AMS UPDATE
(Updated 2 September 2004)

What's New in the Atmospheric and Related Sciences

Archives of the AMS Newsletter

Observatory to Host Cloudscapes First Day of Issue Ceremony

The non-profit Blue Hill Observatory, a National Historic Landmark founded in 1885, is pleased to announce that the United States Postal Service will issue the Cloudscapes stamp series at the Observatory on October 4, 2004. On that day, the 15 stamp series featuring clouds categorized by altitude as well as a depiction of a tornado will only be available at the Observatory, and several special First Day covers featuring the cloud stamps, educational art work, and the First Day of Issue cancellation will be sold that day as well. A large public event, tentatively set for 10 AM to 4 PM with the actual release at 1 PM, will be held under a tent at the summit featuring officials from the USPS, the Observatory, The Weather Channel, the National Weather Service, the American Meteorological Society, as well as stamp collectors. The event is free and open to the public. Since the Cloudscapes stamp series will be the featured stamp for October, which is stamp collecting month, we anticipate a number of school groups will attend as well. A program for schoolroom use is also being developed jointly by the Observatory and The Weather Channel. Our plan is that school children can send in their own covers for a First Day cancellation on that date. (School groups can call the Observatory, if there is interest in attending the ceremony, or in sending or buying First Day Covers). For further details please see the complete press release at http://www.bluehill.org/press.html.

U.S. Climate Change Science Program Releases "Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005"

Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, a report released in late August by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) highlights recent research accomplishments and plans for future research necessary to manage the risks and opportunities of changes in climate and related environmental systems.

According to Dr. James R. Mahoney, assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and CCSP director, "The report documents our continued commitment to providing the public and decision makers with the best possible scientific information to address climate variability and change, and related aspects of global change. It includes highlights of research on climate and global change, such as aerosols, temperature trends, and land cover changes. This research will help decision makers and managers in the United States and other countries evaluate and respond to climate change."

The report includes highlights of recent research conducted or sponsored by the thirteen Federal agencies that participate in the CCSP, as well as research plans for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. This research is organized in seven primary scientific areas, including atmospheric composition, climate variability and change, the global water cycle, land use/land-cover change, global carbon cycle, ecosystems, and human contributions and responses.

The report also describes numerous activities to promote cooperation between the U.S. scientific community and its counterparts worldwide, such as the July 2003 Earth Observation Summit, hosted in Washington, DC, by the U.S. secretaries of Commerce, Energy, and State. The report also contains descriptions of principal areas of focus and program highlights for each of the CCSP participating agencies and a detailed set of CCSP budget tables. In addition, it outlines how the CCSP is moving forward to implement the Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which was released in July 2003.

About CCSP: The CCSP incorporates the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), established under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, and the Climate Change Research Initiative, established by the President in 2001. The CCSP coordinates and integrates scientific research on climate and global change supported by 13 participating departments and agencies of the U.S. government in collaboration with relevant elements of the Executive Office of the President.

Our Changing Planet. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005.  A Report by the Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research.  Hardcopy versions of the report can be ordered online at www.gcrio.org/orders. A Supplement to the President's Budgets for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 is available online at: www.climatescience.gov and www.usgcrp.gov. For more information contact: Kent Laborde, NOAA Public Affairs, (202) 482-6090

Satellite Helps Save 54 Lives

NOAA satellites, capturing distress signals from land, sea and air, were key in saving 54 lives in 27 potentially deadly situations throughout the United States from April to June 2004. For the year, NOAA satellites have helped rescue114 lives. By comparison, this time last year, 94 saves were recorded. NOAA officials commended outdoor enthusiasts for their growing use of high-tech 406-megahertz emergency beacons used on airplanes, boats and carried around by hikers and campers on land. The beacon technology is part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System, known as
COSPAS-SARSAT.

In one dramatic rescue on June 13, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew hoisted a man to safety from a life raft, after his boat burned and sank near Portsmouth, Virginia. NOAA satellites picked up the distress signal from the boat’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and relayed the signal to a Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center, which contacted the nearest Coast Guard unit to make the save.

The SARSAT system uses NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites to detect and located EPIRBS (used on boats and ships), Emergency Locator Transmitters (carried aboard aircraft) and Personal Locator Beacons (hand carried), designed for hikers and campers. Once the satellites receive a distress signal, it is relayed to the U.S. Mission Control Center, which NOAA operates in Suitland, Md. After pinpointing the location of the distress, information is routed to RCCs operated by the Coast Guard and U.S. Air Force. For more details please visit http://www.sarsat.noaa.gov.

Scientists' Showdown With Soil Moisture At The O.K. Corral

Tombstone, Ariz., is a dusty place known for Wyatt Earp's famous 1881 "Shootout at the O.K. Corral." This year, from August 2 to 27, it will be known as the place where scientists from NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other institutions gather and study soil moisture to improve weather forecasts and the ability to interpret satellite data.

By identifying how much moisture is retained in soils, hydrologists will be able to determine how much more water can be absorbed, and thus better estimate the potential for flooding or how much water sinks into the water table. During July and August, the U.S. Southwestern monsoon season is characterized by a wind pattern shift that exerts a strong influence on precipitation and temperatures across the Western United States, Mexico and adjacent ocean areas. This change in winds over the region creates many rainy days and heavy rainfall, which are ideal conditions for studying soil moisture.

The study, called the Soil Moisture Experiment 2004, or SMEX04, will use ground teams, airplanes and NASA satellites and instruments to measure soil moisture in Tombstone, Ariz., and Sonora, Mexico, where water supplies are critical.

Researchers from NASA, USDA, NOAA, Sonora Research Institute and more than a dozen universities will be on the ground and in the air with advanced technology to get a better read on soil moisture. SMEX scientists also want to know what atmospheric conditions create long-lasting rainfalls over a large area. By knowing which factors create large or small rainfall, hydrologists can provide better forecasts and know how much water will be available to people.

For more information about the SMEX Experiment on the Internet, visit: http://hydrolab.arsusda.gov/smex04/

Grants Awarded to Study Global Carbon Cycling

NASA, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy, recently awarded 59 research grants to study changes in the distribution and cycling of carbon among land, ocean, and atmospheric reservoirs, with emphasis on North America. These new research activities are funded as part of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP).

The global carbon cycle affects Earth's climate. Of special interest are factors that control changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, as well as the effectiveness of carbon management meant to mitigate increases in these greenhouse gases. Within the CCSP, the North American Carbon Program (NACP) focuses on continental carbon dynamics of special U.S. interest. NACP investigators are endeavoring to close the carbon budget with respect to sources, sinks, and observed changes in atmospheric carbon over North America and adjacent oceans.

While emphasizing North America, the selected projects will also model and analyze the global carbon cycle and its control of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane. Regionally focused projects will work to reduce major uncertainties about carbon cycle dynamics outside of North America where NASA's unique observations provide data about remote areas of the Earth.

The 59 proposals selected will receive approximately $14 million a year over a three-year period. The grants will go to researchers at universities, government laboratories, and other organizations that will investigate virtually every aspect of the contemporary carbon cycle. NASA received 301 proposals in response to the research announcement of April 2004.

For a complete listing of the research projects selected and their principal investigators on the Internet, visit: http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_y/nra/current/NRA-04-OES-01/winners.html For information about the CCSP on the Internet, visit: http://www.climatescience.gov/

People Happenings

Crawford to Lead National Weather Service COOP Modernization Program AMS Fellow Ken Crawford has been selected to lead the National Weather Service’s COOP Modernization program within a national integrated surface observing system concept. Crawford, an internationally recognized expert in surface observing systems, returns to NWS and its Office of Science and Technology as program director of integrated surface observing systems. In his new position, Crawford will lead the development and implementation of a strategy to improve the national NWS observing system to support climate, hydrology and weather analysis and forecasting. Crawford also will help develop and implement concepts for a national mesonet and cooperative observing systems by focusing on improving and creating partnerships between NOAA and public/private weather observing systems. Crawford, a member of the faculty at the University of Oklahoma since 1989, has served as Regent's Professor of Meteorology, and is Director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey and the State Climatologist for Oklahoma. During his tenure with the university he led the development of the Oklahoma Mesonet, an automated network of 116 remote observing sites and a joint program with Oklahoma State University. Crawford had a 30-year career with the National Weather Service before moving to academia. He last served as area manager for Oklahoma, and was a lead forecaster at the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Fort Worth, Texas, and a deputy area manager at the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Slidell, La. Crawford was a member of the National Research Council National Weather Service Modernization Committee that studied and reported on the Future of the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Network. Crawford is a past-president of the National Weather Association, and is president-elect of the American Association of State Climatologists. His honors include a Commerce Silver Medal and the AMS Cleveland Abbe Award.		Paul Chan Named NWS Chief Information Officer Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, National Weather Service director, announced July 9 that Dr. Paul Chan has been selected chief information officer for National Weather Service. Chan previously served as the chief information officer for the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also has extensive private industry experience that includes serving as vice president, business development, for Science Systems and Applications, Inc, and director of the Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center, a NASA science data center. Chan holds a master of business administration degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a masters in computer science from John Hopkins University. In addition, Chan holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Missouri, and an MA in geophysical fluid dynamics from Princeton University. He currently serves as an adjunct associate professor of the MBA Program at the University of Maryland, University College. AMS Member Melissa Barrington Honored by Northern Illinois University The Northern Illinois University Alumni Association named Melissa Barrington, an on-air meteorologist at the Weather Channel and AMS sealholder, a recipient of its Outstanding Alumni Award for 2004. Barrington received the Outstanding Alumni Award in recognition of her exceptional professional and personal accomplishments within 10 years of earning her undergraduate degree from NIU. Barrington honed her on-camera meteorology skills delivering nightly weather forecasts to the NIU community via the student-run TV-8 newscast. Less than ten years after earning a meteorology degree in 1993, Barrington landed her dream job as an on-camera meteorologist with The Weather Channel. In May 2001, Barrington received the Americas' Award for Best Weather Presentation in North and South America at the 11th annual International Weather Festival. She also holds the National Weather Association's Seal of Approval. In addition, she volunteers in local classrooms teaching the weather to children.