chapter news

Kansas City fast meeting. Robert L. Somrek, deputy meteorolo- The chapter met on 15 March 1995 for a dessert gist-in-charge, (NWS) Chi- meeting at Black and Veatch in Overland Park, Kan- cago, briefed attendees on a new Chicago Local sas. The speaker for the evening was Peter Levy, Climatological Summary, which covers the period president of Weather Metrics, a company that special- from 1830 to 1993. The new summary was published izes in environmental sensing systems. Levy's pre- by the Illinois State Water Survey and was prepared sentation was entitled "On-Site Weather Monitoring jointly by personnel from that state agency and NWS and Private Industry." Chicago. Levy explained that his background was in the golf Carl R. Knable, manager of meteorology for United industry. He saw the need for environmental sensing Airlines, was the guest speaker. Knable presented "A systems at golf courses and established his company Behind the Scenes Look at the Connection between to service those needs. Since start-up, the company Meteorologists, Dispatchers, and Pilots." He used a has been expanding into other industries, such as videotape to provide a visual tour of the United Airlines television and agriculture. Levy demonstrated the Operational Control Center, located at United Airlines capabilities of Weather Metrics' Windows-based soft- headquarters in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The video ware, which the company has made flexible enough to depicted how each of the departments in the opera- allow the incorporation of a variety of sensor data in a tions control center functions and how all departments form that best suits the user's needs. Weather Metrics interacted to maintain an around-the-clock worldwide not only sells the sensors and computer hardware and watch on all United Airlines flight activity. The video software, it also collects data from the sensors for demonstrated how problems encountered by three databasing purposes, which it also markets. specific flights and their crews were resolved through The membership asked numerous questions about the immediate response and interaction of operation the system's capabilities and about future plans forthe center personnel. This included the contacts that were company. As a thank-you for speaking, Chapter Presi- made between meteorological office personnel, dis- dent Dan McCarthy presented Levy with a Midland patchers, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Weather Radio, which was provided by member Sara individual captains of each flight. Croke's company Weather or Not. Afterthe video, Knable described the mission of the Old and new business was then discussed. Pat United Airlines Meteorological Office and how his unit Cooper, who is serving on the planning committee for supports the operations of the airline. His presentation the teachers' workshop that will be held in October, was followed by questions concerning many aspects reported that a survey had been mailed to area of United Airline activities. teachers to help decide on the workshop's agenda. The 7 March 1995 meeting was held at the Harold The committee hopes to have an agenda set by the E. White Center at Lewis University, Romeoville, first of May and will be looking for speakers as soon as Illinois. Reports were given by the chapter president the agenda is finalized. on the Chapter Officers' Handbook from AMS Head- Janice Bunting reported that the Weather Park at quarters and on the chapter's participation in judging the Kansas City Science Museum is now open and Chicago Public School science fair exhibits. Chapter needs volunteers to make brief presentations on Secretary William J. Johnson followed with his report, weather topics. and James Lebda, treasurer, concluded the business Concerning chapter officers for next year, McCarthy portion of the meeting with a summary of the chapter's said he had received one nomination per office and will financial status. announce the election results at the next meeting. The speaker was Walter A. Bohan, associate and —Pat Cooper. weather satellite expert from the Climatological Con- sulting Corporation of Asheville, North Carolina. The Chicago firm's speciality is forensic meteorology. Bohan is a The chapter's officers opened the 7 February 1995 Fellow of the AMS and is an AMS CCM. meeting by giving introductions, a membership direc- In his presentation, Bohan illustrated how satellite tory report, and the financial status report. imagery can be analyzed for forensic meteorological In addition, John P. Bradley gave a summary of the studies to delineate areas of weather that could pose events he attended at the 75th AMS Annual Meeting, a hazard to aircraft in flight. In his slide and video including his participation in the Local Chapters' break- displays of GOES (Geostationary Operational Envi-

794 Vol. 76, No. 5, May 1995

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC ronmental Satellite) visible and infrared satellite imag- Tennessee. Courtney explained that this stretch of ery, Bohan demonstrated how synoptic and mesos- road, just north of the Georgia border and near the cale circulation patterns could be identified. He placed Hiwassee River, has been the site of at least eight fatal particular emphasis on such salient features as frontal accidents since 1970. The biggest crashes occurred zones and areas in which develop. in 1978, 1979, and 1990. In 1978, 46 people were Bohan led the audience in a step-by-step simulated injured when 61 vehicles piled up in heavy fog; a year laboratory exercise showing how areas of potential later, 3 people were killed and 14 were hurt in a fog- severe turbulence aloft can be identified and how its induced 50-vehicle wreck. The worst of the accidents, location and time of occurrence can be ascertained. however, came near sunrise on 11 December 1990 Bohan also explained how he uses Mcldas (Man- when—within seven minutes—99 cars and trucks Computer Interactive Data Access System) at the smashed into one another, leaving 12 dead and 42 University of Wisconsin—Madison in his analyses of injured in one of the nation's worst traffic accidents. satellite imagery.—Ray Waldman. Courtney said that after the 1979 collision, a fore- warning system, which consisted of flashing beacons Metro Atlanta turned on by a state trooper, had been installed along Chapter members met on 7 February 1995 at the a stretch of I-75. The beacons were 12 miles apart, Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. and on the day of the 1990 accident, the trooper never Betsy Abrams gave a brief report on her attendance got to one of them. On top of that, some witnesses at the 75th AMS Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. reported a visibility of only five feet at the time of the Chapter President Don Farrington noted that the 1996 catastrophe. AMS Annual Meeting will be held in Atlanta. Courtney's study turned up a number of contribut- Pete Courtney, president of Courtney Consultants, ing factors to the severe fog problem in the area of the Inc., was the host for the evening. He spoke on crashes. Besides the Hiwassee River as a moisture research his firm had conducted on a serious—and source, there were several industrial cooling ponds— deadly—fog problem on a particular stretch of I-75 in belonging to Bowater, Inc.—lying adjacent to the river

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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 795

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC near the interstate. According to Courtney's study, Provide Hope, which was flown by C-5's and C-141 's one of the ponds had 21 aerators that shot sprays of belonging to the air force's Military Airlift Command water 20 ft high. Just to the west of I-75, a number of (now Air Mobility Command). shallow finger lakes lined the shores of the river, the According to Sieland, Provide Hope was flown result of the Tennessee Valley Authority carefully during January and February 1992 and required the controlling the level of the Hiwassee. aircraft to stage out of bases in Germany, Turkey, and The late autumn flow in the Hiwassee, the cooling Japan and to fly nonstop without air-to-air refueling to ponds, and the shallowfinger lakes all provided sources bases in the former Soviet Union. Once the aircraft of relatively warm water that were ideal for producing had passed their point of no return, they had to press dense steam fog under the right conditions. Courtney on to their destinations. The destinations (and alter- pointed out that on the day of the 1990 crash the nates) in some cases had no weather observations, or diurnal temperature range was 28°F to 70°F. Thus, only unreliable observations, available. there would have been a morning inversion with a Sieland said that the AFGWC forecasters furnished significant difference between the air temperature and Provide Hope with 72-h synoptic discussions, 24-h water temperatures. Infrared satellite imagery indi- terminal forecasts, and 24-48-h station outlooks. Com- cated that the surface of the H iwassee was about 55° F puterized flight plans were also provided by AFGWC. on 11 December. In all, 26 terminals were forecast for, with each having Courtney said that the other factors contributing to to be constantly evaluated for 18 forecast amendment the severely reduced visibility that morning were the criteria. Despite that formidable challenge, less than abundance of condensation nuclei provided by ve- 1 % of the forecasts had to be amended. Of 69 launch hicular emissions and the angle of the rising sun opportunities, only 4 were delayed because of fore- striking the fog bank. (Industrial emissions were not a cast weather, and each of those forecasts verified. factor, since the stacks of the Bowater plant were Overall, operational verification was 100%. Sieland above the inversion.) mentioned that in March 1992 he and the AFGWC Although fingers of blame initially pointed to the received a congratulatory message from Gen. Colin Bowater paper mill and its cooling ponds as the Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Provide primary culprits of the "super fog" that blanketed the Hope was an important initial step in forging friendly area that December morning, Courtney said in sum- ties between the "new" Russia and the United States. mary there were many contributing factors: the cool- —Buzz Bernard. ing ponds—according to computer models—probably contributed to only about 40% of the density of the fog. Northeast Ohio Since the 1990 accident, the largest of the cooling A meeting was held at the NWSFO in Cleveland, ponds has been paved over, and the state of Tennes- Ohio, on 21 January 1995. The guest speaker was see has installed a $7 million fog warning system. Heather Gallacher, geologist/instructor at Cuyohoga Courtney mentioned that the system automatically Community College and Cleveland State University. measures relative humidity where I-75 crosses the Her presentation was on groundwater contamina- Hiwassee and lights up warning signs to motorists, tion—especially contamination of aquifers—and on indicating what speed they should be traveling: 65,45, how environmental hazards affect the ecosystem. 25, or 15 mph. At the 15-mph threshold, traffic is AfterGallacher's presentation, atourof the NWSFO vectored off the interstate onto alternate routes. Any was conducted by Matt Higgins. vehicles exceeding the fog-warning speed limits are Tom Schmidlin was the guest speaker at the 22 automatically photographed and issued a citation. March 1995 chapter meeting, held at Kent State Courtney said that all lawsuits surrounding the University. Schmidlin's presentation was entitled "Win- 1990 tragedy were ultimately settled out of court. ter at the Arctic Tree Line."— Matt Higgins. These lawsuits involved Bowater, Inc., the state of Tennessee, and various trucking companies. Memphis The 9 March 1995 meeting was held at the offices The third meeting of the season was held on 10 of Dames & Moore, Inc. Col. Tom Sieland, U.S. Air January 1995 at the studios of WMC Channel 5. Force (ret.), gave a presentation and a slide show on Chapter officers discussed the poster that the chapter Project Provide Hope. Sieland said that Provide Hope prepared forthe 75th AMS Annual Meeting. The most was the 1992 humanitarian airlift of medical supplies significant weather events to occur in the mid-South and food into the former Soviet Union shortly after its region during 1994—the February ice storm and the collapse. Sieland was commander of the Air Force Germantown —were featured in the poster. Global Weather Central (AFGWC) at the time. The Chapter Chairperson Bob McClain introduced the AFGWC was tasked with providing weather support to host for the evening, Dave Brown. Brown is the

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC director of Weather Services at WMC. He showed Mintz mentioned that the rising cost of newsprint and chapter members the vast array of radar and meteo- other economic factors have resulted in a reduction in rological displays used to depict current weather con- the space allocated to the weather map and forecasts. ditions in the Channel 5 viewing area. The newest Several attendees at the meeting questioned equipment is an Enterprise Doppler radar that shows whether or not newspapers, and specif\ca\\y Newsday, storm intensity, velocity, and turbulence. This new had the obligation to report the statistics associated technology is used to accurately pinpoint potentially with large storms, extreme temperatures, and other hazardous echoes. By using a projec- noteworthy weather events for a historical archive. tion of the current storm location, Channel 5 is able to The current philosophy at the paper regards reporting provide viewers in the path of hazardous weather an the potential threat of hurricanes, northeasters, and accurate representation of the arrival time of the storm other for its local area more important in their area of concern. Severe storm circulations than reporting the statistics associated with the actual associated with the 9 June and 27 November 1994 event—if it does not result in a major economic tornadoes were clearly identifiable on this radar. disruption. McClain also discussed the other meteorological Mintz discussed that the lead time required to equipment at the station: a lightning display, graphics report on the threat of impending severe weather at display, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administra- tion (NOAA) weather wire, and Insta Alert display. He explained that the lightning display shows current and previous cloud-to-ground lightning strikes from the National Lightning Detection Network. It has proven 25 years ago quite useful in determining storm intensity and move- ment. The graphics display is used to overlay all of the The 50th Anniversary Medal (1919-1969) was weather data onto one common display, while the presented to the following members of the American NOAA weather wire is used to archive meteorological Meteorological Society, who are also members of the information such as public forecasts and hourly condi- National Academy of Sciences or the National Acad- tions for all U.S. reporting stations. The final display, emy of Engineering: Insta Alert, is used to quickly disseminate severe thunderstorm/tornado watches and warnings to the Abbot, Charles Greeley viewing public. These alerts are automatically entered Bjerknes, Jacob into the system for immediate transmission. The flash Book, Henry George flood warnings have to be manually entered in order to Byers, Horace Robert be disseminated. Chapman, Sydney The meeting concluded with an informal tour of the Charney, Jule Gregory entire Channel 5 studio.—Mark A. Isaminger. Gordon, William Edwin Haurwitz, Bernhard New York City/Long Island Kaplan, Joseph The 27 February 1995 meeting was cosponsored Kolmogorov, Andrej N. by the Long Island Weather Observers. The meeting Landsberg, Helmut Erich was held at Nassau Community College. The guest MacDonald, Gordon James Fraser speaker was Phil Mintz, reporter from Newsday's Malone, Thomas Francis Melville, Long Island, office. Mintz's presentation was Munk, Walter Heinrich entitled, "Reporting the Weather: A Journalist's Per- Reichelderfer, Francis Wilton spective." Mintz explained that as a staff reporter he is Silver, Samuel assigned to cover stories involving all aspects of the Squires, Samuel weather, such as the severe winter of 1993/94, Hurri- Suomi, Verner cane Gloria, etc. In addition, he is also assigned to Taylor, Sir Geoffrey Ingram cover general news stories and issues involving the Went, Frits Warmolt local utilities and write for the science ("Discovery") Whipple, Fred Lawrence and the student briefing sections of the newspaper. White, Robert Mayer Mintz provided an insider's view of what his editors Wulf, Oliver Reynolds consider newsworthy weather stories. He also con- trasted what special weather topics merit coverage versus those that weather buffs and professional Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 51,429. meteorologists would like to have routinely reported.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 797

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC times necessitates general wording in case the fore- Tours of the Cornell Atmospheric Science Depart- cast or storm does not verify. In addition, Mintz related ment and the Northeast Regional Climate Center were several of his personal experiences in covering weather also conducted at the meeting.—Dave Longley. stories, his background, and his extraordinary oppor- tunity to join the NOAA Hurricane Hunters on their Tri-State penetration into Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Russ Marshall, officer in charge for NWS Fort —Mark Kramer. Wayne, Indiana, was the guest speaker at the 6 April 1995 meeting. Marshall presented a spotters course Central Texas to the membership.—Rick W. McCoy. A tour of the new NWS office in New Braunfels, Texas, was the feature of the 11 February 1995 Lyndon State College meeting. Members toured the systems used for obser- The 1995 Annual Northeastern Storm Conference vation and forecasting and observed the Doppler was held in Saratoga Springs, New York, on 10-12 weather radar. March. More than 160 people attended. Students from The 28 March 1995 meeting was held at the studios Lyndon State College, Plymouth State College, Nassau of KXAN-TV Channel 36. Members toured KXAN's Community College, SUNY—Albany, SUNY— School Weather Network, a collection of automatic Brockport, SUNY—Oneonta, and California Univer- recording weather stations that have been placed at sity of Pennslyvania attended. Professionals came more than 40 schools throughout the Austin and from area National Weather Service offices, including central Texas area. Jim Spencer, chief weathercaster Albany and Binghamton, New York; Taunton, Massa- at KXAN, led the tour. Spencer explained that the chusetts; Burlington, Vermont; Mt. Holly, New Jersey; stations are used in schools for teaching and are used Gray, Maine; State College, Pennsylvania; and by Channel 36 for on-air presentations of weather Charleston, West Virginia. Other attendees repre- conditions at various locations. Channel 36 can dial sented MESO Inc., the New York State Department of into any of these systems at any time and each school Conservation, Oceanweather, University of Wiscon- can dial into another school's system as well. sin, St. Louis University, East Stoudsburg University, Spencer mentioned that the NWS used the weather Cold Regions and Engineering Laboratory, WSI Cor- network to obtain wind information when a line of poration, New York and Vermont television stations, severe thunderstorms moved across central Texas. and METOC in Halifax, Canada. Several of the warnings issued by the NWS were People presenting papers included professionals based on the wind observations from the weather and students. Marc Gassbarro represented Lyndon stations.—Phil Riba. State College. This year's panel discussion was on careers. The panelists included five representatives Greater Boston from the military, private industry, the National Weather Harvey Leonard, WHDH-TV Channel 7 senior Service, hydrology, and broadcast meteorology. Dur- meteorologist, was the guest speaker at the 5 April ing the conference there were poster sessions depict- 1995 meeting. Members from the chapter and the ing various weather events and the latest computer Blue Hill Observatory met at the Carriage House, technology available in the field of meteorology. located at AMS Headquarters in Boston. For the second time, the conference held a Friday Leonard presented case studies on New England Night Ice Breaker Presentation. This year's speaker winter storms. He focused on why the Northeast is was Matt Lazzarra from the University of Wisconsin— ground zero for some of the worst winter weather in the Madison. Lazzarra's topic was a slide presentation on United States. Leonard also discussed the January Unidata Mcldas. 1987 and December 1992 storms and the winter 1993/ The guest speaker at the banquet was John Hope, 94 record-breaking snowstorms.—Dave Towle. a hurricane specialist from The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia. He spoke about different hurricanes Central New York in history and gave a video and slide presentation of The second meeting of 1995 was held on 8 April at Hurricane Andrew. the Cornell University campus. The Cornell student Because this was the 20th Storm Conference, the chapter cosponsored the meeting. chapter held a ceremony honoring its past presidents. The guest speaker was Keith Eggleston, regional The chapter announced that the 21 st Annual North- climatologist for the Northeast Regional Climate Cen- eastern Storm Conference will be held in March ter. He discussed long-range forecast products pro- 1996—date and location are to be announced.—Jim duced by the National Centers for Environmental Magarelli. Prediction.

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC Greater St. Louis magazine and pays for a dinner for the winners and Sixty-four members and guests met on 23 March their parents. He stated that he had asked the AERAs 1995 for the regular monthly meeting. The meeting (Atmospheric Education Resource Agents) what would began with committee reports from the respective be appropriate awards for exhibit winners. Members chairmen. Science Fair Committee Chairman Ken offered suggestions for new award options: Kathleen Walters stated that he had enough judges signed up Murphy said that she likes what the chapter currently for the Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville does but suggested that the chapter also give winners (SIUE) Science Fair. Walters said that the St. Louis USA Today: The Weather Book-, Scott Connell sug- Monsanto /Post-Dispatch fair will be held after the gested the chapter award weather alert radios; Ed SIUE fair. Membership Committee Chairman Norm Boselly said his company would donate either the Modlin reported that the paid membership is up to 91. weather radios or books; Walters then suggested the Nominating Committee member Chuck Pappas read chapter give the books to lower-place winners (books the list of nominees for the 1995/96 officers, which to be donated by Boselly's company, Surface Sys- included John Louer, United States Air Force Techni- tems) and give Weatherwise subscriptions, dinner for cal Applications Center (USAFETAC), Ron Przy- winners and parents, and weather radios to the top bylinski, National Weather Service (NWS), and Gary winners. The membership voted to adopt Walters's Swanson, USAFETAC, for president; Rich Woodford, suggestion. USAFETAC, for vice president; Norm Modlin, Louer mentioned that several members drafted a USAFETAC, and Rich Slominsky, USAFETAC, for few changes to the chapter's constitution and bylaws. secretary; and Sean Nolan, St. Louis University, Todd A copy of the draft will be sent out with the election Shea, NWS, and Sue Tarbell, USAFETAC, for trea- ballots for the membership's approval. surer. Louer asked member Wayne McCollom to discuss Chapter Chairman John Louer briefly discussed the preliminary plans for the chapter's 50th anniversary issue of science fair awards. He explained that the celebration. McCollom suggested that the chapter chapter currently gives a subscription to Weatherwise encourage donations from corporate sponsors to help

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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 799

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/07/21 07:11 AM UTC fund the event. He also stated that he invited David vide advance warning of the approach of hostile Houghton, president of AMS, to be the guest speaker. aircraft, missiles, etc. The first Doppler radar data Susan Tarbell and Barbara DeClerck volunteered to came from an April 1972 storm. It took analysts six help McCollom plan the event. months to process one volume scan. According to Walters then introduced the idea of making Burgess, back in those days the "storm chaser" pro- McCollom, on the occasion of his retirement, a lifetime gram was just getting started, so not much ground- member of the chapter. The membership voted to truth data were available for data comparison studies. convey this honor on McCollom. By coincidence, The first real-time data came in 1973 from a very Louer happened to have a permanent engraved life- violent (F4-F5) storm in Union City, Oklahoma. By time member card for McCollom. To finish the busi- 1977, Doppler radar had well proven its use to both the ness portion of the meeting, Louer solicited 1995/96 civil and military communities. Doppler radar data officer nominations from the floor. Chapter Vice Presi- enabled severe weather warnings to be issued with dent Przybylinski nominated G.V. Rao, who was not sufficient lead time to allow the air force to move present, for the office of vice president. aircraft and equipment, saving significant dollars worth The guest speaker for the evening was Don Bur- of air force assets. gess, branch chief at the WSR-88D Operations Sup- Fielding the Doppler radars has been a 20-year tri- port Facility, Norman, Oklahoma. Burgess spoke briefly agency (Department of Defense, Department of Com- about the past, present, and future of Doppler radar. merce, and Department of Transportation) process, The first Doppler radar was erected in the early 1970s beginning in 1971. Theyear 1991 broughtthefirst real- at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, time NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) Oklahoma. Doppler radar had been around for a while. operational assessment and deployment, followed by The original equipment was borrowed from the mili- the first field delivery in 1992 and the first site commis- tary. It came from the "DEW line," a 3000-mile-long sioned in 1994. Just over 100 have been installed, network of radar stations north of the Arctic Circle, working toward 163 operational systems. Use of the maintained by the United States and Canada to pro- systems has resulted in an increase in severe storm warning accuracy rate, along with a decrease in false alarm rate. Burgess mentioned that explosions in data display capabilities has led to an open, adaptable architec- An Important New Journal from Kluwer ture. The data can be used to produce a host of products to support a plethora of needs (such as Mitigation and^^^^™ mesocyclone identification using reflectivity and Adaptation Strategies mesocylone detection algorithms) and to study biota (e.g., find bat caves and examine bird and insect for Global Change^— migration patterns). Burgess stated that there are still some concerns Co-Editors: with the NEXRAD system, including 1) system reliabil- ity (about 96% up time), 2) data quality, 3) algorithm Joe Wisniewski Robert K. Dixon development, and 4) future radar improvements. Fol- American Forests Oregon State University lowing the talk, Louer presented Burgess with a St. Announcing an international journal de- Louis Arch desk pen set.—Lauraieen O'Connor. voted to scientific, engineering, socio-eco- Weather MINDS nomic and policy responses to global The Weather Ml NDs of southwest Minnesota, north- environmental change. west Iowa, northeast Nebraska, and the Dakotas held the March meeting at South Dakota State University. Subscription Information The speaker was Stephan Schiller discussing "Atmo- 1995, Volume 1 (4 issues) ISSN 1381-2386 spheric Aerosol Effects nn Satellite Images of Earth's Institutional rate: $227.00 Individual rate: $114.00 Surface." Schiller is an astronomer testing methods of correcting satellite pictures for the optical properties Kluwer Academic Publishers in the atmosphere that reduce clarity. At the end of the evening meeting attendees were Box 358, Accord Station • Hingham, MA 02018 treated to a stargazing session.—Julie Vetter. • phone: (617) 871-6600 • fax: (617) 871-6528 e-mail: [email protected]

800 Vol. 76, No. 5, May 1995

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