FROM: Lisa Reed, Secretary Anchorage Chapter

SUBJECT: Minutes, Anchorage AMS Chapter Meeting,
                    February 1st, 2007          

Call Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order by Jim Peronto, President, at 11:15 a.m. The meeting was held at the Anchorage National Weather Service Forecast Office. 

• Introductions around the room.
• Last meeting's minutes were approved

Treasurer’s Report:  $1958.10

Old/New Business:
Jim Green AMS Calendars?

• Still asking for interest and what pictures to include

Donations

• Jackie Purcell brought a huge box full of donations for our Chapter. Great stuff including a spa package!  Thanks Jackie. 

Earth Day…May 5th, 2007

• The National Weather Service (NWS) is hosting the Earth Day event at Kincaid Park.  NWS has rented the park space, then will charge other organizations a fee to participate.  Any extra $$ earned will be donated to the Anchorage AMS Local Chapter for scholarship money. 
• Volunteers will be needed to work the booth, to show presentations, and to conduct experiments and other demonstrations. Scott Elnes and Dave Vonderheide showed interest.

Scholarships

• Local/Minority National scholarship. 
• Kristine sent a "heads up" e-mail sent to OICs asking for their help to take scholarship form and information to schools, local business, etc. – have yet to hear anything back
• Had one person respond with interest in the scholarship to the ADN ad, however she was into healthcare, not sciences
• Jim Peronto has announced the scholarship opportunity on Alaska Weather about 10 times, no response
• New Ideas for getting info out:
• Approach mentored students (through Carven Scott)
• RFC could hand out fliers during their Breakup visits to villages around the state
• Let Science Fair contestants (Juniors and younger) know for next year
• If we’re too late this year, at least we can set the stage for next year 

AMS National Meeting:

• Anchorage Chapter was the only chapter to have handouts at the Local Chapter Booth (windchill charts with our logo on the back) – a HUGE hit.
• Chapter poster highly rated, but need to make a new one for the next year, volunteers?

Forecast Contest Winner!

• Louise Fode was the winner of the “Winter high temperature from Dec 1st through Jan 31st”.  The official temperature was 45°F on Dec 8 & 9, 2006.  Louise guessed 45°F on Dec 12.  For honorable mention, Robert Forgit guessed 45°F on Jan 10. Congratulations Louise!

Science Fair – Saturday, March 10 and 11, 2007

• Need volunteers to judge and to give awards, email Jim if interested

The Next Meeting will be held February 26th

• Charles Bell (LAS WFO) presenting his Mountain Wave paper.
• Held at the Anchorage Forecast Office again, 11am-1pm
• Had another interest in talk, but Charles was already booked, therefore will have an impromptu talk (non-official meeting), details to come soon
• Hurricane Hunter Flight Meteorologist John Gordon, perhaps Feb 16 or between 19-26

Photo Contest

• 18 photos were shown and judged.
  • ALL PHOTOS ARE PROPERTIES OF INDIVIDUAL PHOTOGRAPHERS LISTED HEREIN. DO NOT DUPLICATE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.
  • Click on the thumbnails for the original image

  1st place: Kristine Nelson “Double Rainbow over Valdez”



2nd place: Jim Peronto “Crystals on a Link”



3rd place: Craig Clayton “StratoCumulus with a Thermal”

Main Event:
            Fred Hirschmann, a professional photographer known for his amazing Alaskan Aurora snapshots, was our speaker for the meeting.  He spoke about how the internet has made “Aurora Chasing” much easier, being able to visit many websites to get as much information as possible.  Some of his favorite websites are NASA’s Space Weather, National Weather Service Space Environment Center, Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks prediction site, ACE real time solar wind data, and a Canadian independent site called Solar Terrestrial Dispatch.  He gave a couple of pointers to look for to have a good aurora visible night:

• Clear Skies (goes to the NWS sites in Alaska)
• X or M Class flares (from the NASA site)
• Direction of the Bz (Interplanetary Magnetic Field) needs to be SOUTH (NASA and Canadian sites)
• Short term aurora forecasts (Fairbanks, ACE, Canadian sites)
• Solar Wind speed needs to be higher than 400 km/s, density greater than 1 protons/cm^3 (NASA)

Some of the interesting facts on auroras he pointed out was that most auroras are green in color, due to the individual oxygen atoms being excited to one level of energy.  If the aurora is red, that means the atoms jumped 2 energy levels, denoting the higher intensity solar storms. When the aurora turns a purple/blue color, sunlight is hitting nitrogen atoms that occurs right before dawn or right after dusk.  Another interesting fact is that what aurora show is seen in the Northern Hemisphere is mirrored in the Southern Hemisphere at the corresponding geomagnetic latitudes, creating the Southern Lights.  He confirmed that Fall and Spring are the better times to see and photograph auroras, but the reason why is still being studied scientifically, but the Interplanetary Magnetic Field is more likely to be oriented south at this time due to the tilt of the earth. The atmosphere can have the same effect on auroras as it does on the sunset/rise light.  It bends the light with increasing depth of atmosphere it has to travel through, making the green light of the aurora turn to yellow or almost orange near the horizon.

In terms of camera equipment and “tricks of the trade”, he likes to stick with film rather than switching to digital.  He claims that digital chips will display colors different from camera to camera, he trusts film more.  He recommends an exposure of 16 seconds minimum up to 2 minutes maximum, depending on how bright the aurora is.  He also recommends using fast film (400 ASA), the lowest opening IFO and a wide-angle lens.  Using a cable release on a tripod will take away any movement provided by the photographer.  Moonlight can greatly enhance an aurora photograph, providing more light and allowing a shorter exposure.  Light pollution and urban haze can have a huge effect on photographing auroras, so he recommends getting out into the “bush”, away from any city.

An exciting note Fred pointed out was that sun spots have an 11-year cycle.  The last one was in 2001, resulting in 2007 being in a “trough” of sun spot activity.  However, scientists are noting that we are still seeing a lot of activity and hypothesize that the next sun spot maximum will be very large and extremely active.  We look forward to Fred’s shots in 2012!

Adjournment: