clouds over the eastern Mediterranean Sea in March 1998, using data from aircraft and a NOAA weather satellite.
Rosenfeld has used TRMM observations in two other recent studies to show that aerosols from biomass-burning smoke and urban air pollution also reduce rainfall. Combined with the negative impact of desert dust, Rosenfeld believes the aerosol rainfall-suppression effect can have a major impact on regional and global climate.
“The recent observations of the impact on precipitation of all kinds of aerosols, each with a major human contribution, show a major climate change issue that has nothing to do with greenhouse gases,” he noted. “Still, this is perhaps the climate-change effect with the greatest socio-economic impact on water-scarce areas.”
Satellite images of the March 2000 Saharan dust storm and other visuals related to this research are available on the Internet at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/dust/rainfall.htm.
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Northern middle- and high-latitude ozone values during winter and spring appeared to be higher than in recent years, according to measurements released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), issued in Geneva in late April. This weaker than usual ozone depletion reflects natural variations that affect the seasonal losses.
Total ozone values measured by the WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch network of ground based stations and satellites were about 5% less than the average pre-1980 levels, which are used as a “normal” undepleted reference. These higher ozone values are attributed to natural variations. The reduced loss is not related to the expected long-term recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer in the coming decades.
The near “normal” Arctic ozone values in the spring of the Northern Hemisphere were a result of the Arctic stratosphere having been warmer than average for winter and spring. Warm temperatures in the lower Arctic stratosphere prevent the formation of polar stratospheric clouds that initiate and accelerate ozone destruction.
Additionally, solar activity, which is currently near the peak of its 11-year cycle, as well as the easterly phase of the stratospheric winds over the equator are contributing positively to ozone values. The observed 5% average ozone depletion at Northern Hemisphere middle and high latitudes can be seen as a combination of these factors and a warmer than usual Arctic lower stratosphere.
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NOAA has opened a new Web site to provide precise information on the ozone layer.
The need to study this component of the earth’s atmosphere has long been recognized by scientists at NOAA. The Web site will share the latest science and news about the layer as they become available and will provide a concise look into the science of ozone, current and historical ozone monitoring products, and answers to frequently asked questions about ozone, according to NOAA officials.
During the “Antarctic ozone hole season,” which occurs in September and October, the site will provide up-to-date information on the ozone hole, they explained, and how it compares with those of previous years.
NOAA continuously monitors and researches ozone and the processes that affects its concentration in the stratosphere, the region of the earth’s atmosphere from 6 to 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above the surface.
The site is expected to provide a service to scientists, the media, and the general public. It can be found at http://www.ozonelayer.noaa.gov.
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Pilotless aircraft are proving beneficial in a variety of research areas, according to news releases published recently from several sources.
From NASA comes word that the aircraft are being used in one project to aid Hawaiian coffee growers determine the best time for harvest and in another to better understand how lightning forms and dissipates during thunderstorms.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) said that the aircraft have been enlisted as a new tool to understand the complex interactions of Arctic ice and global climate. A research team from the University of Colorado at Boulder in April completed flight testing of the pilotless aircraft, in Barrow, Alaska. The team observed flights to test an instrument that measures surface temperatures of sea ice and the temperature variation between newly formed ice and heat coming from open water “leads.” The measurements will help determine how the new ice forms and how much heat and moisture are radiating from the leads.
The team will return to Barrow in August to conduct more flight tests and to expand the scientific sampling of variables used to monitor sea ice and atmospheric conditions and to develop and refine climate models.
The NASA work in Hawaii is part of a science demonstration program where the aircraft carry Earth-viewing scientific payloads in long-duration missions at altitudes exceeding the endurance of a pilot in a traditional aircraft.
Coffee is the leading agricultural commodity traded on world markets, and Hawaiian coffee is some of the finest in the world. A key to producing excellent coffee is knowing the right time to harvest the beans. The NASA research team will use the Pathfinder-Plus aircraft, a high-flying, solar-powered UAV built by AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California, to loiter for long periods over crop fields during the harvest season, providing the growers, down to the day, the best time for harvesting.
In the other NASA science demonstration project, the mission will utilize ALTUS UAV, built by General Atomics, San Diego, California. Researchers from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and colleagues from Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, will chase down thunderstorms in Florida to better understand the relationship between storms and lightning. The UAV is capable of flying at 55 000-feet altitude for long periods while remote pilots remain safely on the ground.
The missions are part of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise led by Ghassem Asrar, associate administrator for Earth sciences at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
A team of researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder is leading the NSF project. The team is conducting flight tests and gathering scientific data with small, pilotless planes that can fly under conditions poorly suited for manned aircraft and that have incredible range.
In April, the team observed flights to test an instrument that measures surface temperatures of sea ice and the temperature variation between newly formed ice and heat coming from open water “leads.” The measurements will help determine how the new ice forms and how much heat and moisture are radiating from the leads.
Aircraft being used in that project are Aerosondes, built by Aerosonde Ltd. and Aerosonde North America. The craft only weighs 29 pounds (13.5 kilograms) and can fly more than 1500 miles (2400 kilometers) on a gallon of fuel. It can stay in the air for 24 hours.
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The Maya were talented astronomers, religiously intense in their observations of the sun, moon, and planets. Now, new research shows that something in the heavens may have influenced their culture and ultimately helped bring about their demise.
In an article set to appear in the 18 May issue of the journal Science, a team of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by a University of Florida, Gainesville, geologist reports finding that the Yucatan Peninsula, seat of the ancient Maya civilization, was buffeted by recurrent droughts. More importantly, the research shows, the droughts—one of which is thought to have contributed to the collapse of the Maya civilization—appear to have been caused by a cyclical brightening of the sun.
“It looks like changes in the sun’s energy output are having a direct effect on the climate of the Yucatan and causing the recurrence of drought, which in turn influenced the Maya’s evolution,” said David Hodell, a geologist at the University of Florida, and the paper’s lead author.
Comments David Verardo, director of NSF’s paleoclimate program, which funded the research, “Hodell and his colleagues have unearthed a classic tale of climate’s influence on society’s resources—in this case, water. The lesson here is that natural variability is the 500-pound gorilla of climate science. If we don’t understand how nature manifests itself in climate, we can’t hope to understand how humans impact climate over the long-term.”
In 1995, Hodell and colleagues published results suggesting that the ninth-century collapse of the Maya civilization may have been influenced by a severe drought that lasted for more than 150 years. The paper was based on analysis of a sediment cores from Lake Chichancanab on the north-central Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
For the latest research, Hodell and his colleagues returned to the lake and collected a new series of cores. The scientists discovered layers of calcium sulfate, or gypsum, concentrated at certain levels in the cores. Lake Chichancanab’s water is nearly saturated with gypsum. During dry periods, lake water evaporates and the gypsum falls to the lake bottom. The layers therefore represent drought episodes. The geologists found the recurrence of the deposits is remarkably cyclical, occurring every 208 years, although they varied in intensity.
The 208-year cycle caught the researchers’ attention because it is nearly identical to a known 206-year cycle in solar intensity, Hodell said. As part of that cycle, the sun is most intense every 206 years, something that can be tracked through measuring the production of certain radioactive substances such as carbon 14. The drought episodes occurred during the most intense part of the sun’s cycle.
The droughts also occurred at times when archeological evidence reflects downturns in the Maya culture, including the A.D. 900 collapse. Such evidence includes abandonment of cities or slowing of building and carving activity.
The energy received by the earth at the peak of the solar cycle increases less than 1/10 of 1%, so it’s likely that some mechanism in the climate is amplifying the impact in the Yucatan, Hodell explained.
Archaeologists know the Maya were capable of precisely measuring the movements of the sun, moon and planets, including Venus. Hodell said he is unaware, however, of any evidence the Maya knew about the bicentenary cycle that ultimately may have played a role in their downfall. “It’s ironic that a culture so obsessed with keeping track of celestial movements may have met their demise because of a 206-year cycle,” he said.
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QuikTOMS, a new mission to assure continuation of global ozone data that began in 1978, is scheduled for launch from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 22 July, according to NASA officials.
QuikTOMS replaces the canceled Meteor3M/TOMS mission to fly the fifth instrument of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS-5), originally planned for launch aboard a Russian Metero-3M (2) spacecraft in 2000. Because of a timeliness requirement of ozone monitoring, however, a new mission was formulated in a very short time.
This was possible through a delivery order of a spacecraft under a Rapid Spacecraft Development Office contract at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and a launch vehicle procurement by Kennedy Space Center, Florida, under an existing contract. Both contracts were with Orbital Sciences Corporation, Virginia.
Continuous observations of global ozone past the year 2000 is critical to monitor the expected recovery of ozone as levels of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) decrease from their current maximum as a result of the Montreal Protocol limits, officials explained.
QuikTOMs will be launched as a secondary payload aboard a Taurus 2110 launch vehicle in a 10:30 A.M. descending equatorial-crossing, sun-synchronous orbit of 800 kilometers (500 miles) altitude.
Primary scientific objectives of the TOMS instrument are to determine long-term changes in the global distribution of atmospheric ozone, understand the processes related to the “ozone hole” formation and local anomalies in the equatorial region and improve understanding of processes that govern the generation, depletion, and distribution of global total ozone.
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After a career spanning almost 24 years, one of the nation’s workhorse environmental satellites was boosted into higher orbit and removed from service early in May, according to NOAA officials.
GOES-2, launched from Cape Canaveral on 16 June 1977, was operational as an imaging satellite until 1993, when it stopped giving imagery of cloud conditions across the United States. At that time, GOES-2 was deactivated, but left in its old orbit position.
From 1 to 5 May 2001, NOAA performed deorbit maneuvers designed to boost the satellite into supersynchronous orbit, about 186 miles (300 kilometers) above the geosynchronous altitude of 22 300 miles (35 680 kilometers). The maneuver made room for another geosynchronous satellite to be launched. Because there are so many satellites in geosynchronous orbit at 22 300 miles, making room for new satellites is important, officials explained.
Even though GOES-2 went dark in 1993, it was still of use to people on the ground, they said. In 1995, it was reactivated to broadcast the Pan-Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT) program, administered by the University of Hawaii. PEACESAT is a public service satellite telecommunications network that links educational institutions, regional organizations, and governments in the Pacific Islands region.
GOES-2 was the second operational satellite in NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system of 11 satellites to date. It outlived its expected 3-year lifetime.
The principal instrument on GOES-2 was the Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer, which provided imagery of cloud conditions.
The deorbit maneuvers were executed from the Kokee Park Geophysical Observatory Station in Hawaii by a team of NOAA and NASA personnel, in coordination with NOAA’s Satellite Operations Control Center in Suitland, Maryland.
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A new earth-orbiting monitor is providing the most complete view assembled to date of the world’s air pollution as it churns through the atmosphere, crossing continents and oceans. Policy makers and scientists now have, for the first time, a way to identify the major sources of air pollution and to closely track where pollution travels year round and anywhere on Earth. The first observations are being released on 30 May at the American Geophysical Union’s spring meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.
Launched in December 1999, MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) tracks the air pollutant carbon monoxide from aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft as it circles the earth from Pole to Pole 16 times daily. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, are blending the new data with output from a computer model of earth’s atmosphere to develop the world’s first global maps of long-term lower-atmosphere pollution.
MOPITT demonstrates a new capability to make global observations of carbon monoxide, which is both a toxin and a representative tracer of other types of pollution, says NCAR’s John Gille, lead U.S. investigator. “With these new observations, we clearly see that air pollution is much more than a local problem. It’s a global issue.” Much human-generated air pollution is produced from large fires and then travels great distances, affecting areas far from the source, according to Gille.
The first set of MOPITT global observations, from March to December 2000, has captured extensive air pollution generated by forest fires in the western United States last summer. Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for home heating and transportation, a major source of air pollution during the wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere, can be seen wafting across much of the hemisphere.
The most dramatic features, however, are the immense clouds of carbon monoxide from forest and grassland fires in Africa and South America. The plumes travel rapidly across the Southern Hemisphere as far as Australia during the dry season. Gille was surprised to find a strong source of carbon monoxide in Southeast Asia during April and May 2000. The new maps show air-pollution plumes from this region traveling over the Pacific Ocean to North America, often at fairly high concentrations. While fires are the major contributor, Gille suspects that at times industrial sources may also contribute to these events.
Although MOPITT cannot distinguish between individual industrial sources in the same city, it can map different sources that cover a few hundred square miles. The results are accurate enough to differentiate air pollution from a large metropolitan area, for example, from a major fire in a national forest.
NCAR scientist Jean-Francois Lamarque helped create MOPITT’s fully global maps of carbon monoxide by blending information from the satellite measurements with output from an atmospheric chemistry model developed at NCAR. “Most of the information contained in the maps comes from the data, not the model,” Lamarque explains, “but the model fills in the blanks in a very smart way.” The blending technique, called data assimilation, also enables scientists to work backwards from the observations to pinpoint pollution sources, a major goal of the experiment.
In the United States carbon monoxide is regulated at ground level by the Environmental Protection Agency. MOPITT observes carbon monoxide in the atmosphere two miles above the surface, where it interacts with other gases to form ozone, another human health hazard and a greenhouse gas. Carbon monoxide can rise to higher altitudes, where it is blown rapidly for great distances, or it can sink to the surface, where it may become a health hazard.
Carbon monoxide is produced through the incomplete burning of fossil fuels and combustion of natural organic matter, such as wood. By tracking carbon monoxide plumes, scientists are able to follow other pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, that are produced by the same combustion processes but cannot be directly detected from space.
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Robert M. (Bob) White, a principal in the Washington, D.C., consulting firm of The Advisory Group and AMS Honorary Member, Fellow and past president, has received a Special NOAA Administrator’s Award in recognition of his service as the first administrator of the agency and for his lifelong contributions to the science community.
White received the honor in ceremonies at the NOAA Science Building in Silver Spring, Maryland, on 10 May. The presentation was part of a ceremony honoring NOAA employees for technical and other contributions. Acting NOAA Administrator Scott Gudes gave the Special Administrator’s Award. Also receiving that award was Ray Kammer, retired director of the National Institute of Technology.
White was president of the National Academy of Engineering from 1983 to 1995. Prior to that, he was President of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
He has served in leadership positions under five U.S. Presidents. In addition to serving as the first administrator of NOAA, he has been Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission and the U.S. Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organization.
He is credited with bringing about a revolution in the U.S. weather warning system with satellite and computer technology.
He has been awarded the Vannevar Bush Award, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the Charles E. Lindbergh Award for Technology and Environment, the Rockefeller Public Service Award for Protection of Natural Resources and the International Meteorological Organization Prize. He holds honorary degrees from many universities, is a member of the French Legion of Honor and of Academies of Engineering in Japan, the United Kingdom, and Australia, among others.
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James L. Franklin, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, is the recipient of the 2001 Isaac Cline Award—one of the weather agency’s top awards.
Presentation of the award was made in Washington, D.C., on 21 May during a press conference that signaled the opening of “Hurricane Awareness Week” 20–26 May.
NWS Director Jack Kelly made the presentation of the framed plaque and miniature hurricane warning flags. Describing Franklin as an “outstanding research scientist and forecaster,” Kelly said Franklin’s research resulted in a “profound improvement in forecasting the intensity of hurricanes.”
Franklin suggested that dropsonde data could be collected in the eyewall of a hurricane, information that provided key data on the wind structure of the storm and information that had not been developed previously.
Because of Franklin’s research, Kelly explained, forecasting the intensity of a hurricane probably will be improved by 10%.
The practical implications of Franklin’s analyses are wide ranging. Coastal residents living in high-rise buildings, for example, should flee from rising storm surge water, but not take shelter in the middle and upper floors of high-rise buildings. The higher they go the more exposed they become to hurricane winds which increase with elevation. With more accurate hurricane assessments and forecasts, government officials and emergency managers can make more informed decisions regarding evacuation of coastal areas.
The Isaac M. Cline Award is named for the man whose courage and dedication is credited with savings thousands of lives during the Galveston, Texas, hurricane of 8 September 1900. Cline was in charge of the Weather Bureau Office in Galveston when the bustling seaport city was struck by the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The death toll exceeded 8000, but could have been much higher if not for Cline’s understanding of the weather and his initiative in warning the public.
Franklin is one of six National Hurricane Center forecasters responsible for tropical cyclone forecasts and warnings for the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the eastern North Pacific Ocean. He joined the Hurricane Center in 1999 after 17 years as a scientist with NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division. During that time he made more than 80 hurricane “eyewall”—the most intense and turbulent part of the hurricane—penetrations aboard the NOAA WP-3D Orion hurricane hunter aircraft researching hurricane motion and structure.
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Sixteen individuals, associations, and local governments were presented Mark Trail Awards recently for their efforts to expand NOAA Weather Radio across the nation and to make the device more accessible.
In ceremonies in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on 23 May, attended by Jack Elrod, the artist who draws the Mark Trail syndicated cartoon strip, framed illustrations of the strip, and certificates were presented.
The presentations were made by Scott Gudes, acting administrator of NOAA, who praised the recipients for their efforts and singled out Elrod for his contributions to expanding public awareness of NOAA Weather Radio and its importance to the public in bringing forecasts and warnings to them.
In addition to Elrod and Gudes, other speakers at the gathering of more than 100 persons, including a number of Congressmen and Congressional staff members, were Richard Hallgren, Executive Director Emeritus of AMS, and Jack Kelly, Director, NWS.
Hallgren suggested that NOAA Weather Radio might do well to have a slogan, and he suggested “a system that never sleeps.” He also suggested that perhaps a contest should be held to allow for other contributions to be considered.
Elrod praised the work being carried out by NOAA and NWS and said he was “proud” to be associated with such a program.
Kelly described the recipients as “true American heroes,” pointing out that their efforts are responsible for saving lives and reducing property losses. Without them, he said, the 45 000 to 55 000 weather warnings issued by NWS each year would not get to the public.
The recipients were the following:
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Warren Hall has been name chief financial officer of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). In that position, Hall will serve as senior advisor to NESDIS top management officials in the development of strategies to acquire and deploy resources in support of the overall agency mission.
Hall comes to NOAA from the Pentagon, where he was assistant deputy comptroller for the under secretary of defense. Hall was with the Defense Comptroller’s office for 18 years. Before that, he served with the Office of the Navy Comptroller.
Hall holds a master’s degree in economics from the University at Albany, State University of New York.
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NOAA has received authority from the Bush Administration to fill three key leadership positions in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction that have been vacant for several months. The positions are for the director of the Aviation Weather Center, located in Kansas City, Missouri, and directors of the Climate Prediction Center and Central Operations, both located in Camp Springs, Maryland. Details are available from NOAA Human Resources or from the Office of Personnel Management Web site at http://www.usajobs.opm.gov.
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Jim Cooper has resigned at DynCorp, and will join EarthSat, Inc. on 18 June.
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