Atmospheric News
NOAA'S Jack Hayes Wins Presidential Rank Award
Jack Hayes, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean and Coastal Zone Management for the National Ocean Service has received the Presidential Rank Award for his exceptional contributions to improving weather systems.
Hayes was cited for his work during his tenure as director of the Office of Science and Technology at NOAA's National Weather Service. Among numerous other accomplishments, under his leadership he improved every important aspect of the Weather Service forecast and warning operations. His decision to select a non-standard operating system improved tornado detection, warning performance parameters and system performance capabilities, potentially saving lives and generating annual savings of billions of dollars in resource protection.
The Presidential Rank Award is a prestigious award given to a select group of senior federal executives who have provided exceptional service to the American people.
"NOAA is proud to have Jack recognized for his outstanding work," said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "This award is a fitting recognition of the impact of Jack's work and exemplifies NOAA's commitment to serving the nation's weather needs."
In his current position with the Ocean Service, Hayes is responsible for the execution of program missions in operational oceanography and marine area management. These ocean programs represent a diversity ranging from physical oceanography and the measurement of tides and water levels, hydrographic surveying, geodesy, and coastal and ocean management through marine protected areas, National Marine Sanctuaries, and the management of the nation's coastal zone.
"Jack is most deserving of this award for his work with the National Weather Service," said Assistant Administrator of the National Ocean Service, Richard W. Spinrad, Ph.D. "We are fortunate to have someone with his skills and experience join our team. He brings a wealth of scientific and institutional knowledge to the National Ocean Service."
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through research to better understand atmospheric and climate variability and to manage wisely our nation's coastal and marine resources
On the Web: NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov
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Monitoring the Wind on the Bering Sea
Imagine a place where you can get 12 – 18 inches of ice build-up in a mere 12 hours. Where the tram tower that takes you to the top of a hill is encased in 5 feet of ice — and where it’s very likely you will have to chip and hack your way past each 55-foot high tower location because ice is blocking the trams way.
That is where AMS Corporate and Institutional Member Coastal Environmental Systems has placed a unique wind monitoring system to provide accurate wind readings so operates can decide if the tram to service the monitoring station should venture up for service.
For more details see http://www.coastalenvironmental.com/newtext.html
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NCAR Selects IBM Supercomputer
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), in collaboration with the University of Colorado , has acquired an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer to simulate ocean, weather, and climate phenomena that impact agricultural output, heating oil prices and global warming.
The IBM eServer, Blue Gene, has a peak performance of 5.7 teraflops (TF), with a single full rack system. With a footprint of less than one square meter, the system delivers more than ten times the performance of other supercomputers now on the market while occupying less floor space. The National Science Foundation, NCAR's primary sponsor, provided funding for the purchase of 1024 Blue Gene compute nodes.
NCAR's Blue Gene system will accelerate fundamental research in global climate change, weather prediction, wildfires, geoturbulence and other critical areas.
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Dennis McCarthy to Lead NWS Office of Climate, Water and Weather
Dennis McCarthy, a NOAA National Weather Service veteran with a career spanning 30 years, has been appointed director of the Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services. McCarthy will oversee the office’s mission to sustain and enhance the climate, water, and weather services of the National Weather Service; to establish operational requirements; to evaluate customer satisfaction; and to train the workforce.
McCarthy joined NOAA’s National Weather Service in 1974 as a meteorologist intern and later served as a journeyman forecaster at the Weather Forecast Office in Portland , Maine . Advancing through several positions in the 1970s and 1980s, he became meteorologist-in-charge of the Weather Forecast Office in Norman , Okla. , in 1990, and director of the National Weather Service Central Region in 2000. In January 2005, McCarthy became acting director of this the NWS office of Climate, Water, and Weather.
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NASA Study Finds Snow Melt Causes Large Ocean Plant Blooms
A NASA-funded study has found a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea.
The decrease in snow cover has led to greater differences in both temperature and pressure systems between the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Sea. The pressure differences generate monsoon winds that mix the ocean water in the Western Arabian Sea. This mixing leads to better growing conditions for tiny, free-floating ocean plants called phytoplankton.
Lead author of the study is Joaquim Goes, a senior researcher at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Goes and colleagues used satellite observations of ocean color to show phytoplankton concentrations in the Western Arabian Sea have increased by more than 350 percent over the past seven years. The study is published in the April 18, 2005 issue of Science magazine.
For more information about this research on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.html
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More Buoys Added to Monitor Indian Ocean
The system of moored buoys in the Pacific that has helped predict El Niño is being expanded into the Indian Ocean to help improve the understanding of the climate system in that region. Scientists from NOAA are working with international climate scientists to develop a plan for such a system.
Five buoys have been deployed through funding by NOAA’s Office of Climate Observation in cooperation with the Indian National Institute of Oceanography and Department of Ocean Development. Another NOAA buoy is slated to be deployed in November. Three additional buoys were deployed by the Japan Agency for Marine–Earth Science and Technology Agency. It’s expected that seven will be deployed by 2007. Additional buoys will be guided by international plans and future budgets. Plans envision a total of 39 when the array is completed.
For details see: Office of Climate Observation: http://www.oco.noaa.gov; Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov
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New Polar Orbiting Satellite Set to Launch
A new NOAA polar-orbiting environmental satellite is set to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 11, 2005 at 3:22 a.m. (PDT). The satellite is part of the global monitoring system being to improve weather and climate forecasts and U.S. search and rescue operations.
When launched, NOAA-N will replace NOAA-16, in operation since September 2000, and join NOAA-17, launched in June 2002. Once in orbit, NOAA-N will be renamed NOAA-18. NOAA maintains a constellation of two primary polar-orbiting satellites at any time. The global data from these satellites are used extensively in NOAA’s weather and climate prediction numerical models. As it orbits the globe, capturing valuable environmental data, NOAA-N will help drive NOAA’s long-range climate and seasonal outlooks, including forecasts for El Niño and La Niña.
NOAA-N will also be vital in the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System, called COSPAS-SARSAT. Since SARSAT was established in 1982, NOAA polar-orbiting satellites – with their speedy detection and relay of distress signals from emergency beacons – have helped rescue nearly 5,000 people in the United States , and more than 18,000 worldwide.
On the Web: NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov; NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service: http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov
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AMS Fellow Receives Presidential Rank Award
Dusan Zrnic, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior scientist working at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman , Okla. , and AMS Fellow has received the Presidential Rank Award for exceptional long-term accomplishments.
Zrnic has made pioneering advancements in weather radar science in general, and his work has contributed substantially to recognition of radar signatures of hazardous weather phenomena such as tornadoes, mesocyclones and fronts. This ability has helped forecasters save property and lives through improved warnings and forecasts of impending hazards such as tornadoes, high winds and hail. He contributed to early understanding of tornado wind speeds and, recently, in the measurements of precipitation with polarimetric radars. These measurements offer promise for greatly improved forecasts of precipitation type and amount.
The Presidential Rank Award is a prestigious award given to a select group of senior federal executives who have provided exceptional service to the American people over an extended period of time. Executives who have demonstrated strength, integrity, industry and commitment to public trust are nominated for the award by the head of their agency. A panel of private citizens evaluates the candidates, selecting only those who through their personal conduct and results-oriented leadership qualify for referral to the president who makes the final designation.
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Satellites Monitor African Drought
NOAA satellites have detected areas of stifling drought conditions in parts of Kenya , Ethiopia and Somalia for the sixth year in a row. These conditions leave the region with threats of starvation, water shortages, widespread crop losses and disease outbreaks, according to researchers at NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.
The 2005 drought gripped the region, known as the Horn of Africa, in January and continues to impact areas of eastern Kenya , southeastern Ethiopia and northern and central Somalia . At stake now is the minor agricultural season, which runs from March through May, and normally provides enough food to sustain the population through the fall when the next harvest becomes available.
NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) helped researchers track the ongoing drought conditions. POES constantly circle the Earth in orbits that provide two views each day of the entire planet. One of the satellites’ instruments, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sensor (AVHRR), measures the amount of solar reflection from green vegetation based on chlorophyll content. (Chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants, transforms energy from sunlight into chemical energy.) The more solar energy plants absorb means less energy reflected back into space.
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Grant to Help Improve Severe Storm Data Collection
A project to improve the information used by forecasters at the NOAA Storm Prediction Center in Norman , Okla. , has been awarded a 2005 Pioneer Fund Grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The $42,000 project will test the use of the Warning Decision Support System-Integrated Information (WDSS-II), a state-of-the-art radar analysis software tool, to stitch together real-time, high-resolution weather radar data from across the country into a digital mosaic. This new mosaic and software display system will add significant value to the data severe weather forecasters use on a daily basis to develop accurate storm predictions for the United States .
WDSS-II was developed by researchers at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies at the University of Oklahoma .
Commerce’s Pioneer Fund provides investment capital for creative projects that turn a relatively small investment of money into noteworthy, cost-effective improvements in quality and productivity.
NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center : http://www.spc.noaa.gov
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Rate of CO2 Increase Returns to Average
A spike in the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere between 2001 and 2003 appears to be a temporary phenomenon and apparently does not indicate a quickening build-up of the gas in the atmosphere, according to an analysis by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate experts.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere by the burning of wood, coal, oil and gas. Increases in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere are of special interest to scientists because carbon dioxide is a significant heat-trapping greenhouse gas.
As measured in air samples collected from over 60 sites in NOAA’s Global Cooperative Observing Network, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increased by nearly 5 parts per million (ppm) between 2001 and 2003. The increase in 2002 was 2.43 ppm; the increase in 2003 was 2.30 ppm. In other words, more than two additional carbon-dioxide molecules were added to each million molecules of air each year during that period. The annual increase was higher than the long-term average annual CO2 increase of approximately 1.5 ppm.
But, according to David Hofmann, director of NOAA’s Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) in Boulder , Colo. , the rate of carbon-dioxide increase returned to the long-term average level of about 1.5 ppm per year in 2004, indicating that the temporary fluctuation was probably due to changes in the natural processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
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