PAMS Meeting on May 1, 2003
at 5pm
The meeting was held at the Department of
Natural Resources Office on Devine Street in Columbia. It featured
presentations by Shayna Brisacher and Kellie Harper, students in the Department
of Physics and Astronomy at the College of Charleston. They discussed their
senior projects that were completed recently in association with Dr. Lee Lindner
at College of Charleston.
First, Shayna spoke on "A New Twist on Teaching Teachers:
Helping Broadcasters Convey the Physics behind Hurricane Warnings." The project
involved an investigation of the educational and professional certification
levels of broadcasters in markets in "hurricane territory" along the U.S. Gulf
and East Coasts. Then, guidelines were proposed for broadcasting that would
facilitate communication of different levels of technical information to the
public based on several factors: the goal of presentation, the audience and time
allowance.
Next, Kellie Harper presented "Site Specific Storm Surge
Model." Aiming to help the public better understand hurricane storm surge, she
developed a model that could predict storm surge at several locations in the
Charleston vicinity and investigated the use of graphics to display the
results. Her model results compared favorably with those produced by the SLOSH
(Sea, Land, Ocean and Overland Surges from Hurricanes) computer model.
PAMS would like to thank Shayna and Kellie for
their very interesting presentations, and for driving all the way from
Charleston!
Mini-Technical
Conference on March 21, 2003
The Palmetto chapter of the American
Meteorological Society held the 9th Annual Mini-Technical Conference at the
Department of Health and Environmental Control in Columbia, South Carolina on
Friday, March 21, 2003. The purpose of the conference is to share knowledge
gained in the area of meteorology and climatology through our work activities in
South Carolina. Outgoing chapter president Andy Million opened the conference
with some remarks, thanking everyone for attending the annual event. In all,
there were contributions from the South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control (Bureau of Air Quality), the National Weather Service in
Columbia, the Savannah River Technology Center, the University of South Carolina
(Department of Geography), and the College of Charleston (Department of Physics
and Astronomy). Approximately 15 to 20 people attended the conference.
Topics covered in the conference abstracts for
the first session, which was chaired by Andy Million, included ensemble
atmospheric modeling in Europe, South Carolina historical climatology dating
back to the late 1730s, and wind climate analyses at a multi-level tower at the
Savannah River Site in southwest South Carolina. In the second session, which
was chaired by Paul Martin, papers focused on advanced atmospheric transport
modeling for emergency response, a review of air quality compliance and
forecasting in South Carolina for 2002, and a photochemical modeling project
being developed in conjunction with ozone modeling at South Carolina's DHEC.
There were also papers submitted on storm surge modeling in Charleston,
guidelines for providing hurricane warning information to the public, and severe
weather climatology for the past 50 years in the midlands of South Carolina and
the central Savannah River area of Georgia. Unfortunately, these speakers were
unable to attend.