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On 14 April 1997 the following letter was sent to William Daley, the secretary of commerce, expressing concerns about the proposed cuts in the budget of the National Weather Service.
Dear Mr. Secretary:
The recent announcement of significant cuts in the budget of the National Weather Service and their impact on the Weather Service's capability to warn of severe weather and flood hazards to protect life and property is cause for deep concern. The effect of the budget reductions has been to force the Service to hold a large number of vacancies as well as reduce the number of key employees. This thinning of the Weather Service staffing increases the risk of warning failures with potentially tragic consequences.
There is no need to cite the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, the blizzard of 1996, the recent tornadoes in Arkansas and the flooding in the Ohio River valley to illustrate the importance of timely warnings. While nobody can specifically identify when and where a warning will fail, we can say, with assurance, that the risk of warning failure is now substantially increased. As maintenance of critical equipment degrades because of a lack of personnel and spare parts, the chances of failure increase. As meteorologists and other professionals are eliminated, or positions remain vacant, the forecast and warning load on those that remain becomes excessive.
We do not know the full extent of the cutbacks and vacancies, but it has been announced that cutbacks will take place at the National Center for Environmental Prediction, the National Hurricane Center, the National Storm Prediction Center, the Aviation Prediction Center, and the Office of Systems Operations. Most of these offices bear the guidance responsibility for the entire field network. They will be weakened with attendant risk increases.
The undersigned have all been presidents of the American Meteorological Society, the principal society of meteorologists in the United States. We have been senior managers in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaders in the provision of private and military weather services, and in the conduct of vital research on weather phenomena. As professionals, we have first hand experience with the havoc that can be wreaked by weather phenomena and the importance of responsive warning services.
The amount of money required to restore the Weather Service to its full capability is a minor element in the $2.0 billion budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We find it strange that programs focussing on the protection of life and property, a fundamental responsibility of government, have been reduced substantially. We believe adjustments in the priorities of the Department of Commerce and NOAA should be made to avoid the risk of failed warnings. We hope this letter will cause a reevaluation of the present situation. Several of us would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience to discuss this matter further.
With all due respect,
Dr. David Atlas
Distinguished Visiting Scientist
Goddard Space Flight Center, NASAProf. Werner A. Baum
Chancellor Emeritus
University of Wisconsin—MilwaukeeDr. George S. Benton
Former Vice President
Johns Hopkins University
Former Associate Administrator of NOAADr. Eugene W. Bierly
Director, Education and Research
American Geophysical UnionDr. Alfred K. Blackadar
Professor Emeritus
The Pennsylvania State UniversityMr. Eugene Bollay
Former Director of Research
EGG, Inc.Dr. William D. Bonner
Former Deputy Director
National Weather ServiceProf. Roscoe R. Braham, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
University of ChicagoDr. George P. Cressman
Former Director
National Weather ServiceProf. Robert G. Fleagle
Professor Emeritus
University of WashingtonDr. Richard E. Hallgren
Former Director
National Weather ServiceDr. Charles L. Hosler, Jr.
Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Emeritus
The Pennsylvania State UniversityDr. David D. Houghton
Professor of Meteorology
University of WisconsinMr. David S. Johnson
Former Assistant Administrator of NOAA for SatellitesProf. Donald R. Johnson
Associate Director
Space Science and Engineering Center
University of WisconsinBrig. Gen. Albert J. Kaehn, Jr. (USAF, Ret.)
Former Commander
U.S.A.F. Air Weather ServiceDr. William W. Kellogg
Senior Research Associate
National Center for Atmospheric ResearchDr. James R. Mahoney
Senior Vice President
International Technology CorporationDr. Thomas F. Malone
Former Senior Vice President
Travelers Insurance Company, Hartford CT
Former Foreign Secretary
National Academy of SciencesProf. Richard J. Reed
Professor Emeritus
University of WashingtonDr. Robert T. Ryan
Chief Meteorologist, WRC-TV
NBC TelevisionDr. Joanne Simpson
Chief Scientist for Meteorology
Goddard Space Flight Center, NASADr. Joseph Smagorinsky
Former Director
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAADr. Paul D. Try
Senior Vice President
Science & Technology CorporationDr. Warren M. Washington
Senior Scientist
National Center for Atmospheric ResearchDr. Robert M. White
President Emeritus
National Academy of Engineering
Former Administrator
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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from Audrey T. Leath, Public Information Division, American Institute of Physics
The past few weeks have seen the release of several commentaries on President Clinton's FY98 request for science and technology. Each examines the request in a different way. The National Academy of Sciences looks only at the portion of the research and development budget they define as federal science and technology (FS&T). As in other recent Academy documents, this designation does not include testing and evaluation, but refers to only R&D funding supporting "new knowledge and new technologies." Exclusive of a change in the way the Department of Energy requests construction funding, NAS finds that the FS&T request of $45.3 billion, if enacted, would result in funding remaining at FY96 and FY97 levels in constant dollars. The American Association for the Advancement of Science uses the entire federal R&D request of $75.0 billion for its analysis. It determines that, after adjusting for inflation, the request would represent a small decrease from FY97. The House Science Committee finds Clinton's request unacceptable, and recommends 3.0% growth for R&D programs under its jurisdiction. A larger (7.0%) increase was called for in a March statement signed by 23 scientific and engineering societies.
NAS's Panel on FS&T Analyses, on 24 March, released a 25-page study that reviews the science and technology portion of President Clinton's FY98 budget request. The panel reports that the FY98 FS&T request of $45.3 billion, if enacted, would be a real increase of 2.0% over FY97 funding. However, this increase is entirely due to a change in the way the Department of Energy has requested construction funding. This year's budget submission, for the first time, includes a request to fully fund construction projects through completion, although much of the money would not be spent in the 1998 fiscal year. Without this change, the FS&T request would remain basically equal to FY96 and FY97 funding. FY98 funding would be 5.3% less than the FY94 level.
Prior to the FY98 submission, only the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health experienced budget growth in real terms since FY94. With this request, the Departments of Energy, Commerce, and Transportation would receive a real increase in FS&T funding over FY97 budgets and see their funding rise above 1994 levels. The Departments of Defense and Agriculture would continue their trend of declining FS&T budgets since FY94.
This review of the FY98 FS&T request is available on the Academy's Web page at http://www.nas.edu/fsrd/fsrd.html, or call 202-334-3061.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in a 24 March analysis, examines the total federal R&D budget request of $75.0 billion and looks at the administration's outyear (future year) projections. AAAS finds that while the request would increase total R&D by 1.8% over FY97, after adjusting for inflation, this becomes a cut of 0.8%. Also, AAAS calculates that "the president's R&D budget for FY98 will cut federal R&D spending by an additional 14% (in inflation-adjusted dollars) by 2002."
Details of AAAS's analysis of the R&D request are available on their home page at http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/rdwwwpg.htm, or call 202-326-6607.
Another source of views on the FY98 budget request for science comes from a 20 March document to the House Budget Committee from the Science Committee, chaired by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). "Views and Estimates of the Committee on Science for Fiscal Year 1998," signed by a majority of both Republican and Democratic committee members, recommends an increase of 3% above FY97 for S&T programs within the committee's jurisdiction. As the House authorizing committee for most federal R&D programs, it is the role of the Science Committee to provide guidance to appropriators by approving programs, and suggesting funding priorities and funding levels.
The committee supports the 3.0% growth requested by NSF in the FY98 submission. For NASA, the committee expresses disappointment in the requested 1.5% decline from the FY97 level. Committee priorities for NASA include safe operation of the shuttle, completion of the space station, space science, and development of a new reusable launch vehicle (RLV). Conspicuously absent from the list is Mission to Planet Earth.
The committee "believes that DOE can accomplish its mission within existing or slightly reduced funding levels." It expresses concern over DOE contract management, particularly of the national labs, and "intends to increase support for DOE's long-term, high-risk, high-quality research . . .while simultaneously reducing funding for near-term, low-risk research and for commercialization and marketing efforts."
"Within the framework of a balanced budget," the committee supports the core laboratories of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as "efforts to modernize NIST's aging infrastructure." The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is also supported, but regarding the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), the committee finds "only anecdotal evidence that ATP has yielded any benefit to U.S. competitiveness," and advises only "sufficient funding to cover the existing mortgages."
Ranking Minority Member George Brown (D-CA) has appended some "Additional Minority Views," in which he expresses support for Mission to Planet Earth and the ATP, and recommends "a growth path for R&D that actually keeps pace with the Gross Domestic Product—that is, an annual increase of about 5% per year."
Information on "Views and Estimates" can be found on the House Science Committee's home page at http://www.house.gov/science/pressrel/105_37.html, or call 202-225-0461.
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More of the country is likely to see flooding this year than in any year in the past decade, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrologists who released the annual Spring Hydrologic Outlook in Washington, DC, on 18 March .
With the high prospect of severe flooding in the upper Midwest and significant probabilities for some flooding in the West, the Mississippi, the lower Missouri and Ohio valleys and in parts of the southeast, officials with NOAA's National Weather Service stressed the need for people to know what to do to protect themselves during flood events.
"We're very concerned that people recognize the dangers of floods and flash floods and take appropriate action," said Elbert W. Friday Jr., NOAA assistant administrator for weather services. "During the recent flooding in the Ohio River Basin, more than 20 people lost their lives. Many people perished in vehicles, and most of these fatalities occurred in areas that were under flash flood and/or flood warnings. In many cases, the loss of life was preventable.
The Red River of the North in North Dakota and Minnesota and the James River in South Dakota could see record flooding," said Frank Richards, chief of the NWS Hydrologic Information Center in Silver Spring, MD. "Snow cover in this area has unusually high water content. In addition, flooding is forecast to be widespread in the eastern Dakotas, southern portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and northern Iowa. As a result of inflow from so many tributaries, minor to moderate flooding is a virtual certainty on the lower Missouri and on the Mississippi Rivers.
To the west there is also considerable concern for spring flooding in the northern and central Rocky Mountains, particularly in Idaho and parts of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, as snowpack totals are significantly above average. Locations on the lower Milk River in northeast Montana are expected to reach record levels.
While deep snow in the central and southern Sierra threaten the possibility of snowmelt flooding in western Nevada and the Sacramento and San Joaquin River drainages in California, 6 weeks of generally dry conditions have significantly reduced the flood risk in much of the far west.
"Large accumulations of snow can be a key factor in springtime flooding," said Richards, "but the degree of flooding depends not only on snow cover but also on how saturated the ground is already, depth of ground frost, and how quickly or slowly frozen rivers thaw, accumulated snowpacks melt, stream levels, and most importantly, future precipitation."
Substantial snow fell during the winter across north-central and western sections of the United States. As the snow begins to melt, the potential for flooding exists across these areas. Heavy rainfall during February and early March caused devastating flooding in the Ohio Valley, and residual flooding continues across portions of the southeast, the middle and lower Mississippi, and the Great Lakes regions. These wet conditions create the possibility of continuing flooding if spring rains are heavy in these areas.
Much of the areas of the country that saw heavy precipitation and significant snowpack buildup during most of the early part of the Water Year (which began 1 October 1996 and ends 30 September 1997) have received subnormal precipitation since the end of January. During February, however, the middle third of the nation saw the passage of several very wet storm systems and accumulated a widespread area of more than 150% of normal precipitation. Only Southwest desert areas had subnormal precipitation throughout the winter. In the northeast only northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are of concern for flooding. Recent snows have pushed the snow cover conditions to above average in many of these areas.
For complete information on the National Spring Hydrologic Outlook, visit the National Weather Service web site at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/nho.
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This winter season was the 22nd warmest winter on record for the contiguous United States with an average temperature of 34.1°F compared to a normal of 32.3°F, according to preliminary data released by the National Climatic Data Center. The center, part of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has compiled preliminary climate data for what is known as the "climatological winter," which runs from December through February.
It was also the wettest winter season on record for the west-north central region, fourth wettest winter season for the northwest region, and the 14th wettest winter season for the 48 contiguous states.
It was the wettest winter on record for Idaho and Wyoming, second wettest winter since 1895 for Colorado and Nevada, third wettest for Montana, and fifth wettest for South Dakota. To the other extreme, it was the third driest December through February period for West Virginia. Based on preliminary data, the winter was the 26th driest on record for the central region and the 43rd driest for the southeast.
It was the seventh warmest winter on record for the northeast region, extending northward from Pennsylvania and Maryland. It was the 45th coolest such season on record for the west-north central region. The western region, California and Nevada, had the 14th warmest winter season since 1895. "This winter saw some rather diverse weather," says William Brown, a meteorologist from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC.
Copies of the report are available from the National Climatic Data Center at 704-271-4800, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/publications/cvb/cvb.html.
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Juneau, AK, may become the world's first airport to employ a new turbulence detection and warning system developed by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. Originally developed for Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport, scheduled to open in fall 1998, the system alerts air traffic controllers and pilots to choppy winds at airports located near mountainous terrain.
With an eye to assessing the wind-shear problem at such airports, the Aviation Weather Research Program of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is funding data gathering and analysis at Juneau and Colorado Springs, CO, this winter. NCAR has deployed an array of sensors for data gathering that could be the basis for a prototype turbulence warning system. NCAR's primary sponsor is the National Science Foundation.
"Turbulence alone doesn't bring planes down," says NCAR expert Larry Cornman, "but it may trigger a chain of events that results in a tragedy." In 1991 severe turbulence ripped an engine off a 747 cargo plane departing from the Anchorage airport. With difficulty the pilot managed to return to the airport safely. That same year United Flight 535 crashed on final approach into the Colorado Springs airport in the throes of a powerful windstorm. The National Transportation Safety Board did not find a probable cause for the Colorado Springs accident, but strong turbulent winds and a rudder problem are generally thought to be the most likely explanations.
"I call turbulence the silent problem of the aviation industry. People aren't dying from it, but uncomfortable flights and even broken bones are more common than people realize, especially for flight attendants," says Cornman. On average, a significant turbulence incident occurs every other day on a commercial flight somewhere in the United States. Records show planes suddenly dropping 200 to 300 feet vertically, hurling food carts up to the ceiling.
NCAR's turbulence programs may signal new awareness of a long-term problem. Last month representatives from the FAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, several major airlines, and airline pilots' and flight attendants' associations met at NCAR to discuss the effects of turbulence on commercial aviation. Officials decided to set up a working group to solve the persistent problem of bumpy flights, flight attendants' injuries, and more serious incidents caused by mountain-induced turbulence. Cornman's "silent problem" may have found a voice.
The Juneau airport is especially challenging because takeoffs sometimes require a 180° turn inside a channel between an island and the mainland, both with steep terrain. Often the plane is being pummeled by high winds. To prevent any possibility of a crash, the FAA temporarily closed the airport's departure routes last fall and later reopened them with restrictions based on wind speeds measured by a network of anemometers in the area.
This winter NCAR scientists added two wind profilers, or vertically pointing Doppler radars, to the anemometer network to gather data to develop a real-time turbulence detection and warning system for Juneau. The ground-based profilers measure wind and turbulence at 60-m height intervals up to 2 km above the ground, updating every 30 seconds.
As in Hong Kong, the Juneau system would feature computer monitors in the control tower displaying real-time turbulence information (summarized from the wind profiler and anemometer data), which would then be relayed over radio to pilots landing or taking off. A more involved data collection program is also being planned for Juneau next year, using a research aircraft, three wind profilers, and a Doppler lidar (laser-based detection system).
With accurate warnings, pilots will know when it makes sense to avoid a particular turbulence structure, such as a rotor wind—a horizontal, tornado-like vortex that forms on the downwind side of a mountain. Although rotor vortex winds don't reach tornadic speeds, "pilots definitely don't want to find themselves entering a rotor near the ground," says Cornman.
NCAR has a long history of helping to develop airport warning systems for the FAA. NCAR, along with other federally funded research centers, participated in a 10-year project to develop the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar, which alerts air traffic controllers to dangerous wind shear and microbursts. Today the TDWR is operating or scheduled for deployment at about 50 airports around the country. Cornman expects the current development of a system for turbulence detection and warning to take only 3 to 5 years, if funded.
Developing a real-time warning system is just one part of NCAR's wide-ranging turbulence research program. Cornman and colleagues are also working on improving turbulence forecasting and remote sensing and on gathering turbulence measurements from commercial aircraft, both projects funded by the FAA. The U.S. Navy has hired the team to characterize turbulent winds over helicopter landing pads on fast-moving navy ships.
Numerical computer models are an essential tool for better diagnosis and forecasting of turbulence, and these in turn could lead to more efficient aircraft routing. The Hong Kong system already includes a forecast modeling component, and one may eventually be incorporated into U.S. detection systems as well.
To improve remote sensing of turbulence, the NCAR team is working on new algorithms, or mathematical problem-solving procedures, for using data from the National Weather Service's WSR-88D (formerly known as NEXRAD) radar system. Accurate detection of turbulence by the WSR-88D and other instruments would improve real-time warnings for pilots and help scientists verify turbulence forecasts.
Cornman is also heading a project to develop software that will turn the aircraft itself into a turbulence-sensing platform. The software uses existing onboard sensors and computers to measure and analyze turbulence as the aircraft flies through it. United Airlines is installing the prototype on about 200 aircraft during 1997, and several other airlines are interested in testing it.
Not only airplanes face the problems of chaotic winds. The U.S. and U.K. navies have enlisted NCAR's help in understanding air flow around destroyers and other large ships as they cruise the seas at high speeds. NCAR scientists will help the navy characterize these flow fields by analyzing data from onboard, state-of-the-art lidars built by Lockheed-Martin. This understanding will then be incorporated into vessel design, especially to aid helicopters landing on windy decks.
This research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through an interagency agreement in response to requirements and funding by the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Weather Research Program.
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Unusually low levels of ozone over the Arctic were measured during March by satellite-based monitoring instruments operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"These are the lowest ozone values ever measured by the TOMS instruments during late March and early April in the Arctic," said TOMS Project Scientist, Dr. Pawan K. Bhartia, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD. "However, these low ozone amounts are still nearly a factor of two greater than the lowest values seen by TOMS in the Antarctic during Southern Hemisphere spring."
Centered in a stable, nearly circular region over the North Pole, the average March 1997 ozone amounts were 40% lower than the average March amounts observed between 1979 and 1982. This follows ozone amounts in March 1996 that were 24% lower than the 1979–82 average, although this low was off center of earth's pole toward the North Atlantic.
The minimum in total column ozone fell to 219 Dobson units on 24 March 1997, from values near 280 units earlier in March. Two NASA Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instruments, one aboard NASA's Earth Probe (TOMS-EP) satellite and the other aboard Japan's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) made the measurements of the rapid decrease, supported by similar data from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instruments aboard the NOAA-9 and NOAA-14 satellites.
The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) aboard NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) measured vertical distributions of ozone that confirm these low Arctic values. On 26 March, HALOE measured a very low ozone concentration of less than one part per million of ozone (normal concentrations are near 3–4 parts per million) at an altitude of 12.4 miles slightly northeast of Hudson's Bay.
Over the Alaskan Arctic, where NOAA monitors ozone from the surface at Barrow, AK, March average ozone was about 375 Dobson units, slightly below the March average for the past 10 years of 413 Dobson units, according to David Hofmann, Director of NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, CO. "On March 17 and 18 ozone dipped to values below the 300 Dobson unit range when the edge of the low ozone region extended to the latitude of Barrow (71°N)," he said. "This is not a typical occurrence and indicates the unusual conditions this year."
"The unusual meteorological conditions played a significant role in the March ozone lows," according to Paul A. Newman of the GSFC. "The reason or reasons behind these unusual stratospheric weather patterns are unclear, and figuring out why this pattern occurred will be a significant component of our further research efforts."
Furthermore, measurements from balloon-based ozone instruments operated by Environment Canada and launched from Eureka (80°N) and Resolute Bay (75°N) reveal 60% ozone losses between the altitudes of 6.2 and 15.5 miles during March, in comparison to historical March observations.
The TOMS data show that the region of low ozone amounts below 280 DU exceeded 5.3 million square kilometers, covering a substantial fraction of the Arctic region. These low ozone amounts are found inside the Arctic polar vortex, a part of the stratospheric circumpolar jet stream.
The 1996/97 winter polar vortex has been unusually strong and persistent into March. Data from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center show cold temperatures low enough to form polar stratospheric clouds during late March. These clouds, common in January and February but rare in late March, helped convert certain forms of stratospheric chlorine into forms that are highly reactive to ozone destruction. The combination of reactive chlorine compounds and sunlight from the March rising sun at polar latitudes leads to destruction of ozone.
The most recent observations indicate that temperatures had become too warm by 30 March for polar stratospheric clouds to form. In addition, the minimum ozone amounts in the Arctic have begun to slowly increase from the unusually low March amounts and the area covered by the low has begun to decrease.
"The appearance of this well-defined region of low ozone is consistent with our expectations following detailed chemical analyses of the Arctic winter stratosphere in early 1989 and 1992," said Dr. Michael Kurylo, manager of NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Program, which organized those airborne experiments. "The persistence of such cold temperatures within the Arctic vortex well into the sunlit period is an essential ingredient for driving many of the chemical cycles for ozone destruction. We will now be examining these low ozone air masses into their recovery period using our best satellite and airborne instruments."
An international treaty on ozone-depleting substances is leading to reductions in their concentrations in the atmosphere and hence to reduced chlorine levels in the stratosphere. As we move into the next century, chlorine-catalyzed ozone losses resulting from CFCs and other chlorine-containing species will be reduced.
Ozone, a molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen, absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Most atmospheric ozone is found in a thin layer between 6 and18 miles. A Dobson unit is related to the physical thickness of the ozone layer if it could be brought down to the earth's surface. The global average ozone layer thickness is 300 Dobson units, which equals 1/8th of an inch, approximately the thickness of two stacked pennies. In contrast, the ozone layer thickness in the Antarctic ozone hole is about 100 Dobson units (1/25th of an inch), approximately the thickness of a single dime.
TOMS ozone data and pictures from March 1997 are available on the Internet at the following URL: http://jwocky.gsfc.nasa.gov, or through links on http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
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TRW Inc. has delivered two CERES instruments to NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments will measure reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation from the earth's surface to determine the influence of clouds on the earth's temperature. CERES will be integrated onto the Earth Observing System AM-1 (EOS AM-1) Satellite, which is set for launch in June 1998.
The CERES instruments are part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) a long-term program that includes the development of instruments and spacecraft to monitor natural and human-induced changes to earth's climate and environment. TRW is also providing two instruments for the EOS-PM-1 spacecraft.
"Clouds are still a mystery to scientists," said Steve Carman, CERES program manager at TRW's Space and Electronics Group in Redondo Beach, CA. "We know that clouds act as an umbrella to shield the earth against the sun's radiation and as a blanket to warm the earth, but clouds remain the single largest area of uncertainty in climate models today."
"CERES will gather data to help scientists build more accurate models to forecast long range climatic trends and to better understand the effects of clouds on the climate," Carman said.
CERES is a scanning broadband radiometer that measures reflected sunlight and emitted thermal energy from the surface of the earth and the atmosphere. The radiometer is made up of three sensors, each with its own telescope mounted on a gimbaled platform that continuously scans across the earth in a 6.6-s cycle. The two CERES instruments will operate in different scan modes (one, cross-track scanning and the other, biaxial scanning), allowing scientists to view the earth's surface and atmosphere from different angles simultaneously. The additional data will enable scientists to build better models of the earth and make more accurate predictions.
CERES data will be combined with data from supporting imaging instruments that identify cloud conditions. NASA Langley is responsible for CERES data reduction. The CERES science investigation will be conducted by an international team of scientists, led by Coprincipal Investigators Bruce Barkstrom and Bruce Wielicki of NASA Langley Research Center.
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from Richard M. Jones, Public Information Division, American Institute of Physics
The first full hearing of the House Science Committee was held in mid-March on the topic of Antarctica. The sole witness was Norman R. Augustine, Chairman of the U.S. Antarctic Program External Panel. Augustine summarized the panel's report, not yet printed, which reaffirms the importance of U.S. presence, but calls for a slimmer renovation of outdated U.S. facilities.
Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) set the tone for this hearing by saying that after visiting U.S. facilities in Antarctica he had "many concerns if the buildings will last until even the end of the decade." He spoke of the importance of the U.S. being at the pole, yet said that because of the high cost of construction and federal budget restraints it was necessary for the committee to examine renovation plans. Sensenbrenner noted passage last year of funding to alleviate some of the most pressing problems at U.S. facilities, although Rep. Steven Schiff (R-NM) added that "Congress has not focused on this as much as it should."
Augustine described the 11-member panel's fact-finding process to fulfill NSF's request to "examine a full range of infrastructure, management, and scientific options" for the U.S. Antarctica program. He reported that the panel "strongly" agrees with a National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) conclusion: ". . . from a policy perspective the NSTC finds that maintaining an active and influential presence in Antarctica, including year-round operation of South Pole Station, is essential to U.S. interests . . ." NSTC based its conclusion on the importance of U.S. efforts to assure regional political stability, environmental stewardship, and the unique research characteristics of Antarctica.
A second major conclusion of the panel, Augustine stated, is that it "agrees with the NSF and the NSTC that South Pole Station will need to be rebuilt or replaced." Emphasizing this point, he said, "the panel believes that the U.S. would not send a ship to sea or a spacecraft to orbit in the condition of some of the facilities in Antarctica, particularly the one at the South Pole . . . The Panel believes that steps need to be taken without delay to remedy these conditions."
The panel considered four different remedial options, ranging from rehabilitation of the current station to an "enhanced station" proposed by NSF that "would provide additional capability and the opportunity for development of energy and environmental technologies." Regarding this last option, the panel found, "however, not all of these additional capabilities are mandatory, making this option difficult to support in a fiscally constrained budget environment."
The panel recommends replacement of the South Pole station with what they call an "optimized station," which could be completed by 2005. At a later briefing, Augustine said this station would support the same number of scientists, but that they would occupy two instead of three units with 7,000 square feet less space—much of which would be residential. There would be the same number of summer berths in each alternative, 110, which Augustine stated "is what you want to focus on." Proposed upgraded sewage and alternative power systems would not be built. Augustine concluded that the "basic science you can support . . . is the same" in this less expensive option. The optimized station would cost $30 million less than the enhanced station, for a total cost of $120 million.
The report suggests how to finance this cost, including a $20 million reallocation of the field research and operational support budget while the station is constructed, and the pursuit of other cost efficiencies in functions formerly performed by the navy. Augustine concluded, however, that "unfortunately, there remains a funding shortfall which in the panel's judgement can only be reasonably funded by the provision of an additional $95M over the 5 years FY98 through FY02 in the NSF budget. This panel believes that this will permit the phased replacement of the existing South Pole Station without unduly compromising the nation's program of research or jeopardizing its presence in Antarctica."
Committee members did not comment extensively on Augustine's testimony, although Sensenbrenner said "I expect to hear complaints from the scientific community" about some details of the plan. Augustine replied that the proposal was "quite adequate" for scientists. Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) sought assurances that the level of support would return to what it was before the anticipated above cited $20 million reduction. In a prepared statement, NSF Director Neal Lane stated, "NSF will examine how to incorporate the panel's 12 major recommendations and other findings into its planning in order to help the agency meet the challenge of maintaining the strength and excellence of the nation's Antarctic program."
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University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has signed a contract with the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company to purchase an HP Exemplar X-Class system. The purchase is part of a joint research and development project between the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and HP's Convex Division, located in Richardson, TX.
During the project, NCAR and HP expect to develop the expertise and tools needed to utilize distributed shared-memory systems, such as the Exemplar, for numerical computer models employed in climate and weather prediction. The X-Class is HP's fourth-generation system based on the shared-memory architecture, called CC-NUMA (cache-coherent, nonuniform memory access). The Exemplar X-Class system to be installed at NCAR will have 64 processors and a peak speed of 46 gigaflops, or 46 billion floating point operations per second.
"The Exemplar is an intriguing next step in our effort to stay abreast of new architectures and new techniques," says Bill Buzbee, head of NCAR's Scientific Computing Division. Toward this end NCAR has worked closely over the past 8 years with a variety of vendors, including Thinking Machines, IBM, Cray Research, and Cray Computer.
NCAR is procuring the HP Exemplar system under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement (SEWP) program, which is open to NASA, NASA contractors, federal agencies, and federal agency contractors.
There is no relation between this research project and NCAR's procurement of a high-performance supercomputer dedicated to large, long-running climate models.
(See related story.)
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Captain Lewis Lapine of the NOAA Corps was recently elected a fellow of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, an honor reserved for 0.5% of the membership, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.
Lapine is director of the National Geodetic Survey, part of NOAA's National Ocean Service, with responsibility for creating, maintaining, and developing new technology and surveying standards related to the geodetic network for the United States and its territories and possessions. He previously served as chief of NGS's Photogrammetry Division, with responsibility for producing high-accuracy base mapping for navigation charts within U.S. territorial waters and national airspace.
Since joining NOAA's commissioned service in 1970, Lapine has been instrumental in helping the surveying, mapping, and geodesy profession leap forward by integrating mapping techniques with the Global Positioning System, and implementing this new mapping technology in both the government and private sectors. In addition to his NOAA and ACSM positions, Lapine is a frequent advisor on GPS national and international policy issues to various federal agencies, including the State Department and the Pentagon.
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