Chapter News
September 2004

ARKANSAS

The first Chapter meeting for the Fall, 2004 season was held on September 23rd. The meeting convened at 700 PM at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in North Little Rock with 17 members and guests present.

No formal business meeting was held.

The program for the evening was provided by Chapter member Paul Iniguez. Paul is a meteorologist intern with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. His presentation was titled "A Look at the Cool Summer of 2004". The presentation focused first on drawing comparisons between typical upper air and surface patterns across the United States during the summer months and those experienced this summer. He then took a closer look at four stations across the U.S. (St. Cloud, MN, Little Rock, AR, New York City, NY, Las Vegas, NV), and compared/contrasted their summers. Paul showed that a persistent low pressure trough over the eastern U.S. led to cool temperatures across much of the eastern U.S., while persistent high pressure ridging in the west led to record warmth over the western U.S. St. Cloud, MN tied for their fourth coldest summer on record, while Little Rock had its 14th coolest summer on record. New York City was slightly below normal...while Las Vegas broke into the top ten warmest summers on record.

During and after the presentation, the group participated in a question and answer session.

Then, light refreshments were served and the meeting adjourned at 845 PM.---Newton Skiles.


COOK COLLEGE - RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Tuesday, September 14, 2004
1st Meteorology Club meeting of the year

---Ariana Shah.


HOUSTON

September 16th Meeting

Speaker: Dr. Courtney Schumacher
(Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences / Texas A&M University.)

Topic: The predictability, along with the nature of convective intensity, of tropical cyclones using T.R.M.M. satellite data.

Dr. Schumacher began the meeting with a warm-up of a satellite loop from Hurricane Frances; from tropical wave to U.S. landfall. She also displayed a radar loop of Hurricane Ivan which made landfall near the Flori-bama line later that evening. Although ground-based Doppler Radar is her main tool in researching convection, her main area of expertise is in using NASA's T.R.M.M. (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) satellite data. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission was launched in November 1997 as a joint U.S.- Japan mission to advance understanding of the global energy and water cycle by providing distributions of rainfall and latent heating over the global tropics In the first of her three part talk, Dr. Schumacher briefly explained T.R.M.M.'s history, its basic instruments, and the usefulness of the data acquired from this quasi-equatorially orbited satellite. Her focus of research is on the convective intensity and the predictability of tropical cyclones via T.R.M.M. data. She used the study of a typical MCS (Meso-Convective System) within a larger tropical cyclone. She utilizes T.R.M.M. cross sections along with the TMI (T.R.M.M. Microwave Imager) when studying the evolution of these MCSs (she used Hurricanes Frances and last year's Hurricane Isabel as examples). Lightning can also be studied with the T.R.M.M.'s instruments/sensors.

Convective intensity versus rate of precipitation was her second topic of the evening. She compared the rainfall rate, or convective intensity, and the respective land and ocean differences. Intuitively, she explained that the strongest convection occurred over land, where the highest instability (highest vertical velocities) existed while higher rainfall rates were recorded over the more moist tropical sea environment. Dr. Schumacher mentioned the existence of "hot towers" in extreme convective processes being more of a land phenomenon, but can occasionally be witnessed within strong tropical cyclone eye wall (re)development. This lead to the factors of convective intensity in eye wall regeneration and basic eye wall characteristics; such as eye wall expansion, concentric eye walls, and replacement cycles. Recent research has pointed to the fact that eye wall regeneration is not a "continuous" process, but more a series of convective "bursts".

Dr. Schumacher's final topic dealt with tropical cyclone forecasting. She briefly explained that her current studies on tropical predictability are limited, at best. She made point to the fact that she hopes, with the continued use of the T.R.M.M. satellite data, she can hopefully provide more insight on the future downstream re-development of the eye wall, or gain better accuracy of a tropical cyclone's 12 to 24 hour track.---Patrick Blood.


IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

General Email List: isuams@iastate.edu
Website: www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams

Officer Intros
General Officer email: amsofficers@iastate.edu
President: Adam Kuban (ajkuban@iastate.edu)
Vice President: Kari Kozak (kkozak@iastate.edu)
Secretary: Janet Schenck (thatsme@iastate.edu)
Treasurer: Brian Viner (bviner@iastate.edu)
Social Chair: Elise Johnson (elisevj@iastate.edu)
Historian: William (Bill) Henning (tubularb@iastate.edu)
Webmaster: Heather Moser (miraje@iastate.edu)
Past President: Jon Hobbs (jonhobbs@iastate.edu)

Member Intro: Nice to meet all of you!

Social Events
Intramurals-Flag Football, we need people!!! Email Elise if you are interested in the following intramural sports: Curling, Soccer, Cross Country, Broomball, 5K Wilderness Run, Basketball
Basketball-Tuesdays (maybe Thursdays) at 9pm at the Rec Center (west end). Look for Elise and a Tall Blonde (The Tall Blonde's name is Amy J )
Picnic-Tomorrow! You can still come if you didn't RSVP. If you need a ride, meet us (Elise and I will be there) on steps by the north parking lot by 5pm.
Start of the Year Social Event-A possibility would be to see Anchorman at the Dollar Theater. Look for an email later. Other options are bowling, a picnic, and many more. Again, look for an email from Elise later on.
Co-Social Chair-This will be a sophomore position. The sophomore class will be asked to stay after next meeting. We'll vote then on who will have the position. The duties of the position will be to help Elise with social events and to be available for younger members to talk to them instead of the "big scary upper-classmen!"
National Weather Service-The date for a visit to the National Weather Service has been set to September 13 at 7pm. We will meet in Agronomy and leave from there. If you have any questions, email Heather Mosher.

AMS Dues
In the past, the AMS dues have been $5. We took a vote and decided that the dues will be $5. Please pay Brian Viner by the next meeting. Make sure to get all the information from Brian. Checks can be made out to ISU AMS.

Apparel/Merchandise
We will talk about WHAT we want to order at a later meeting, but for this meeting, we have decided to make an order sometime this fall. If you have any ideas, email Elise.

First Snowfall Contest
We voted to organize a First Snowfall Contest. This contest involves picking the date that you think will have the first snowfall. If you don't quite understand this contest, don't worry, more information will be given later.

National Forecast Contest
There was a meeting for the National Forecast Contest after the AMS meeting. If you were not able to be at the NFC meeting, email Janet Schenck for information.

AMS Forecast Contest
It's free!!!! For more information on the AMS Forecast Contest, go to the AMS website and click on the AMS Forecast Contest link. For more information, email Jeremy Grams (jgrams@iastate.edu).

CY's Eyes on the Skies
CY's Eyes on the Skies is a 15 minute weather show on ISU TV Channel 18. Next Wednesday there will be a training session at 6:30 in Studio B in the Communication Building. Even if you don't want to be go into broadcast meteorology, it's a wonderful, wonderful experience! There are also behind-the-scenes positions available. The possible starting date will be Monday, September 13th. Look for an email with more information!

National Weather Association
The National Weather Association is a lot like AMS, but with a little bit more focus on broadcasting. This is a great way to meet people young and older! There are professionals from the National Weather Service and other occupations that are members as well. Email Elise Johnson if you're interested. The big event for the NWA is The Severe Storms Conference in the spring.

National AMS
There is a $15 due ($7.50 now and then in January) to join the National AMS. This is a wonderful organization to sign up for because you can get great benefits like discounts on magazines, you can find out about opportunities in the meteorological field and much more. The National AMS also holds a national conference in San Diego in January (This is a great chance to learn outside the classroom from many different professionals). A great opportunity!

Way in the Future Events
Storm Spotter Training- A great way to learn how to spot severe storms! Look for that in March.
Spring Break-More information will come MUCH later. Past trips have included Colorado, Oklahoma, and Florida.
Elementary Education-We go around to elementary schools teaching kids about severe weather. We do this in the spring.
Severe Storms Conference-Some much fun! Again, this is a great way to learn outside of the class room. Another chance to meet people and make contacts. This is a spring event, so look for info later.

Future Events: National Weather Service, AMS/Faculty Dinner, Offit Airforce Base, Tailgate with University of Illinois (September 18th) and much more.

Wow! That was a long one. Thanks for taking the time to read through this! As I promised, here is the "Segment of Fun!"

"Segment of Fun!"
On this September 2, 1950 the town Mecca, CA received a high temperature of 126 degrees!!! The low that morning was 89 degrees! The high of 126 degrees set a U.S. record for the month of September. It may be hot this week, but not that hot!!!
(I got this from www.weatherforyou.com/history)

P.S. You don't have to email me back anything (you could if you want to! J). This is just a piece of information that you can have.



AMS Meeting Minutes - Meeting #2 9/30/04
General Email List: isuams@iastate.edu
Officer Email List: amsofficers@iastate.edu
Website: www.meteor.iastate.edu/ams

We had pizza at tonight's meeting. Thank you very much for that delicious dinner!

AMS Dues
Dues were taken at the end of the meeting. Try to get your email address and other information if you are a due paying member

Treasurer Update We have $750 in our account right now.

Forecast Contest Updates
First Snow Contest - You can now, through Oct 15, pay $1 to Brian Viner (bviner@iastate.edu) to pick a date of what you think will be the first inch of snowfall in Johnston, IA at the National Weather Service. You can choose multiple dates for $1 per date. The person who is closest wins the pot. Ties will be given if there is one. Email Brian if you have any questions. The day you pick must be after the 15th.

AMS Forecast Contest - Remember to forecast for the right day! Email Jeremy (jgrams@iastate.edu) with any questions you might have.

National Forecast Contest - There have been a few scoring problems with the National Contest. Once everything has been settled, look for an email from Janet Schenck telling Top 5 Forecasters, how the team did overall, and other information. If you would like to opt-out for New Orleans, send Janet (thatsme@iastate.edu) an email before next Thursday.

Fundraisers
We need to do some fundraising, and these are the ideas that we have come up with:
Hot Chocolate Sale
Quiznos Fundraiser
Do our own car wash
Janet will send an email out later as she gets more information.

Social Events
Flag football- Our team plays this Sunday at 5:30 on field 28.
Broomball- PAY ELISE IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID HER YET!!! The guys lost their first game, but they're not done. Look for an email from Elise for times and dates of other broomball games.
5-player Co-rec Basketball-Email Elise if you are interested
AMS Basketball- Some AMS members play basketball Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 pm at the rec. They would love to have you join them!

Look for an email from Elise with information about all the other Intramural games that are coming up.

"Organized" Tailgate- Look for an email from Elise about games that we will tailgate at. If and when we tailgate, we will probably meet at north parking lot. Look for emails with information later.

Every home game tailgate- It was brought up that we should just tailgate for all home games. The problem is, is that AMS can not foot the bill for all the games. So, some AMS members would like to get together independently. So, look for an email from Fitz (rmfitz@iastate.edu) about home game tailgates.

Science Museum of Minnesota- We would like to see Forces of Nature in either late October or early November. Look for an email later about this fun little road trip.

Picnic- We'll try to get a picnic going sometime during the middle of this month at Legdes or something. We like to hear your ideas, so email Elise (elisevj@iastate.edu) if you have any social ideas.

Cy's Eyes on the Skies Update
It is not too late to sign up for Cy's Eyes! Feel free to stop by Communications Building in Studio B around 6pm and see the fun.

Scientist Seminars
The Graduate Meteorology Club is bringing in a few speakers for weekly seminars. These seminars are usually Tuesday afternoons at 4pm in 3140. These seminars are a great way to find out about new research from scientist and faculty. Email Jon Hobbs (jonhobbs@iastate.edu) with any questions.

Apparel
We plan on ordering sweatshirts with hoods, t-shirts, polos, and long-sleeved t- shirts. Look for an email later from Adam Kuban about where to go to get the order form and when the due date for the order form is.

Email Elise (elisevj@iastate.edu) or Janet (thatsme@iastate.edu) if you are interested in "AMS Girl Bonding Night!" (aka: buying sweatpants that fit and then going to Hobby Lobby and getting "cute" lettering to make them meteorology related)

Fall 2004 Events
WHO Station Visit - We plan to visit the WHO studio Sunday, October 24th. We plan to leave around 2 or 2:30 pm to get there in time to get a tour and possible see the 5 o'clock news. Afterwards, we might get something to eat. We should back around 7pm. Email Jon Hobbs (jonhobbs@iastate.edu) if you have any questions.

Offit Air Force Base - This visit will take place either in late November or early December. You don't have to be in the air force to go. This is a great way to see new technology and to look at another job possibility. The Air Force does hire civilians as well as officers. Email Bill Henning (tubularb@iastate.edu) with any questions.

AMS/Faculty Dinner - We would like to have dinner with our professors and at Hickory Park on Wednesday, November 17th at 5pm. Email Adam with questions.

Also:
If you have any pictures of AMS events, please email them to Bill (tubularb@iastate.edu).

If you want an Iowa State Meteorolgy car sticker (cost of $5), email Jon Hobbs (jonhobbs@iastate.edu).

Email Adam Kuban (ajkuban@iastate.edu) if you are interested in being part of a booth displaying information about severe weather preparedness.

After the meeting:
Kari Kozak gave a presentation about the AMS Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held Jan 9th-13th in San Diego with a theme of "Building the Earth Infromation System". If you would like more information, go to the National AMS website (www.ametsoc.org). This is a great chance to meet and great with professionals, get an intership or job, and a great learning experience. The cost is $150 for just registration, but you can get a Student Travel Grant or be part of the Student Assistant Program. To get a Student Travel Grant, you must be a senior or a graduate student. This grant will cover the round trip, hotel, registration and breakfast cost. This application must be filled out before October 22nd. You can find the application at the website given above. For the Student Assistant Program, you can be any type of student, although precedence is give to National AMS members. This will pay for hotel, registration, and breakfast costs. The deal is, is that you will work at the national meeting. You will also get about a $30 stipend to spend elsewhere. The application is also online and is due before October 22nd. Chris Maiers also gave a presentation about the possibility of getting our Doppler radar fixed. The cost would be about $320,000, but the benefits are beyond belief. When fixed, it could be used for research and other student activities. This would also help with the public safety of not only Ames, but Iowa as well. There is also the great chance to have the Doppler radar be of use to other programs here at Iowa State such as the electrical engineers. There are other options. We could get a Doppler on wheels which would cost about $20,000. We could also work with companies who are developing new radars, like the bipolarization radar. We could go the cheap way, but that would mean less quality. To get this, we need to start fundraising as soon as possible. We could possibly get funds from the university, alumni, state grants, or business partners. The typical lifespan of a Doppler radar is about 15 years, so upkeep is there, but not as much as the initial cost. For more information, email Chris Maiers (biff016@iastate.edu).

Sorry for the long minutes, but now, the section you've all been waiting for….

Segment of Fun!!!
As we were sitting pretty today with a high of 76, look what happened on September 30, 1989 - Thirteen cities reported record high temperatures for the date, as readings soared into the upper 80s and 90s from the Northern and Central High Plains Region to Minnesota. Bismarck ND reported a record high of 95 degrees, and the temperature reached 97 degrees at Broadus MT. Afternoon thunderstorms developing along a cold front produced wind gusts to 60 mph at Wendover UT. (from www.weatherforyou.com/history)---Janet Schenck.


LYNDON STATE COLLEGE

General Business Meeting: September 15, 2004

Start: 7:05 p.m. Attendance: 75 (including officers)

President Jim Politis Treasurer Brian Mellor Public Relations Ryan Low Community Outreach Steve LaVoie End: 8:00pm---Josh Webber.


MILLERSVILLE UNIVERSITY

Chapter News- September

The MU AMS has many activities and fundraisers that have been planned for the upcoming year. First of which is a hurricane contest to pick the last named hurricane of the 2004 season. Each guess will be $1 and all guesses should be placed in the specified bucket in the Weather Center. One new merchandise item that we would like to sell this year is weather calendars for 2005. Each calendar will cost between $12-13. Anyone with interesting weather pictures can submit them anytime prior to the next AMS meeting on September 22. All pictures will be displayed on the MU-AMS webpage and the best ones will be featured in the calendar.

The AMS has planned a trip to Washington D.C. for September 18 to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Anyone who would like to make this trip should sign up on the sheet posted on the Weather Center door. We plan on leaving at 8am and returning at 8 pm.

The MU AMS is currently updating the webpage with the help of Evan Lowery. Check out the new page updates within the coming weeks.

On October 6, there will be very beneficial to all members who are looking into doing an internship. At this meeting we will be having an internship forum, with students speaking about the internships they did this past summer, and how to apply for these experiences. The next meeting October 20, we will hold our career forum, with past MU meteorology graduates. Hope to see everyone at these meetings!! This will be a great opportunity for students interested in getting an internship to talk with those students who participated in some over this past summer. There will also be another Ville After Dark night, as the AMS has done in past years.---Courtney Hanna.


NORTH FLORIDA

General Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2004

President Chris Bennett called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. The following executive members were present: President: Chris Bennett, Vice -President: Geoff Wagner, Treasurer: Cerese Albers, and Secretary: Robert Banks. Approximately 30 members were present including the executive board. The meeting began with Chris opening the meeting with an overview.

Treasurer's Report
Treasurer Cerese Albers gave a report on the current financial status of the chapter and encouraged members to pay their dues as soon as possible and that only cash can be accepted for payment. Cerese encouraged membership in the chapter and outlined some of the incentives for joining.

Committees
There was a brief overview of which officers oversee different committees and then a sign-up sheet was passed around the room for the general membership to sign up for a committee. A need was expressed for the general membership to step up and help out in a committee or two in order to better the chapter and it's goals. The sign-up sheets were provided before, during, and after the meeting.

Report from Science and Education Committee
Past-President Clark Evans gave a brief synopsis of what occurred at his last committee meeting and gave a report on our first school presentation of the semester at Buck Lake Elementary. Members, Bill Cottrill and Rachel Austin, gave a science presentation at Buck Lake Elementary School on September 21 at 2:00pm and their work was appreciated by the teacher very much.

September Social Event
Vice-President and Chair of the Programs Committee, Geoff Wagner, announced a bowling social to be held on September 29 with times TBA at Crenshaw Lanes on FSU campus. He mentioned there would be flat fee to help offset chapter costs but this fee would include pizza, drinks, bowling, and shoe rental. Geoff also tried to gather support for a Halo Tournament social event but interest in this was minimal.

Other General Information Discussed
President Chris Bennett informed the membership again of the newly revamped chapter website at www.northflams.org and that all information including chapter minutes, etc. is posted to this source for easy viewing by everyone. Also, Chris announced that the local chapter will be trying in the next few months to gather additional support for travel to the Annual AMS Conference in San Diego, CA. He did mention that paying your dues and being a national AMS member will better your chances for Department or AMS travel grants. In conclusion, Chris announced his current Tropical Storm Bonnie chase and mentioned that video will be available soon from his group's adventures that day. A copy of their chase log is available at www.northflams.org. Video will soon be posted to the website also.

Guest Speaker
Vice-President Geoff Wagner announced our guest speaker for the night. He is Paul Duval, MIC (Meteorologist-in-Charge) of the Tallahassee NWS (National Weather Service), which has its office adjoined with the FSU Department of Meteorology. Mr. Duval was asked to give a presentation on Tallahassee NWS operations during the recent Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan events. Mr. Duval gave an excellent talk with lots of pictures and attempted video showing radar and damage estimates from the storms in our areas. He gave an in-depth synopsis of how the NWS here takes precautions and prepares when severe weather is going to strike.

Next Meeting
Tentatively set for Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM in Room 353 Love Building.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.

The above minutes are a true and correct reflection of the September 23, 2004 meeting.
Chris Bennett, President---Submitted by: Robert Banks.


OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY

Tuesday September 28th, 2004

Aaron began the meeting by going over what occurred in the last meeting. Jake gave a treasurer's report and at this time there is $1,749.41 in the SCAMS account. Christine Brown (myself) gave a short speech about a SEES event that is coming up this Monday from 2:15-4:30 pm. The College of Geosciences is going to a school to work on science experiments in Chemistry with young children and was hoping that SCAMS could help out. People interested are to contact me and I will get them in contact with the people running it. Aaron followed with announcements that the chaser ride pool and faculty lunch sign ups were being passed around the room. The storm chaser ride pool is mainly a network to put people that are new to chasing in contact with those that are more experienced. Faculty lunches will involve a group of students going out to eat with a faculty member and mainly talking with them about meteorology. There is also a food drive being sponsored by the OU Caribbean Student Organization to help the victims of the recent hurricanes. A box for canned goods is being placed in the meteorology office on the 13th floor and cans can be dropped off there. The deadline for that is this Friday, October 1st. Then, the photo and video contest rules were discussed. For the photo contest there are going to be more categories than usual. In the severe weather section there is a category for lightning and a category for everything else. In the non-severe weather section, there is a category for winter, sunsets, and everything else. The photos that are submitted must be in physical form, be in high quality, and between the sixes of 4 x 6 to 8 x 10. If a picture wins the category it will have the chance to be framed and placed in the meteorology main office using SCAMS funds to frame it. Honorable mentions will receive SCAMS merchandise. These photos will be judged by the office staff and please remember to place your names on the back of the pictures! The video contest has videos limited to five minutes with no obscenities and they will be voted on at the next SCAMS meeting. The winner of this portion of the contest will get a $25 Best Buy gift certificate and a SOM sticker. The deadlines that apply to both parts of the contest are that entries be in by October 12th so that winners can be announced at the next meeting. Entries can be dropped off in the meteorology office or in the OU SCAMS mailbox. The first OU SCAMS football game will be held on Sunday October 17th at 2 pm. It will be located at the band practice field and maps will be provided online. The speaker began at 5:43 pm. Our speaker was Mr. John Freddy Mejia speaking on "NAME - North American Monsoon Experiment". His email is John.Mejia@noaa.gov if anyone is more interested in the topic. He was finished speaking at 6:20 pm. Aaron quickly showed the survey results from the first meeting to see what activities were likely to happen. The meeting ended at 6:21 pm.---Aaron Kennedy.


OMAHA-OFFUTT

The Omaha-Offutt chapter of the AMS held its September meeting on September 22, 2004, at the Spaghetti Works restaurant in Omaha's Old Market district. There were 34 members and guests present for the meeting.


At 7:10 PM chapter President Jeremy Wesely called the business meeting to order.

Recording Secretary John Roth read the minutes from the May 2004 meeting. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Joe Hanser and seconded by Randy Falzgraf, and the minutes were accepted.

Treasurer Karen Harder-Sittel presented the treasurer's report. There were 24 new memberships paid to start the year. Jeremy mentioned some of the things the chapter money is spent on.

John Eylander of the education committee explained to those present the committee's activities. He talked about the outreach program in local schools, involving group and one-on-one speaking engagements with students, as well as consulting with high school guidance counselors. He also mentioned ongoing involvement with projects at the Omaha Children's Museum, science fair judging, and the bi-annual career nights. He solicited additional involvement from anyone interested in participating.

Old business:
A nomination package for AMS chapter of the year has been submitted to the national headquarters and is under consideration.

New business:
Dr. Ken Dewey, a member of the Omaha-Offutt and Lincoln student chapters, is a member of the national AMS committee on local chapters. Dr. Dewey explained the position, and said that anyone who had input could get with him, and he'd present it to the national committee.

Jeremy talked about the chapter web site, and thanked Dr. Dewey and the High Plains Regional Climate Center for sponsoring the site. An email containing a link to the site would be sent to chapter members in the coming weeks.

Jeremy announced that student members are invited to attend a student meeting in conjunction with the national AMS conference scheduled for January. Dr. Dewey mentioned a scholarship program that is available from the national AMS as well.

Announcements:
The next chapter meeting is scheduled for October 12, a lunch meeting with Col Lanicci from Air Force Weather Agency speaking. The following meeting, scheduled for December 2, will feature a return engagement by Greg Carbin from the Storm Prediction Center. Former chapter president Gene Wall and his wife Barb have had a baby.

There was a break for salad bar and dinner.

Guest Speaker:
The speaker for the evening was Dr. Mark Anderson, professor of meteorology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Dr. Anderson's presentation was titled "Monitoring Snow Melt in the Arctic". He stated reasons for studying annual snow and ice melt; it marks the transition zone between cold and fairly warm weather during the summer months, it reduces the albedo of the surface, which is not handled well by numerical forecast models, and it helps gauge the extent of global warming. Dr. Anderson's research has covered sea ice over the Arctic Ocean and surrounding bays, and the ice cap over Greenland. It has been conducted over 25 years, mainly using satellite data, NIMBUS prior to 1986 and DMSP SSM/I since 1986. The overall observations in his research note that the warming of the atmosphere is the trigger for snow and ice melt, which develops a positive feedback cycle, where snow melt allows the earth's surface to absorb more heat, which further warms the atmosphere, which melts more snow. The overall trend has been a decrease in the coverage and concentration of polar ice during the summer months through the years. He also noted a trend during the melting process where surface albedo actually increases when melting first starts, then drops as the bare earth becomes exposed. As part of his research, he was part of a team of researchers that spent four weeks in June-July 1993 on the ice cap in Greenland. He described some of the data collected, from setting up a weather station to relay observations, to digging fox holes in the snow and digging out additional cylindrical columns of snow, to take measurements of the "history" of the snow pack. Measurements included temperature, density, and O-18 isotope concentration of the snow/ice, along with the location and thickness of ice crusts in the snow, which indicate where melting occurred. The general conclusion was that, while the ice cap on the edges of Greenland is melting more each summer, the cap in the center is actually getting thicker, as a result of more precipitation falling in recent years. His description also included some of the more mundane aspects of spending four weeks on a desolate ice field. He then moved on to research on sea ice. This has shown that the summer thickness and extent of polar sea ice have been decreasing, with a greater decrease in the thickness than in the extent, which has decreased only slightly, but not uniformly. The Beaufort Sea area has been melting earlier in recent springs, while the area north of Greenland has been melting slower/later. 2004 was an unusual year, with the ice along the north coast of Asia melting very early, and the ice in Hudson Bay melting very late, the latter symptomatic of the unusually cool summer over most of eastern North America. Dr. Anderson concluded his presentation by listing opportunities to use polar ice research data; to study atmospheric correlations, such as El Nino weather patterns, Arctic oscillation, etc, applications to numerical modeling, and biological applications, mainly whale migration patterns. In the future he also intends to address annual freeze patterns.


One final announcement, Jeremy Wesely has accepted a position at the Hastings NE National Weather Service office, effective October 15. He intends to complete his term as chapter president and will continue to attend the chapter meetings as his schedule permits.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 PM.---John Roth.


PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Meeting on 22 September 2004...

7:00PM -- Call to order by President Kim Klockow

Old business:
-- Vote to raise dues to $10/semester or $15/year
- Motion passes unanimously
-- Tutoring
- Tutoring will be on Tuesdays, conducted by member volunteers. The subjects covered will be the required chemistry, physics, and mathematics courses, as well as meteorology classes.
-- The high school club (WESMA) meetings will be on Tuesdays from 12:45-1:30P.M.

New business:
-- T-shirts
- A vote on t-shirts will be delayed until the next meeting to allow memmbers to produce more ideas.
-- EAS department t-shirts
- The idea was discussed to make t-shirts for the entire EAS
department as a fundraiser. The issue was tabled until the next meeting.

Announcements:
-- Wal*Mart safety outreach will be soon. Details pending.
-- Tim Crum from the National Weather Service will be speaking Thursday
9/23 from 3:30-4:30 about the WSR-88D and Level II NEXRAD data. -- The AMS Annual Meeting is 9-13 January.
- Apply for Student Travel Grants on AMS website.

7:30PM -- Meeting adjourns---Ben Cotton.


SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

The first meeting for the new season of the Southeast Arizona Chapter of the AMS (SEACAMS) was held on 29 September 2004. The meeting was attended by about 23 members and guests near the National Weather Service Forecast Office on the University of Arizona campus. The guest speaker was John Glueck, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service (NWS). John is the climate guru and webmaster for the Tucson NWS office. He spoke about the 2004 monsoon, drought monitoring, tropical systems which had an affect on our area, El Niño, and the changes to the Tucson NWS website. Compared to climatology, the 2004 monsoon season will go down as the fourth driest monsoon on record.

Some changes were approved for new SEACAMS officers. The officers for our chapter are:
Ronald Holle-President
Stephen Bieda-Vice-President
Dawn Fishler-Secretary
Pamela Elslager-Treasurer

Tom Evans, our former secretary, will serve as a corresponding secretary, handling communications with AMS.

Ronald Holle works for Vaisala, leader in lightning detection, located in Tucson. Stephen Bieda is a graduate student in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona and has volunteered his time to help with various forecasting projects. Dawn Fishler is in her final year as an undergraduate in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona and is a student intern at the Tucson NWS. Pamela Elslager is the meteorologist intern at the Tucson NWS and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Atmospheric Science in May of 2003. Tom Evans is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) with the Tucson NWS.

Our meeting next month will feature a talk by Erik Pytlak, Science and Operations Officer (SOO) with the Tucson NWS. He will be speaking about the North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME). Also taking place in our next meeting will be our annual photo contest. Members are encouraged to bring a couple of their favorite weather-related photographs.---Dawn Fishler.


SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA

The Southwest PA Chapter of the AMS at California University of Pennsylvania is starting the fall semester with many educational, fundraising, and social events:

Our annual snowfall competition is underway. A $1 donation purchases a chance to forecast the nearest date and time that the first 1" of snow will be measured at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Members are also selling candles for the holiday season. Both fundraisers benefit members by funding conference trips (AMS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA), and will also support the newly created Meteorology Club Scholarship.

The chapter hosted booths at California University's Academic Excellence Day and Organizational Fair in September, providing the entire campus an opportunity to learn about our outreach activities and opportunities for students. Meanwhile, students have begun forecasting for the National Collegiate Forecasting Competition, as well as for Red Bull's "Project Swell." Students who had internships at professional organizations/institutions during the summer of 2004, will be presenting a summary of their experiences at each meeting this fall, including information for underclassmen on how to secure such an experience for themselves. Janice Bytheway is the first presenter of the Academic year and will be speaking about her experiences with CASA (Norman, OK) in an REU Internship.

To acquaint all the new student members with everyone early this academic year, the Earth Sciences Department at California University held its annual picnic on September 12th, and the chapter also attended a Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball game on September 25th. Plans are underway to attend the IMAX show entitled "Forces of Nature" at the Carnegie Science Center also located in Pittsburgh, PA. Members are encouraged to attend and invite K-12 students so as to promote Science education.

The SWPA chapter meets bi-weekly on Thursdays at 11 AM on the campus of California University of Pennsylvania in the Eberly Science & Technology Center.---Chad Kauffman.


TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Minutes from the Tuesday, September 7, 2004 meeting at Texas A&M Universtiy.

This meeting was the first meeting of the semester.

The meeting was opened by President Zachary Glenn. The members, freshmen, and new attendees were welcomed to the meeting. Zachary then introduced the rest of the 2004-2005 TAMSCAMS officers.

Vice-President Justin Horne spoke about Texas Adopt-A-Beach which we will be attending September 18th. Also, other travel events were discussed.

Secretary Roger Gass informed the members about what went on at the summer meeting. Also, everyone was encouraged to take a look at the newly reformed web site (http://www.met.tamu.edu/TAMSCAMS/ ).

Treasurer Brady Taylor gave his secretary report and informed everyone that club shirts and car stickers were still for sale.

Social Chair Keri Turner talked about the return of Friday night spikes at the Texas A&M REC center. Other intramural events were talked about along with other social events planed for later in the semester.

TAMMSSDA coordinators Shane Motley and Jennifer Salato talked about how the club would run this year. They then played a DVD to the audience showing past chase operations and footage of Hurricane Frances.

Graduate Student James Tobin spoke about the National Forecasting contest. Michael Baur then spoke about Ham Radio meetings and training for those interested.

Zachary also spoke about how to become a student AMS member and talked about the benefits of doing so.

The meeting was ended with a scavenger hunt to help the freshmen become familiarized with the A&M campus. After the scavenger hunt, members returned for refreshments and snacks. Membership dues were also collected.---Roger Gass.


TWIN CITIES

The Twin Cities AMS chapter's first meeting of the 2004-05 year was held on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, at the Twin Cities Weather Forecast Office in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The new officers were introduced:

After the other attending members briefly introduced themselves, a discussion ensued about increasing membership in the chapter. A number of ideas were expressed, such as staffing booths at local festivals; passing material out at the state fair, county fairs, and renaissance fairs; and by looking at other clubs and groups which have an interest in weather, such as boaters and pilots. A suggestion of forming a membership committee was endorsed. This committee would be composed of four to six members and would be charged with increasing the membership in the chapter and improving the chapter's web site. An announcement will be made in the October newsletter.

The bulk of the meeting was a presentation by Bill Togstad, a lead forecaster at the Chanhassen (Twin Cities) Weather Forecast Office. His talk, "An Examination of Severe Thunderstorm Discrimination Skills from Traditional Doppler Radar Parameters and Near Storm Environment (NSE) Factors at Large Radar Range," was an expanded version of his presentation he will give at the 2004 Severe Local Storms conference.

After a number of post-mortems on F2 and greater tornado events were conducted at the WFO, Bill became convinced that adding a correct assessment of the near-storm environment with Doppler radar information would substantially assist the NWS's tornado warning program. Bill provided NSE training to each meteorologist at the WFO during the spring of 2003, spent a week at the Storm Prediction Center as a visiting scientist in the summer of 2003, then collaborated with a couple of SPC forecasters on the research presented at the meeting.

The next meeting of the local chapter of the Twin Cities AMS will be held on October 19, 2004, at the Meteorology Department at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.---Chris Bovitz.


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Our first meeting of the year was Thursday, September 23, 2004.

We kicked off the year with officer elections and a discussion of how to get more people involved and our hopes for the club this year.

Officers elected for the 2004-2005 school year:

President: Darin Brunin
Vice President: Alex Perkins
Secretary: Ashley Van Asdale
Treasurer: Amanda Wisdom
Social Chairs: Stewart Manning & Morgan Huff

Our next meeting is scheduled tenatively for October 7, 2004.---Ashley Van Asdale.


UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 2, 2004
3:45 P.M. WBB 802

*Introduction of officers
-Maura Hahnenberger -- President
-Greg West -- Vice President
-Scott Sellars -- Treasurer
-Alan Moller -- Secretary

*The Vice President position became vacant over the summer as Katie Burtis changed schools. A unanimous vote was made for Greg West to become Vice President.

*ASUU bugdet and club funds discussed.

*Dues are again $5/member for the 2004-2005 academic year.

*The Campus Forecast was explained and those in attendence were encouraged to participate. A sign-up/availability sheet was passed around.

*Our Educational Outreach program was explained and a volunteer was solicited for help in leading the program.

*Volunteers were also solicited to help in this year's photo contest. Proceeds go to the American Red Cross. Last year raised over $400.

*Members asked to think of ideas for this year's T-shirt design -- to be discussed at our next meeting.

*Other upcomming activities/events were announced:
-Department Picnic, Friday Sept. 10, 6 P.M. @ Canyon Rim Park
-Solitude Frisbee Golf social, Saturday Oct. 2
-The 1st snowfall contest explained ($1 for one guess, $3 for four)
-Next Meeting -- Tuesday Oct. 5

*Students encouraged to join the National AMS

*Suggestions were taken for other activities which included bowling, ultimate frisbee, hiking, volleyball, and ice skating.

*The meeting was adjourned and we took a group photo from the roof of WBB.---Maura Hahnenberger.


 



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