Editor: Jim Elliott
Contributors: Alan Weinstein and Stephanie Kenitzer
Copy Editor: Anne Siefken
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Explosive growth in cellular telephones and other commercial communication technologies is threatening the transmission of critical weather data because they are competing for limited radio frequencies, the American Meteorological Society warned today (8 September).
The Society is urging its more than 12 000 national and international members to make sure they register their weather satellite receivers with appropriate national channels. Registering the receiver is not legally required in some countries, however, it lets the national and international agencies know that the frequency is being used at a particular location for meteorological purposes and therefore should be protected.
With the growing demand for cellular phones around the world, the international organization responsible for allocating radio frequencies is under pressure from the private industries to reassign frequencies traditionally dedicated for weather instruments to commercial use. Cell phones are not the only threat. The private industry is also increasingly dependent on the radio spectrum for Global Positioning Systems and other new technologies on the horizon. The international meteorological community depends heavily on the radio spectrum. Radio signals are used for weather radar, radiosondes, weather satellites, wind profiling, and many other methods of gathering weather-related information. They are also used to distribute weather information to the public.
“With a finite number of frequencies available, the growing communications giants have made the radio frequency spectrum an extremely valuable commodity,” said George Frederick, AMS president. “Someone is going to lose, and we cannot afford to let it be the meteorological community. Protection of these signals is in the interest of public safety and security and is required to improve the measurements used for meteorological operations and research.”
Within the radio spectrum, certain frequencies, such as those currently assigned for meteorological data, are coveted because they have better transmission characteristics and so are more reliable than others. The meteorological bands are also in high demand because they are assigned globally; thus the same frequencies are used worldwide. Some of the primary meteorological bands are 137–138 MHz, 400.15–406 MHz, 1670–1710 MHz, and 2700–3000 MHz.
In the United States, radio frequencies for the private industry are assigned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Department of Commerce, regulates the use of the radio spectrum by federal agencies. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a part of the United Nations, coordinates global telecommunication networks and services. The ITU meets every few years to review the use of radio frequencies around the world and reassign any frequencies as appropriate. The next meeting, called a World Radiocommunications Conference, is scheduled for 2000.
“We are extremely concerned about the potential loss of weather-related radio frequencies and are working hard with the FCC, the NTIA, and the ITU to protect the frequencies needed for meteorological operations and research,” added Frederick. “Our best weapon right now is educating the decision makers on how important these frequencies are to every day weather forecasting.”
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NWS Director Jack Kelly Jr. called upon National Weather Service (NWS) staffers to expand their efforts to make the public more aware not only of the NWS, but also of meteorology. Speaking at a luncheon meeting of the District of Columbia AMS Local Chapter, on 9 September, Kelly urged employees to get more involved with the Kiwanis, Lions, and other similar organizations and to talk about the NWS accomplishments and the improvements that are planned in the future.
In his remarks, Kelly outlined a number of those past accomplishments, saying "the ability to forecast weather is one of the major advances in history." He suggested that NWS had "reinvented government" before the term became popular. Looking back, he explained, NWS never stopped delivering forecasts. At the same time, it was undergoing a major restructuring and modernization and improving training of its personnel without ever "missing a beat" in providing watches and warning of severe weather conditions. He identified the completion of AWIPS as a major milestone, also.
He pointed out that news accounts could be expected to be more about cost overruns than praise for NWS. However, he read from an editorial in USA Today that applauded the NWS. The fact that tornado warnings have increased to an average of "20 precious minutes" is a significant advancement, saying "science has made major strides in the past century, and NWS accomplishments are not trivial."
With the planned modernization finished, he said, "where do we go?" He wants to make NWS "America's no surprise weather service." Twenty years ago, he explained, "we didn't issue tornado warnings until they struck. That wasn't a forecast, that was an observation."
He said NWS is moving beyond meteorology to include climate prediction. In addition, he mentioned that NWS is getting a new supercomputer that, "when it is up and running," will be the 20th most powerful computer in the world." We want to deliver better and higher quality products, but things that are useful to the users, he explained. "Our whole aim is to build on our legacy of modernization and make products that are relevant to the users," he emphasized. He warned that sometimes money might not be available for advances hoped for, pointing out that better software for NEXRAD is available but the funding is not available.
For the future, he said, he hopes NWS can exert global leadership in meteorology, change the organizational culture of the agency, and determine the wisest use of technological advances while recognizing the restrictions imposed by the budget process. He said that while NWS has been able to close 140 forecast offices, closing offices and shutting down active programs are two of the hardest things to accomplish in government.
During a question and answer period, he was asked about the role of private industry. Expressing his personal thoughts, he thought any plan that would call for NWS to make the observations and then provide them at no cost to private industry to sell to its customers might "be a tough to sell to the public," especially coming on the heels of the completion of a $4.5 billion NWS modernization program.
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As Congress reconvened after its August recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee promptly rejected proposed House Appropriations budget reductions in FY2000 funding for NASA and NSF, restoring the amounts requested by the president.
Working from a bill presented by Sen. Chrisopher Bond (R-MO) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), the committee approved the administration's request for both NASA and NSF. It provides $13 578 400 000 for NASA and $3 921 450 000 for NSF. A House Science Committee subcommittee had proposed cuts of $275 million in the requested administration budget for NSF and $925 million less than requested for NASA.
The issue will now go to a House–Senate Conference Committee for resolution. However, the outcome will depend on what agreement the White House and Congressional leaders can reach about spending caps. The committee's breakdown of NASA funding was: International Space Station, $2 482 700 000; Launch Vehicles and Payload Operations, $3 156 000 000; Science, Aeronautics, and Technology, $5 424 700 000; Mission Support, $2 495 000 000; and Office of Inspector General, $20 000 000.
The NSF breakdown was: Research and Related Activities, $3 007 300 000; Major Research Equipment, $70 000 000; Education and Human Resources, $688 600 000; Salaries and Expenses, $150 000 000; and Office of Inspector General, $5 550 000. The committee also provided $7 332 378 000 for the Environmental Protection Agency and $854 580 000 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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White House Chief of Staff John Podesta spoke to members of the National Press Club on 1 September 1999, regarding research and development funding. In his remarks, Podesta urged Congress to support federal investments in research and development and the science and technology budgets.
Podesta compared the great journey of Lewis and Clark with the journeys we are making today in reaching Mars, building an international space station, and understanding global climate change. “A passion for discovery and a sense of adventure has always driven our nation forward,” he said. “Continued leadership depends on our enduring commitment to science, to technology, to research, to learning.
“The administration is deeply concerned that the Republican-led Congress—particularly the House—is proposing to make deep cuts in our funding for research and development in the new fiscal year,” Podesta added. “This is the wrong direction for our country. One wonders whether this Congress would have zeroed out Jefferson’s request for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.”
Podesta stressed the need for a robust science and technology budget because the impact these investments have on the nation’s economy, American lives, the environment, the nation’s defense program, and future research. “Investments in science and technology—both public and private—have driven economic growth and improvements in the quality of life in America for the last 200 years,” said Podesta. Scientific research that landed an American on the moon and that technology that brings us today’s Internet have “all contributed to advances in economy, national security, the environment, transportation, and medical care.”
The Republican-led Congress is making some deep cuts into many important research programs, Podesta pointed out, including:
Podesta called for a nonpartisan solution to this issue.
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As Congress resumed activity in Washington on 8 September following its August recess, a minor storm was brewing between Congress and the White House over how much the federal government should spend on research and development. The controversy centered on the House of Representative's proposed $1.8 billion cut in the administration's FY2000 civilian research budget request and a speech at the National Press Club on 1 September by White House Chief of Staff John Podesta (see related story).
The speech by Podesta, not normally in the public eye, was seen by many as an expression of how important the White House considers R&D. His remarks attracted national attention and drew immediate criticism from F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI), chairman of the House Science Committee.
Political in tone because of its negative attack on House Republicans, Podesta's speech gave high praise for the contributions of science and technology toward improving the standard of living and said, "It seems logical that there would be strong bipartisan support for federal investments in science and technology. But this year, the Republican-led Congress—to make room for their risky tax plan—is playing politics with science and technology funding.
"They have proposed deep cuts in many important research programs. And in so doing, they are threatening the potential progress of innovation in America. This is a nineteenth century budget for a twenty-first century economy. "These cuts are inconsistent with the Republican rhetoric on science and technology...We can't build a bridge to the twenty-first century with press releases and empty promises."
Podesta gave no hint that the White House is prepared to budge on the budget caps, but outlined the proposed revenue offsets the president offered to Congress last winter to finance the administration's budget request. Congressional leaders did not accept those offsets. He said that the Republicans share "some of the goals that we do" but their "hunger for a tax cut is so strong, they are ready to throw these programs (for R&D) overboard."
In response, Sensenbrenner issued a statement that read, "I am encouraged by the administration's sudden interest in science funding. Over the last seven years, overall science budgets, which include both defense and civilian R&D, when indexed for inflation, have been flat or decreasing. Science needs a boost.
"Unfortunately, the president's fiscal year 2000 budget depends on budgetary tricks such as tax hikes and user fees that will never be enacted. In fact, the House of Representatives defeated the president's FY2000 request by a vote of 426–2 and the Senate defeated it 97–2. The gimmickry significantly overstates the amount of money that can be made available for R&D.
"Now the president's chief of staff is complaining about the levels of science funding, which a few short years ago the administration thought too generous. Mr. Podesta claims that programs within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would be severely underfunded in the Congressional appropriation process. However, in the administration's FY97 budget, Vice President Gore proposed a NASA budget of $11.6 billion for FY2000, $1 billion below the House Appropriations Committee's current recommendation.
"Mr. Podesta also included in his list of grievances the lack of adequate funding for a new standards laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Ironically, just two years ago, in its FY98 budget request, the administration proposed no funding for the construction of this important laboratory while Congress appropriated $78 million for it. "In total, the Republican Congress has appropriated more for R&D than the administration requested three out of the last four years. Those in Congress who have been advocates of increasing science funding welcome the administration to our cause. We hope, however, the president's staff view science funding as a priority, not a short-lived political gimmick."
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Two divisions of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), one of the largest organizations of space scientists in the world, have protested proposed reductions in NASA's budget for FY2000. The High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) and the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) released statements on the subject on 2 September.
Professor Gordon Garmire of The Pennsylvania State University and chair of HEAD, and Professor Lynn Cominsky of Sonoma State University and HEAD press officer, noted in their statement that "HEAD scientists believe it is extremely shortsighted to severely cut NASA's budget when the U.S. economy is thriving and scientific research in high-energy astrophysics has just begun to recover from many years of chronic underfunding.
"It is especially ironic that the proposed cuts immediately follow the successful launch and checkout of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the first major X-ray mission in 20 years. Over one-third ($240.8 million) of the $678.2 million cuts recommended by the House VA–HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittee are specifically aimed at planned space science programs. "The budget cuts would result in the cancellation of almost all upcoming high-energy missions as well as much of the research money, which supports a majority of high-energy scientists."
The DPS statement, released under the names of Dr. Donald K. Yeomans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and DPS chair, and Dr. Robert M. Nelson, also of JPL and the DPS vice-chair, reported that the division "strongly objects to the $1 billion cut" to the NASA budget. "In this period of widespread prosperity for individuals and the government, the planetary science community regards this major reduction in the space science research budget to be unwarranted and a shortsighted action by Congress.
"The decades of work that have been undertaken by the space science community, supported by NASA, has produced significant advances in understanding the earth, its past and potential future, through the study of other planets.
"By studying other worlds, we continue to hone the tools that we need to understand and deal with new situations as they arise on earth. Examples include ozone depletion, global warming, and asteroid impact hazards. By studying other worlds, we identify the resources, which will open space for future economic expansion.
"The $240.8 million cut to Space Science includes cancellation of the CONTOUR mission to three comets and major cuts to the Explorer and Discovery programs. The two recently selected Discovery programs, Deep Impact to a comet and Messenger to Mercury, will likely be canceled. Planned missions to Pluto, Jupiter's moon Europa, and the Sun also are in danger of cancellation.
"Thirty-five million dollars will be cut from the Supporting Research Program, from which much of the funding for scientific research conducted by space scientists comes. In addition, $123 million in congressional earmarks would have to be taken out of existing programs. Since most space scientists are entirely supported by research grants, such cuts have the potential to wipe out a generation of our nation's space scientists."
Originally, the proposed cuts in NASA's budget were for $1.4 billion, but $400 million was restored in committee under an amendment by Rep. James Walsh (R-NY). The president's request called for $13.5 billion. "Although the $400 million was restored...prior to Congress' August recess," the DPS statement read, "the remaining $1 billion cut is still $924.6 million below the FY2000 request."
"The House VA–HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittee has recommended gutting our nation's space science infrastructure," Yeomans said. "Their recommendation will deal a major blow to our nation's leadership in space exploration from which we will not soon recover."
The knowledge we have gained from space exploration "is a major inspiration to our children who will form the next generation of science and technology leaders," Nelson explained. "High-energy astrophysics was begun in the United States over 30 years ago," said Garmire, "and we are finally taking back the lead from Europe and Japan, which have since launched many major scientific missions. Studying high-energy radiation from space (the only place from which it can be observed) allows us to study conditions that cannot be duplicated in Earth-bound laboratories—conditions that are similar to those that existed when the universe was formed. Using high-energy data, we can also test fundamental theories of physics—black holes, for example, are the best places to test Einstein's theories of gravity. All of this and more will be canceled if the budget cuts go through as passed by the House committee."
The $240.8 million cut in Space Science includes cancellation of practically the entire suite of missions in NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe theme area, Garmire explained. High-energy astrophysics missions at risk, he said, include the gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), designed to study nature's highest energy sources, including supermassive black holes in distant galaxies; Constellation X, a cluster of satellites that would study the details of the energy released near the event horizons of black holes; the Laser Interferometer Space Array (LISA), a large-scale antenna for detecting gravitational waves from black holes in binary systems as well as relic waves left over from the Big Bang, and Explorer satellites, such as the proposed Swift gamma-ray burst mission designed to track and identify the mysterious sources of the most explosive outbursts in the universe.
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The House Science Committee has unanimously passed a five-year, $4.8 billion information technology (IT) bill. Passed on 10 September, H.R. 2086, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act (NITRD), would nearly double federal IT research over the next five years and emphasize federal research efforts on basic research.
NITRD would authorize nearly $4.8 billion over the next five years for IT research at six agencies under the Science Committee's jurisdiction: the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NITRD's authorized levels would constitute a 92% increase over FY99 levels.
NITRD would bolster math and science education through the inclusion of $95 million for universities to establish internship programs for research at IT companies. NITRD also would require NSF to report to Congress on the availability of encryption technologies in foreign countries and how they compare with similar technologies subject to export restrictions in the United States.
The Committee also passed H. R. 1753, the Gas Hydrate Research and Development Act of 1999, by voice vote on 10 September. The legislation directs the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and the Interior, and the Director of the National Science Foundation, to create a gas hydrate research and development program. This program will develop, facilitate, and maintain public and private research partnerships.
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The House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Technology heard testimony on the Commerce Department's plan to terminate the National Technical Information Service on 14 September. However, definite plans on whom might assume that responsibility and how it would be funded remained key and unanswered questions. Commerce Secretary William Daley announced in August that Commerce planned to close NTIS and transfer its core archiving functions to the Library of Congress. Under that proposal, NTIS' paper, microfiche, and digital archives and bibliographic database would be transferred to the Library of Congress. Current and future reports would be transferred electronically to the Library where they would be catalogued, indexed, and electronically archived. Commerce estimates the closing will cost $6 million for FY2000. In addition, there is the matter of 260 employees losing their jobs.
Congress must approve the Commerce plan before the closure can take place. However, the department has yet to send draft legislation to Congress. In the meantime, Commerce officials also have discussed working out a transition with the Government Printing Office (GPO), and GPO officials have indicated a desire to potentially take over NTIS' archiving function.
GPO's plan includes making NTIS' documents available free of charge through the Federal Depositories Library System. GPO also would sell documents to individuals. However, GPO has indicated that, like NTIS, it would likely require an increased appropriation each year to cover the costs of the operation. From the time of its creation until the mid-1980s, NTIS received an annual appropriation to operate. In 1987, however, Congress mandated that NTIS become self-sustaining and, as a result, NTIS funds its operations from revenue earned from sales of publications and services.
With the advent of the Internet, the marketplace for technical information has changed dramatically. The Department of Commerce Inspector General reported that the clearinghouse function of NTIS operated at a $1.9 million loss in 1998. The loss was attributed to loss of sales. In addition, many federal agencies no longer send documents to NTIS but instead post their information directly on their own Web sites where customers can download the information for free.
The administration's FY2000 budget request for the Department of Commerce included $2 million for NTIS. Testifying were Robert Mallett, deputy secretary of commerce; Michael DiMario, public printer, GPO; Ken Allen, chairman, NTIS Advisory Board; Caroline C. Long, assistant university librarian for collection services, George Washington University, and Bonnie Carroll, president, Information International Associates, Inc., Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Mallett indicated that Commerce planned to forward some ideas to the subcommittee in the near future. "The most immediate impact might be that the burden of costs will be shifted to the general taxpayers from the user who directly benefits from the services in the current NTIS cost recovery operation. At worst, in the short term, access to the results of some of our R&D investment would simply be lost at whatever the cost."
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The World Bank and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing on closer cooperation in areas of common interest, particularly natural disaster prevention and mitigation, climate change, and phenomena such as El Niño.
The MOU, signed by World Bank Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Ian Johnson and World Meteorological Organization Secretary–General Professor G.O.P. Obasi in August, is designed to improve strategic collaboration between the two institutions.
"The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding," said Obasi, "will further contribute to developing synergies between relevant programs of the Bank and those of the WMO and thus promote the development of the capacity of nations in applying scientific and technical advances to national sustainable development plans. WMO's expertise and global network of national Meteorological and Hydrological Services offers a distinct advantage to key activities of the Bank."
One element of more effective disaster management is the better use of climate information and forecasting. At the core of this strengthened cooperation is the establishment of a WMO–World Bank liaison in Washington. With the technical expertise of the WMO and the global touch of the World Bank, this information can be more effectively and expansively disseminated.
Developing countries are likely to be severely affected by climate change and water constraints, so they will need help in developing the financial, technical, and human capacity to adapt to a changing climate and increasing water scarcity. A pragmatic strategy on vulnerability and adaptation concerns will be developed and implemented by the two institutions. "The promise of this partnership is the opportunity it offers to match the WMO's scientific and technical expertise with the bank's economic know-how," said Johnson. "Meteorology is central to everything from agricultural production to mitigating the effects of climate-related natural disasters."
Over the last 10 years, the World Bank has provided almost $9 billion (U.S. dollars) in emergency loans to help countries recover from the impacts of natural disasters. Recognizing the link between climate phenomena and development, the international development community is starting to increase its capacity to assist client countries in devising and implementing suitable climate adaptation and disaster mitigation measures in the context of sustainable development.
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Hurricane Dennis might have been the storm that just wouldn’t go away, but it proved to be a fertile testing ground for new measurement technology. The result, improved observations and forecasts of sea-level winds in hurricanes, say hurricane forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA's Hurricane Research Division (HRD) and Aircraft Operations Center successfully transmitted sea-level wind measurements on 29 August from Hurricane Dennis, using an experimental instrument aboard NOAA's P-3 "hurricane hunter" aircraft. The measurements were incorporated into HRD's real-time hurricane wind analysis system, combined with conventional winds from buoys, ships, Global Positioning System dropwindsondes, and satellite cloud tracking to determine the storm's wind field. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center then used the wind field as guidance to distribute warnings of gale force winds (40 mph or higher) over coastal North and South Carolina.
The technology in this experiment features a stepped frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR), a sensor built by the University of Massachusetts and Quadrant Engineering in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is currently flown aboard an NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft. The SFMR measures the signal returned by the ocean surface beneath the aircraft as it is churned up by hurricane winds. This technology has been in use for research purposes for a number of years, but has never been available in real-time for forecasting. The measurements from the SFMR provide a critical addition to existing tools for wind speed measurements. Dropwindsondes deployed from aircraft flying through and around a hurricane have been instrumental in providing point observations within a storm, sending information every half second.
Winds measured at flight level (about 10 000 ft.) by the U.S. Air Force and NOAA hurricane reconnaissance aircraft are used in atmospheric models to estimate surface winds. Estimating wind speeds from that altitude have resulted in as much as 20% uncertainty. By incorporating the SFMR wind speeds, scientists hope to reduce that uncertainty to provide more accurate forecasts for coastal communities. “The SFMR gives us much more complete storm coverage at the surface than the sondes, and at a fraction of the cost," said Peter Black, the HRD scientist who helped develop the SFMR. "Eventually, we hope to see this instrument on all hurricane hunter aircraft.”
For more information, visit http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov, and http://www.nc.noaa.gov/aoc.html
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Logging onto the NOAA's National Hurricane Center's Web site has been much easier this year, even during hurricanes. That’s because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the hurricane center's parent organization, has established a network of Web servers on the Internet designed to provide a fast response to thousands of Web users seeking the latest information on hurricanes. National Hurricane Center Web site information is available on each of the Web servers in this network. Web users are automatically sent to the server that will provide the fastest response.
The network adapts to changing numbers of users and to the current status of the Internet. It provides a much greater total capacity to serve users than in the past, as well as a load-sharing capability that assures users the best possible response time.
Visit the National Hurricane Center Web site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov and the HPCC Web site at http://www.hpcc.noaa.gov. You can also get the latest storm information from "Hurricanes: The Greatest Storms on Earth" located at http://hurricanes.noaa.gov.
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NOAA has opened a new Web site that provides near real-time observations from tide gauge equipment to show the extent of storm surge from hurricanes and other storms. The Web site is tidesonline. The site graphically illustrates observed tide and long-range tide predictions, such as those produced in newspapers and in tide forecast books. On the illustrations, the red line shows the observation, while the blue line represents the forecast.
The Tides Online system is always in operation, officials said, providing hourly updates on tides and water levels around the nation and in some overseas areas. During major storms or hurricanes, certain observation stations are placed in "storm surge mode" and are automatically updated every 20 minutes.
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NOAA has opened a new service of providing 3D images of hurricanes and tropical storms online. The images, provided by the NOAA/NESDIS Visualization Laboratory, are updated regularly to show timely images, and are available to both the media and the general public. Images for the media and other authorized users are 640 X 480 pixels. The images for the general public are smaller at 320 X 240 pixels.
The Web address is http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov. The public does not have to register to obtain the images. However, media and authorized users are asked to register, providing the name of the organization, the name of the contact person, and a phone number. To register, send a message to register@nnvl.noaa.gov. Both accounts are free.
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NWS' Cray supercomputer failed twice during Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd, but NAVY backup computers came to the rescue, preventing any loss of tracking and warning information to the public. The breakdowns were revealed in a press release announcing that the Navy was getting new SGI supercomputers and later confirmed by an NWS spokesman.
The NWS spokesman said its Cray supercomputer in Suitland, Maryland, suffered two "extended outages" during the hurricanes. The first, for 36 hours, occurred on 28 September during Dennis when a Central Processing Unit (CPU) failed. The second took place as Floyd approached the East Coast on 13 September. That outage, which lasted nine hours, was caused by a power fluctuation that damaged a high-pressure valve in the Cray's cooling system, he said.
NWS has its own backup system in Silver Spring, Maryland, that is used for minor failures, however, it depends on the Navy and Air Force when major glitches like the recent ones take place, the spokesman explained. The backups by the services' computers "provide a good degree of backup," he said. The limitation, he continued, lies in the number of hurricanes that can be tracked. The Navy is able to track one or two hurricanes, while the NWS computer is able to handle four, or possibly more.
The press release announcing the Navy's selection of SGI supercomputers for weather and ocean forecasting had a preface that read, "With National Weather Service's computers down yesterday (13 September) and on occasion during Hurricane Dennis, the Navy's SGI supercomputers have been working overtime, playing a key role in Hurricane Floyd and Dennis forecasts, and, according to an announcement made today, will soon be replaced with next-generation systems from SGI to make future hurricane forecasts even more timely and accurate. "The Navy's SGI supercomputers played a 'critical' role in making the order for ships at Jacksonville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina, to move to avoid Floyd and will be equally important in determining if and when ships at the Norfolk Naval Base will have to move (they did).
"The Navy announced today that the Navy has just signed an $18 million contract for the new weather forecasting supercomputers. The power of the new systems will enable warnings to go out several hours earlier, giving civilians and military on land and sea more time to get out of the destructive path of hurricanes."
The release said the new equipment will be located at the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Mountain Home, California, and will increase the center's sustained computing power more than 10-fold. SGI competed with IBM and Sun for the project, according to the release. The project will begin with the installation of a 128-processor OriginTM2000 supercomputer later this year and culminate with a 512-processor "SN" supercomputer in 2001.
"For today's peacekeeping role in Kosovo to our ongoing presence in hostile areas like Iraq, the United States has a growing number of military commitments that must be supported with the best weather forecasts possible," said Dr. Paul Moersdorf, scientific and technical director for Fleet Numerical.
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With the 1999 hurricane season in full swing, NASA has announced plans to safeguard space shuttle operations by outfitting the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) with a third stacking area. The new stacking area will allow NASA to pull a shuttle back from the pad when severe weather threatens without disrupting booster buildup operations.
The construction modification will be on the VAB's High Bay 2. Previously, only High Bays 1 and 3 were equipped for a full shuttle stack: two solid rocket boosters, an external tank and a shuttle orbiter atop the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). High Bays 2 and 4 have been used primarily for external tank checkout and to store booster segments and ground support equipment. Following modification, ground support equipment storage will relocate to the low bay area, officials said. "The primary goal of the Safe Haven construction project is to strengthen our readiness for hurricane season by expanding the VAB's storage capacity," said Don McMonagle, manager, Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration at KSC. "The flexibility we gain will allow us to accommodate unplanned flight hardware moves and minimize their impact on the shuttle manifest."
After 95 shuttle flights, NASA has had to roll the shuttle back to the VAB 13 times and only four were because of a severe weather threat. When a rollback occurs, NASA has to stop booster buildup operations for downstream flights to ensure quick access to one or two available high bays during the volatile hurricane season, from June through October. "Our current configuration provides adequate protection for the space shuttle," said Dave King, KSC's Director of Shuttle Processing, "but it limits our level of productivity and threatens the shuttle manifest. A third high bay with full storage capacity allows us to proceed with downstream booster operations during hurricane season and maximizes the utilization of our versatile Vehicle Assembly Building."
Planning for the $2.56 million project began in July 1998 with the construction contract award being made to Rush Construction Corp. of Titusville, Florida, on 4 August 1999. Construction is expected to be completed by May 2000.
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Wide coverage and long lead time of NWS warnings, plus the high state of preparedness of residents and the assistance of media outlets are credited with saving many lives during the outbreaks of tornadoes in Oklahoma and southern Kansas last 3 May. That's the assessment of a special team that reviewed actions leading up to and during the events in a special report just released by the Department of Commerce.
A large part of the central United States was hit by a significant outbreak of tornadoes and other severe weather on 3 and 4 May, the most devastating of which occurred over Oklahoma and southern Kansas. In the wake of a single F5 tornado that hit Oklahoma City and its suburbs, 38 people were left dead and several hundred injured. There were four additional deaths outside the metropolitan Oklahoma City area as a result of other tornadoes.
The F4 tornado that struck Wichita and Haysville, Kansas, was responsible for six deaths and 150 injuries. More than 70 tornadoes, many of them rated F3 or stronger, were spawned by a dozen supercell thunderstorms across Oklahoma and southern Kansas. In Oklahoma, 16 counties were declared disaster areas with $1 billion in damage; in Kansas, damages were assessed at $145 million and one county was declared a disaster area.
The report read, in part, "The Norman (Oklahoma) NWSFO (NEXRAD Weather Service Forecast Office) issued the first severe thunderstorm warning (SVR) of the event at 4:15 pm and the first tornado warning at 4:47 pm for the storm near Lawton, Oklahoma. This storm moved northeastward and struck Oklahoma City about an hour later. By 5:52 pm, the early stage of this eventual F5 tornado was four miles south of Verden, moving to the northwest side of Chickasha at 6:19 pm, and south of Amber at 6:26 pm.
"The Norman NWSFO continued issuing effective warnings, short-term forecasts (NOWs) and severe statements (SVSs). Also by this time, Oklahoma City media outlets were running continuous live coverage of the tornado with live helicopter and ground-level video. All warnings, forecasts, and statements were disseminated over the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS), the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), the Family of Services (FOS), the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the National Warning System (NAWAS), and the local amateur radio network. The wide coverage of the event by the National Weather Service and media outlets, the long lead time of National Weather Service warnings and the high state of preparedness of Oklahoma residents are credited with saving many lives.
"The Wichita NWSO (NEXRAD Weather Service Office) provided an accurate warning on the development of a violent tornado that first struck the town of Haysville and moved due north into heavily populated areas of southern Wichita. The warning, based on a radar signature, received wide dissemination on local television and radio, NWR, EAS, and NAWAS. The warning prompted the activation of the siren system and initiated an all-channel cable override for Wichita. Residents followed severe weather safety plans and took cover in the lowest levels of houses and apartments, saving many lives."
During the midmorning and midafternoon of 3 May a wind profiler in Tucumcari, New Mexico, showed a descending and strengthening jet approaching Oklahoma. The jet was deeper and lower in the atmosphere than forecasts from numerical models and favored development of supercells, the report noted. "It was the profiler data that led the SPC (Storm Prediction Center) to upgrade the SWO (Severe Weather Outlook) from moderate to high risk for severe weather in the outbreak area and caused F2 or stronger tornadoes to be highlighted in the Experimental Probabilistic Outlook. In the opinion of the Service Assessment Team, without profiler data, SPC forecasters would not have upgraded from moderate to high risk. Also, the state of readiness of NWS offices, emergency managers, and the media in the severe weather outbreak area would not have been as high. The profiler network is 'experimental' and not funded by NWS." The team recommended that NWS "should make a decision on how to support the existing profiler network so that the current data suite becomes a reliable, operational data source."
In another section of the report, the team noted that during the main part of the storm, from 4 pm 3 May to 2 am 4 May, NWSFO Norman issued 116 warnings (70 tornado, 46 severe thunderstorm). In the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, the average lead-time for the first tornado, in each county warned, was 32 minutes, according to the report.
A communications equipment (radar gearbox) failure occurred at Twin Lakes during the tornado event, the report noted, however, maintenance people were located in the same building and were able to resolve the problem quickly. "That level of service," however, according to the report, "is not available at other NWS field offices." The team recommended that OSF (Operational Support Facility) "should implement appropriate maintenance procedures and/or fixes at all WSR-88D sites."
Other recommendations by the team included:
That last recommendation resulted from reports that two people were killed and several others severely injured after seeking shelter under an overpass.
Event statistics listed in the report show:
| Norman NWSFO | Wichita NWSFO | |
| Tornadoes | 57 | 3 |
| Tornado warnings | 70 | 7 |
| Average lead-time of warnings | 18 min | 11 min |
| Severe thunderstorm warnings | 46 | 4 |
| Fatalities | 42 | 6 |
| Injuries | 795 | 150 |
| Homes destroyed | 3315 | 1114 |
| Homes damaged | 4722 | 2272 |
| Schools destroyed | 2 | 2 |
| Businesses destroyed | 164 | 72 |
| Businesses damaged | 90 | 38 |
The assessment team was formed 4 May, arrived on the scene 5 May and departed 10 May, during which time NWS actions were reviewed and interviews were conducted, according to the report. The Service Assessment is available on the Internet at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/omdis.html.
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The Department of Commerce has awarded a $15 million contract to High Performance Technologies, Inc. (HPTi) , of Reston, Virginia, to provide a new supercomputer to NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory, located in Boulder, Colorado. The supercomputer will help the agency further improve existing weather forecast models and develop new ones. "This acquisition will help researchers improve forecasts of severe weather such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and winter storms, and ultimately, to save lives and property," said Commerce Secretary William Daley. "It will also provide a boost to the American supercomputing industry.”
When the system is first installed, it will be running a third of a trillion arithmetic operations per second, providing a computer system that is 20 times more powerful than the computer system the Forecast System Laboratory presently uses. By the final upgrade in 2002, the HPTi supercomputer will be processing about four TeraFLOPS of data or four trillion arithmetic computations per second. The supercomputer will support many activities at the laboratory, particularly the development of weather models. The primary purpose of model development is to evaluate and demonstrate new or improved weather prediction in a quasi-operational setting.
The Forecast Systems Laboratory is one of the country's leading weather technology laboratories. It played a key role in the development and implementation of the AWIPS system, the centerpiece of the National Weather Service Modernization. AWIPS integrates various weather data into one computer system so forecasters can rapidly access the information and issue necessary weather forecasts. The laboratory's Weather Forecast Office Advanced System became the core of AWIPS software, and has now been installed at over 150 offices throughout the United States.
According to A. E. (Sandy) MacDonald, director of the Forecast Systems Laboratory, the HPTi supercomputer will enable his laboratory to participate in the development of the next generation of mesoscale models. One of them is called WRF, or Weather Research and Forecast Model, a collaborative effort with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and various universities.
The Forecast Systems Laboratory is also the developer of the Rapid Update Cycle, or RUC, model, a short-range weather prediction model run at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Maryland. RUC is the only operational weather prediction model providing updated national-scale forecasts based on the latest observations on an hourly basis. It is used heavily for aviation, severe storm, and other short-term (12 hours or less) forecasting concerns. The new HPTi system will be used to develop new versions of the RUC model that will provide substantial improvements in accuracy.
Another project that will benefit from the supercomputer is the North American Atmospheric Observing System, or NAOS. NAOS is a program to design an improved upper-air observing system for the next century. The accuracy of current weather forecasts is limited to a great extent by incomplete knowledge of current conditions. The high-performance supercomputer will allow scientists to conduct experiments with computer forecast models to optimize the design of future atmospheric observing networks with respect to cost and forecast accuracy.
MacDonald says that 40% of the new computer system will be used for weather prediction models, 40% for NAOS, and the remaining 20% will be available for other NOAA research labs to use for developing ocean models and other modeling efforts.
The supercomputing system will be developed by HPTi in cooperation with its three core teammates, Compaq, Patuxent Technology Partners (PTP), and the University of Virginia. Compaq will provide the core computational system, PTP is providing an integrated storage solution from its background in Storage Area Networks, and the University of Virginia will focus on the application of advanced cluster technologies. The contract calls for three deliverables: the initial installation, due within 60 days of the contract award; an interim upgrade after 12 months; and the final upgrade at 34 months.
For more information on FSL, contact their Web site at http://www.fsl.noaa.gov. For information on HPTi, consult their Web site at http://www.HPTi.com.
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As school doors opened for the new school year, NOAA established a new resource for students and teachers that includes information on everything from atmospheric conditions past and present and to photos of almost any marine specie one can think of. The education Web site is designed specifically for students, teachers, and the general public and can be found at http://www.education.noaa.gov. It includes information about weather (both here on Earth and solar weather), the oceans and coasts, satellites, fish and protected marine mammals, and climate change. The Web site includes a search engine for locating special subject information. All information is in the public domain and can be copied for general or classroom use.
Also available is the NOAA photo library collection. It is located at http://www.photolib.noaa.gov. The collection spans centuries of time and much of the Earth to the surface of the sun. As a descendant of the oldest physical science agencies in the U.S. Federal Government, including the Coast Survey (1807), the Weather Bureau (1870), and the Fish Commission (1871), NOAA carries on the work of those agencies.
The NOAA collection contains more than 11 000 photographs: weather and space images, photos of shores and coastal areas, and thousands of marine species images, ranging from the great whales to the most minute plankton.
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Climate data dating back to the late 1800's are now available online. The data were previously available only via telephone or written request.
The new Climatic Data Online system provides full period-of-record digital data for: U.S. daily surface data; U.S. monthly surface data; U.S. hourly precipitation data; U.S. 15-minute precipitation data; and global monthly surface data. Other data will be added to the system this year and next, including hourly surface data. The data are provided by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
The user can select data by region, country, state, climate division, county, and station, and by time period, such as year, month, or day. Data are currently provided at no charge to educational institutions, with charges by credit card for others. Charges are significantly reduced compared with offline orders. The Web address is http://www5.ncdc.noaa.gov:7777/plclimprod/plsql/poemain.poe.
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A workshop focusing on the scientific needs and required capabilities for a research platform capable of penetrating mature convective storms will be held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, 21–22 October.
NSF and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSM&T) staffs are seeking guidance from the atmospheric research community regarding future scientific needs for such a capability and the platform and instrument capabilities needed to meet those needs. Platform options, such as remotely piloted vehicles or dropsondes, may be considered. All scientists interested in observational studies of mature convective storms are invited to participate in the day-and-a-half workshop.
An armored T-28 aircraft operated by SDSM&T under a cooperative agreement with NSF has provided the primary capability for penetrating storms where hail, lightning, and strong turbulence may be encountered. Additional details about the workshop may be obtained from the T-28 Facility Manager, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, 501 East Saint Joseph Street, Rapid City, South Carolina 57701-3995 or at http://www.ias.sdsmt.edu/spa/.
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Lockheed Martin Corp. and Hughes Electronics Group will team up to bid jointly on the next generation weather satellite system—NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System). Normally rivals, the two will compete with TRW Inc., who is teamed with Raytheon, in the competition for the system that will merge the nation's civilian and military weather satellite programs late next decade. Slated to be awarded in 2002, the contract includes satellites and ground systems and is expected to be worth more than $1 billion, according to Space News.
Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, Sunnyvale, California, would be the prime contractor and satellite builder and Hughes Space and Communications Co., Los Angeles, would be responsible for the communications system. Lockheed, Hughes, and TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, California, have been working separately on competing NPOESS system architectures under contracts awarded in 1997.
The initial installment of the contract is expected to include up to five satellites, ground stations, system and sensor integration, and data processing. The operational system will consist of two U.S. satellites and one European satellite in polar orbit. The program is designed to replace a system now being carried out by two separate two-satellite systems operated by NOAA and the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed Martin has been the prime contractor for both systems for the past 30 years.
The next generation NPOESS is designed to provide military and civilian agencies with weather forecasting information at least through 2018, according to NOAA officials. The first U.S. NPOESS satellite launch is planned for 2008.
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ITT Aerospace/Communications Division of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has won a contract potentially worth nearly $100 million to design and build a key sensor for the polar-orbiting weather satellite system, NPOESS. An article in Space News reports that ITT will build at least three cross-track infrared sounders for NPOESS that will take vertical profiles of atmospheric humidity and temperature as well as barometric pressure readings.
The company has been building similar instruments for U.S. civilian weather satellites since the late 1970s. The new contract will continue that business line until the end of the next decade and likely beyond, Space News reported. The new contract, which includes the development of analytical models for interpreting data, has a base value of $73 million with incentive fees and option clauses that could grow to $98 million.
The first launch of the next generation NPOESS satellite is slated for 2008. All U.S. satellites in the NPOESS, which will consist of two U.S. polar orbiters and one European satellite in polar orbit, will be equipped with cross-track infrared sounders, according to project officials. The new sounders will take more precise measurements than the ITT-built sounders aboard the current generation of civilian weather satellites. The current sounders have a vertical accuracy of 2–3 km (1–2 miles), and the new instruments will be accurate to within 1 km. Also, the new sounders' temperature readings will have an error margin of about .5 1°C (1–1.5°F), compared to 2°–3°C with the existing sensors.
The first cross-track infrared sensor is scheduled to be launched around 2002 on a precursor satellite mission called the NPOESS Preparatory Project, officials said. Known informally as the Bridge Mission, it is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the sensor to gather data. ITT also is involved with two other NPOESS instruments. The company is a subcontractor to Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado, on an ozone sensor. It also is one of two contenders, along with Raytheon of Santa Barbara, California, to build the NPOESS Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer under a contract to be awarded next summer.
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NASA has selected the Nanoset Constellation Trailblazer mission as the agency's latest New Millennium project. The three small satellites, about the size of a birthday cake and weighing about as much as a desktop computer, also are smart enough to fly information far above Earth while they test new technologies. The mission will validate methods of operating several spacecraft as a system and test eight technologies near the boundary of the earth's protective magnetic field or magnetosphere.
Each Trailblazer spacecraft will be an octagon 16 inches across and eight inches high. Each will have booms and antennas that will extend after launch, according to NASA officials. The $28 million mission, to be managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, will be launched in 2003 as a secondary payload on an expendable launch vehicle, they said.
Results from the mission will be used to design future missions using lightweight constellations (about 44 lbs), highly miniaturized autonomous spacecraft. One proposed constellation of up to 100 spacecraft positioned around the earth would monitor the effects of solar activity that can affect spacecraft, electrical power, and communications systems. Others would study global precipitation and the atmospheres of other planets.
The Nanoset Constellation Trailblazer is the fifth in the agency's New Millennium program, designed to test technology for future space and earth science missions.
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Those who track ocean features now have near real-time, high-resolution data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's polar-orbiting environmental satellites.
NOAA's CoastWatch program, which maps the coastal oceans daily, relocated a satellite antenna and installed enhanced hardware and software to ensure unobstructed near real-time access to high-resolution images of sea-surface temperatures. Images available from this location in Miami will cover the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, northern South America, and Central America, and the entire Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean.
The SeaSpace Corporation of San Diego did the installation of the hardware and software under contract with NOAA. "Daily sea surface temperature products will be available from the CoastWatch Caribbean Regional Node Web site within hours of acquisition," said Kent Hughes, manager of the CoastWatch program in Suitland, Maryland. "This information is used by a variety of people—meteorologists, fisheries scientists, environmental managers, and commercial and recreational fishermen. The improvements we've made means that they can routinely use these products to accurately detect and track ocean features."
The satellite data also are used by various NOAA agencies to support severe weather forecasting, fisheries research and management, and regional ocean and coastal science projects. Imagery will also be produced in coastal areas both before and after hurricane passage to assist in evaluating the impact of hurricanes at landfall. Future use could include studying wild fires, volcanoes, and volcanic ash clouds.
The antenna and software were installed at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, where scientists are studying hurricanes, ocean current, and temperature structures, ocean/atmosphere chemical exchanges, and the coastal ocean. CoastWatch data will be used to supplement data collected by research ships and aircraft, volunteer observing ships, radar, acoustics, drifting buoys, and other types of instrumentation as well as numerical and statistical models.
The antenna was moved from the Tropical Prediction Center of the National Weather Service on the campus of Florida International University where, because of the configuration of satellite antennae on the roof, the CoastWatch antenna was blocked. AOML's Miami facility provides a far less obstructed view. AOML, one of NOAA's 12 environmental laboratories, was also selected because it is a test site for the new QuikSCAT winds algorithms. The QuikSCAT satellite provides all weather, high-resolution measurements of near-surface winds over the global oceans. These data will be used in numerical weather prediction models and by marine forecasters to improve general weather forecasting, high seas marine forecasting, and ocean storm warning and monitoring.
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A group of government scientists recently took the expression "get to the point" to new heights. Geodesists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration got to the point, literally, when they conducted a precise three-dimensional positioning survey at the top of the Washington Monument in August. These NOAA surveyors were the first in nearly 65 years to "occupy the apex" of the monument. They measured the exact height and gained valuable information on the stability of the famous structure.
"You might think of this new technology as a satellite tape measure that survey experts from NOAA used to learn the exact height of this treasured monolith," NOAA Administrator D. James Baker said of the effort to pinpoint the exact height of the Washington Monument, historically said to be 555 feet, 5.5 inches. "Engineers will also use this information to monitor the monument's stability, measuring any shifting, settling, or other movement of the structure. The same precise positioning capabilities used in this project are essential for a wide range of survey work, navigation, and the operation of safe, reliable transportation, and communications systems," he said.
Using state-of-the-art Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and other specialized gear, geodesists, and technicians from NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) took hundreds of measurements at the top of the monument and at several other nearby Washington D.C. landmarks, such as the "meridian stone of 1890" and "Zero Milestone" at the Ellipse, and the "Jefferson Pier" on the west side of the Washington Monument, during the week of 16 August.
The last official geodetic measurements from the top of the Washington Monument were made by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), the National Geodetic Survey's predecessor agency, in November 1934. At that time, manual observations were made with instruments such as Parkhurst Theodolites spirit levels, and leveling rods. When NOAA was formed in 1970, the USC&GS became part of the new environmental science agency and now consists of two branches, the Coast Survey and National Geodetic Survey, within NOAA's National Ocean Service.
The USC&GS survey crew that perched atop the monument in 1934 on a wooden platform and made their measurements by eye and hand, recording the information with fountain pens, would probably marvel at the new tools and high-tech equipment now being used to grab satellite signals and turn them into precise coordinates and heights..
A large scaffolding structure completely surrounds the monument and served as a support for workers repointing and maintaining the exterior of the structure. Because there is a metal framework surrounding the structure NOAA geodesy experts were also eager to test the accuracy of the survey equipment within the scaffolding. GPS and the NSRS are vital tools for engineers and public safety officials who monitor structural movements and stresses on bridges, buildings, utility lines, and other sites where metal or other materials could cause interference with GPS signals. Measuring the monument with several different types of equipment over several days will allow experts to analyze any variations or discrepancies in position readings.
Although the structure surrounding the monument is strong and appears quite substantial, riding the temporary exterior elevator, and then climbing a 60-ft ladder to the top of the monument is not for the faint of heart. Mounting and securing the survey gear atop the monument, with only a safety belt and a few metal bars between you and the ground some 555 feet below, took skill and concentration.
"It is an awesome experience to touch the top of the monument," said Dave Zilkoski, Deputy Director of NOAA's NGS who has tested some of the equipment at the apex. "It's a feat that only a few people will ever experience. I'm proud to be involved with this important work and consider it a privilege to participate in the project.
Zilkoski and others involved in the project had to temper their enthusiasm with a healthy dose of caution and skill to safely install the surveying gear to the top of the monument. Due to their unique responsibilities, NGS personnel often find themselves in unusual locations. In the past, that meant building and climbing 100-ft towers at night to determine precise positions. Today it means walking on beams and crawling underneath expansion bridges to measure movement, floating on GPS-equipped buoys in bays to measure water levels, and working on huge container ships to measure the movement of these vessels.
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The popularity of University of California, Berkeley's SETI@home screen-saver software that allows anyone with a desktop computer to aid in the search for intelligent life in space has skyrocketed in the four months since its release, with the number of participants worldwide now topping one million.
While no signs of life have yet been found, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) craze has infected offices and classrooms in more than 223 countries since the effort's inception last May by a team of scientists at UC Berkeley, according to David Anderson, project director.
Companies large and small, elementary and high schools, government agencies and universities have formed groups to compete to see whose computers can analyze the most chunks of data. The analysis is handled automatically by the screen saver program, and the results sent back to UC Berkeley, while participants view the progress on their computer screen. This success, said Anderson, proves the value of distributed computing and has encouraged him to look around for other projects that could benefit from this technique. "SETI@home is now the largest computation ever done on this planet—we've accumulated more than 50 000 years of computing time so far," explained project scientist Dan Werthimer, a research physicist at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory.
On Windows and Macintosh machines, the computer program acts like a screen saver, kicking in when the computer is idle and crunching data collected from a radio telescope in Puerto Rico, the 1000-foot diameter dish at Arecibo. "This is also the most sensitive sky survey ever conducted," Werthimer said. "Seti@home is so powerful because we are using the world's largest telescope and we are able to use it continuously, 24 hours a day, by piggybacking on other observations."
Werthimer and his UC Berkeley colleagues operate several ongoing SETI projects, including the 20-yr-old SERENDIP project (Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations), whose newest instrument, SERENDIP IV, provides data for SETI@home. Statistics show that of the million people who have signed up with SETI@home and downloaded the software to let them analyze radio data from space, 600 000 have completed a least one unit of data analysis and some 170 000 already are contributors.
The huge amount of computing power this puts in the hands of the authors of SETI@home is allowing them to tackle even more difficult and time-consuming analyses of the radio data from space. The backlog of data from the Arecibo telescope is rapidly disappearing, and Anderson and his team currently are updating the software to reanalyze data in search of more complex signals. They also are working with outside collaborators to make the software more efficient.
In the beginning, the team expected perhaps 200 000 sign-ups, a milestone that was reached after only one week. The project was launched three years ago with the Planetary Society, in cooperation with Paramount Pictures. Sun Microsystems also donated computing equipment, and the University of California provided matching funds of $180 000 from its Digital Media Innovative Program. Other sponsors include Quantum Corp., Fuji Film Computer Products, Informix, and the SETI Institute.
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Werner A. Baum, past AMS president and national and international leader in the scientific profession, died on 4 September at the age of 76.
Baum was a major leader in meteorological education and public policy. He founded The Florida State University (FSU) Meteorology Department in 1949 and later became Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, bringing international recognition to FSU’s professors and their research.
Baum’s career took him to several other insitutions including the University of Miami, where he was vice president of Academic Affairs; New York University, where he was vice president of scientific affairs; the University of Rhode Island, where he was president; and the University of Wisconsin– Milwaukee; where he was appointed chancellor in 1977.
In addition to his achievements in the academic circles, Baum was also appointed deputy director of the ESSA (later the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in 1967. He served on numerous boards and committees that helped guide public policy on research and science issues.
Baum made many significant contributions to the AMS. He served as editor of the Journal of Meteorology for 12 years, guiding the journal from infancy to be one of the world’s best. He was also editor of the AMS Bulletin and the Meteorological Monographs. Baum was an extremely active member serving on numerous committees, three terms as Councillor and president in 1977. In 1993, he also was awarded an Honorary Member of the AMS, an honor bestowed to only 73 others in the 80-year history of the Society.
In addition to the AMS, Baum was an active member in many other professional organizations and committees including the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere; the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research; the National Science Foundation; the National Academy of Sciences; the World Meteorological Organization. He was also a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Geographical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was president emeritus of the Association of Urban Universities.
Throughout his impressive career, Baum received many awards and citations including the AMS Cleveland Abbe Award for Distinguished Services to the Atmospheric Sciences by an Individual.
Baum, born in Germany, came to the United States in 1934. He studied at the University of Chicago receiving a bachelor of science degree in mathematics in 1943, a master's degree in meteorology in 1944, and a doctorate in meteorology in 1948. Baum also served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1948.
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Rick Anthes, UCAR president, and Joseph Klemp, search committee chair, have distributed a note calling for nominations for a replacement for NCAR director Bob Serafin, who has announced his intention to step down from that position on or about 1 February 2000.
"We are undertaking a broad, open international search for the best possible candidate to succeed Bob," they wrote. "We hope to complete the search process and announce a new NCAR director sometime early next year.
“We would appreciate your nomination of possible candidates for this position. At this time, we are seeking names of potentially qualified people, so your nomination may be as brief as a name(s) and affiliation(s). We may contact you at a later time for additional information if needed.”
UCAR has set up a Web site for the director search process at http://www.ucar.edu/ucar/gen/director.
Serafin joined NCAR in 1973 and served with the Field Observing Facility. In 1981, he was named director of the Atmospheric Technology Division, and he moved up to the director's position in 1989.
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U.S. Geological Survey Director Charles "Chip" Groat has named three new regional directors. The three new directors, all Senior Executive Service personnel, are Bonnie McGregor, currently USGS associate director of programs, will be Eastern Regional Director with headquarters in Reston, Virginia.
Thomas Casadevall, currently USGS deputy director, will be the new Central Region Director with headquarters in Denver, Colorado. John D. "Doug" Buffington will be Western Region Director. Formerly Western Region chief biologist, Buffington will continue to be located in Seattle, Washington. Primary Western Region offices are located in Menlo Park, California, Tucson, Arizona, and Seattle, Washington.
The new directors will transition from their current duties over a period of time, Groat said, will full assumption of the new positions on l January 2000.
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