NEWS AND news and notes Notes

NWS To Play Key Role in Winter Olympics million people during the Olympic Winter Games. We In a few short months, the eyes of the world will will continually provide the latest high-tech weather, turn to as an estimated 3500 athletes and officials water and climate information," said Jack Kelly, di- from 80 countries will participate in the XIX Olym- rector of the NWS. "The public will be relying on us pic Winter Games. as they plan their commute from venue to venue and The Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) for how to protect themselves from the outdoor elements." the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 today announced At least twice each day, the weather service will a unique partnership between NOAA's NWS, the Uni- issue a special hazardous winter forecast during the versity of Utah, and 's KSL-TV to pro- games for the various transportation corridors leading vide the most accurate, timely, and venue-specific to the Olympic venues. This forecast will aid the pub- weather forecasts during the Games. lic who will be traveling to and from the various "park The Winter Olympics will be staged in Northern and ride" lots and also help transportation officials en- Utah 8-24 February 2002. With the Wasatch Moun- sure a smooth flow of traffic. tains rising more than 11,000 feet as they form the dra- "We want everyone to be weather-wise and matic perimeter of Salt Lake City, the city and weather-safe during the Games. Our job will be very surrounding areas will host those competing for top important to ensure people coming to Utah will be pre- honors in seven winter sports and more than 78 medal pared for various winter weather conditions that can events. In addition, the world's top Paralympians take change in a short period of time," Kelly said. "We the same stage 7-16 March 2002 for the VIII know the National Weather Service forecasts and Paralympic Winter Games. This will be the first time warnings will be an important tool for people associ- a host city has integrated preparations for both of these ated with or attending the games." world-class sporting events. SLOC's Olympic Games chief meteorologist is According to Mitt Romney, president and chief Mark Eubank. He will lead the 13-member team of executive officer of SLOC, this is also the first time private meteorologists who will focus on preparing an Olympic Committee has called on government and forecasts for the outdoor venues. At least one meteo- private meteorologists as well as academic experts to rologist, equipped with a variety of meteorological join together to share forecast responsibilities. SLOC data, will be at each venue. This team will also con- has assembled the special group they are calling the tinually brief SLOC management officials, venue Salt Lake 2002 Weather Support Project. The com- managers, coaches, and athletes on weather conditions bined weather team specialists' efforts will provide a and forecasts. Eubank's team will be responsible for safe competition venue for the athletes and weather the forecasts for the opening and closing ceremonies. forecasts for the general public. Eubank is also KSL-TV's chief meteorologist at the Romney explained that each partner will be respon- local NBC-TV affiliate. sible for a specific function during the games. The The has developed weather NWS will provide the base-level meteorological and tracking systems designed specifically for Utah and hydrological services used by the weather partners. the Games. Five years ago the university received This includes issuing winter storm warnings to the funding from the U.S. government and began install- state's two million residents as well as an estimated ing weather sensors that detect temperature, wind, hu- 1.5 million visitors expected to come to the games. The midity, and precipitation at each of the venues. Each weather service will also brief public safety, aviation op- venue has an average of three sensors. erations, security, and emergency management officials. "The Olympics present a wonderful opportunity for "The weather service and our sister NOAA agen- the University of Utah's Meteorology Department to cies will work together to ensure the safety of several do some much valued service, while at the same time

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fulfill our role as teachers and researchers," said Ed- snow and prepare the course according to the Olym- ward Zipser, professor and chair of the University of pic guidelines before the scheduled start time. Utah Department of Meteorology. "Approximately Romney of the SLOC stated, "As we saw during one-third of our students have been involved in some the downhill and super-G world cups this year at aspect of this weather program. We are excited about Snowbasin, the weather is highly variable and plays the opportunities the partnership with the National a key role in Olympic competition. We are confident Weather Service, KSL, and SLOC is bringing to the the weather specialists we have assembled will make university both short- and long-term, and proud that the venues safe for athletes and comfortable for we can make a contribution." spectators." The joint weather support project forecast team al- The official Olympic Weather Center will be lo- ready exercised its collaborative forecasting and com- cated at the weather service's Salt Lake City Forecast munications capabilities during many World Cup and Office, where the representatives from the private and U.S. Finals competitive events staged in Utah this government meteorological teams will prepare their February and March. These events served as good tests daily forecasts. for the games' organizers, sports managers, volunteers, coaches, and athletes, as well as the weather partners NASA Technology Takes Off into Dark and who are working diligently to ensure everything and Stormy Nights everyone will be prepared for the games. The National Aeronautics and Space Administra- This winter, one of the test events was canceled tion (NASA) will use an Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle because too much snow fell just before the event was (UAV) for a research mission to better understand how scheduled to begin. Volunteers at Snowbasin Resort lightning forms and dissipates during thunderstorms. near Ogden, Utah, did not have time to remove the The remotely piloted, high-flying aircraft will fly

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 01:44 PM UTC above and around the dangerous disturbances, gaug- ning potential of the storms in the hopes of better un- ing the various elements that unleash the fury of derstanding how different physical characteristics in storms. the atmosphere can contribute to development of light- Part of NASA's UAV-based science demonstration ning. These data will increase understanding of light- program, these flights will show the ability of this type ning and storms, while providing federal, state, and of aircraft to carry earth-viewing scientific payloads local governments new disaster-management informa- into environments where an onboard pilot would be tion for use in the areas of severe storms, floods, and exposed to life-threatening hazards. This capability wildfire. will benefit both U.S. scientific and commercial ob- This is one of two projects selected from 45 pro- jectives well into the new millennium. posals received in response to a solicitation issued in The mission will utilize the ALTUS UAV, built by 2000. The solicitation requires that the missions be General Atomics in San Diego, California, taking ad- managed in "Principal Investigator" mode: Each vantage of its remotely piloted capability, along with mission's lead investigator is responsible for choos- its high altitude (up to 55,000 ft) and slow speed. Re- ing the UAV best suited for the experiment, and then searchers from the University of Alabama at Hunts- managing all aspects of the mission for NASA. NASA ville, with colleagues from NASA's Goddard Space has identified approximately $8 million to fund the Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will chase down two UAV missions over a period of four years. thunderstorms in Florida to better understand the re- The mission is part of NASA's Earth Science En- lationship between storms and lightning. When a de- terprise, a long-term research effort aimed at under- veloping storm is spotted at NASA's Kennedy Space standing how human-induced and natural changes Center in Florida, researchers will send the ALTUS affect our global environment, while providing prac- above and around the storm, while the remote pilots tical societal benefits to America today. The Earth remain safely on the ground. Science Enterprise provides the sound science needed "This mission combines the exciting use of UAV by policy and economic decision-makers to assure re- technology with sound science to unravel the mystery sponsible stewardship of the global environment. behind lightning and its relationship to violent storms—information that will help those who predict Droughts Aggravated by Dust in the Wind these events as well as the public and infrastructure af- Windblown desert dust can choke rain clouds, cut- fected," explained Ghassem Asrar, associate admin- ting rainfall hundreds of miles away. This new discov- istrator for earth sciences at NASA Headquarters in ery, made with the help of NASA satellites, suggests Washington, D.C. that droughts over arid regions, such as central Africa, Using precision instruments aboard the aircraft, are made worse by damaging land and livestock man- researchers will take measurements to determine light- agement that expand the desert. The findings present a new view of the decades- long drought in the African Sahel, which has been accompanied by increasing levels of airborne dust during the rainy season. TELEVISION SEALS OF APPROVAL The higher dust frequency is not necessarily a re- sult of the decreased rainfall, but rather its cause, ac- cording to scientists from Israel's Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute. "This impact of desert 1200 Robert Stokes 2001 dust on rainfall was not known before," said lead au- 1201 Tracey Lewis 2001 thor Daniel Rosenfeld, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. 1202 Justin Kiefer 2001 "Due to the large sizes of some of these dust particles, 1203 James Bernard 2001 it had been assumed that desert dust would enhance 1204 David Kuharchik 2001 precipitation rather than decrease it." 1205 Kimberly Lansdell 2001 Scientists had expected that the largest dust particles 1206 Bryan Karrick 2001 would form giant cloud condensation nuclei, which produce larger cloud droplets that speed the formation of rain. "Our laboratory analysis of the desert dust, however, showed that the particles contained very little

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 01:44 PM UTC water-absorbing matter," said coauthor Yinon Rudich Rosenfeld. "Still, this is perhaps the climate-change of the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot. "As a result, even effect with the greatest socioeconomic impact on wa- large dust particles form relatively small cloud droplets." ter-scarce areas." The research shows dust actually amplifies the pro- cess of creating deserts. Activities that expose and dis- NOAA Buoy Keeps Eye on Coral Reefs, Warns rupt topsoil, such as grazing and agricultural of Bleaching cultivation, can increase the amount of dust blown into It sounds like the ideal occupation—bobbing the air. More dust reaching rain clouds produces less around in the warm Caribbean waters and looking at rainfall, which exacerbates the drought conditions and coral reefs. That is exactly what a 15-ft buoy will be contributes to the desertification of the landscape. doing, but its observations will provide a critical link Dust and other types of aerosol particles blowing in an early warning system developed by scientists at into clouds act as nuclei where water vapor can con- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dense to form cloud droplets. If a large amount of dust (NOAA) to alert them of coral reef bleaching. enters a cloud, the available water is spread over many Already about 27% of the world's coral reefs are small droplets. These small droplets grow more slowly gone. The single largest cause is massive climate-re- through collisions with one another to the size of a lated bleaching that, in just nine months in 1998, de- raindrop, and the cloud yields less rainfall over the stroyed about 16% of the world's reefs. course of its lifetime. The first of a series of buoys in the Coral Reef Early What the researchers saw in two separate cases, Warning System (CREWS), the device will measure using different satellite observations, was that cloud environmental characteristics, such as air temperature, droplets were smaller as dust concentrations increased. wind speed and direction, and ultraviolet (UV) radia- NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission tion and send these measurements, via satellite, to a (TRMM) spacecraft captured images of clouds over receiving station at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of northern Africa and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami. during a major March 2000 dust storm. Droplet sizes Each of these measurements will be monitored by spe- steadily increased the farther the clouds were from cialized computer programs that signal scientists when dust-filled air. Rain was falling only from the dust-free conditions are conducive to coral bleaching—a seri- clouds even though all the clouds contained equal ous state resulting in reef-building corals expelling the amounts of water. algae that give them their color. Bleaching can lead The researchers also observed similar behavior in to mass coral mortality. clouds over the eastern Mediterranean Sea in March "Once the buoy hits the water, its first mission will 1998, using data from aircraft and a U.S. weather be to monitor the effects of UV radiation and abnor- satellite. mally warm water temperatures on mass bleaching of TRMM is a joint U.S.-Japanese mission and part coral reefs, two well-known causes of bleaching," said of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term re- Jim Hendee of AOML. search program designed to study the earth's land, The ocean temperature data will also be used to oceans, air, ice, and life as a total system. Each day, validate remotely sensed ocean temperatures from the TRMM spacecraft observes the earth's equatorial NOAA's HotSpot program, developed by A1 Strong and tropical regions, including the southernmost of NOAA's National Environmental, Satellite, Data, United States and all of Africa. and Information Service. HotSpot satellite products Rosenfeld has used TRMM observations in two predict where bleaching may occur because of abnor- other recent studies to show that aerosols from bio- mally warm ocean temperatures. Together, Hendee's mass-burning smoke and urban air pollution also re- and Strong's efforts make up NOAA's new Coral Reef duce rainfall. Combined with the negative impact of Watch program for predicting and understanding coral desert dust, Rosenfeld believes the aerosol rainfall- bleaching. suppression effect can have a major impact on regional The debut buoy, the R/V Kristina, was named for and global climate. the director of NOAA's Florida laboratory—Kristina "The recent observations of the impact on precipi- Katsaros, the donor of the buoy. The buoy consists of tation of all kinds of aerosols, each with a major hu- a platform with a 12-ft tower in the center. Instruments man contribution, show a major climate change issue are located from the top of the tower to 3 ft under the that has nothing to do with greenhouse gases," says water.

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 01:44 PM UTC The buoy will be deployed at the Rainbow Gardens NASA Climate Modeling Spurs Next Reef, near NOAA's Caribbean Marine Research Cen- Computing Revolution ter at Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas. It is the first NASA would like to examine our home planet just in a series of CREWS buoys and stations planned for as scientists study living cells under a microscope or installation near all major U.S. coral reefs, including an atom in an accelerator. NASA wants to understand Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, American how nature's energy is transformed and used by earth Samoa, and Guam. and the role it plays in global climate change. Advanced computing systems are the only tools we NASA Administrator Cites Alaska's have to model our planet as a whole interactive sys- Importance as Global Thermostat tem to mimic nature's behavior. NASA's Earth Science During recent testimony before Senate Appropria- Enterprise is dedicated to developing computer mod- tions Chairman Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) in els that will unlock the secrets to how natural and hu- Fairbanks, Alaska, NASA Administrator Daniel S. man-induced changes impact our global environment. Goldin called Alaska the nation's thermostat for un- Unlike atoms and cells, which can be studied in the derstanding climate change and cited the need for con- laboratory, the only effective way to study the inner tinued research into global climate change with a workings and future course of our environment is special emphasis on Alaska and the arctic region. through advanced computer modeling capabilities, Goldin was one of several senior government offi- which will show global climate change through cials testifying at the Committee's field hearing on glo- computation of massive and complex mathematical bal climate change. The administrator discussed relationships. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term re- "Through math and science, and the advancement search effort designed to study the role of natural and of our computer capabilities, we can unlock the mys- human-induced changes in our global environment. teries of our planet's life cycle," said Ghassem Asrar, Goldin pointed out the key role Alaska plays in glo- Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Sci- bal climate, and the impact of climate change on ences at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Alaska and the arctic regions during his testimony. "It "Currently we model the climate system in a de- is the general understanding of the science community gree-by-degree, latitudinal and longitudinal grid, al- that changes in Alaska and the polar regions are the lowing us to examine global and continental best early indicators of global climate change," said atmospheric and oceanic conditions," Asrar said. Goldin. "If substantial change occurs in the climate "That resolution lets us see what is happening in the system, it is expected to show up first and largest in current and near-term climate system, but not in the the polar regions." long run and [not] why change is happening and the "Small changes in temperature bring large expanses consequences of such change at local levels." of the Arctic region closer to water's phase, a change "Today we're announcing the selection of nine pro- of state from solid to liquid over longer periods of posals that span across all of NASA that we expect to time," added Goldin. "This can have major effects on mature into advanced computing systems that will be plant, animal, and human life in this broad expanse of robust enough to handle massive amounts of data ev- earth." ery second—the kind of platforms that will be able to Citing the successful international arctic ozone incorporate vast amounts of earth sciences data in liv- study known as SOLVE as an example, Goldin ex- ing' models of our global climate, yet able to resolve pressed the importance of international cooperation in regional and perhaps local phenomena such as severe the study of our planet's health and called for continu- storms and hurricanes," Asrar added. ation of NASA's long-term research into changes in "These computer models will incorporate factors the polar ice sheets and oceans that provide the "ther- such as chemistry of the atmosphere and the physics mostat" for regulating earth's temperature. of clouds and the variability in the sun's radiation that "NASA will continue to lead the nation and the reaches earth. Increasing our computer capabilities into world through space-based earth-sciences research, an advanced interface that allows for multidiscipline part of the administration's commitment to under- scientific models to operate together in a coherent, standing the dynamics of our home planet's climate interoperable computing environment is the only way change and its impact on our economy and society," we can achieve the nation's goal of understanding Goldin said. long-term global climate change. The selection of

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Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 01:44 PM UTC these proposals will take us down the path toward im- proving both weather and climate predictive capabili- ties by three to five times over our current computing Bad Forest Fire Weather Responsible power." for Heavy Losses in Northwest "We need to make a leap from today's segmented and evolutionary systems to a unified, revolutionary Fires have ravaged the Na- pathway into the future of advanced computing," Asrar tional Forest in northern Idaho, concluded. western Montana, Washington, NASA's efforts constitute a direct response to rec- Oregon, and California this year ommendations made recently by the National Re- more disastrously than in any search Council (NRC) in its report, "Improving the other parts of the United States. Effectiveness of U.S. Climate Modeling." In this The area of National Forest study, the NRC states that efforts in climate model- lands burned over in these states ing need to be linked together and with related efforts to July 31 was 242,000 acres. Fires extending be- in the broader research community through a common yond the boundaries of the National Forests infrastructure. The selected efforts, which constitute caused destruction on 77,000 acres in addition. the combined efforts of scientists within NASA, other ... In the states along the Canadian border and government agencies, and the academic community, in the Pacific northwest the precipitation was should greatly facilitate this needed component of the considerably less than the seasonal average. In overall effort. June and early July this region suffered from The connection between NASA's efforts and those high temperatures and low atmospheric humid- of the other federal agencies that constitute the U.S. ity [that] caused the forest leaf litter, down Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) also is timber, and other debris to become extremely crucial to the improvement of the nation's climate dry and left the National Forests an easy prey modeling capability. A recent USGCRP report, "High- to the dry electrical storms common in the End Climate Science: Development of Modeling and higher altitudes. Related Computing Capabilities," also made the ar- [...] In one period of 10 days, 319 out of 397 gument for the development of a software infrastruc- forest fires in Washington and Oregon were ture to support climate research such as has been caused by lightning, and much of the loss in initiated by NASA. California is charged to this cause The same NASA has selected nine proposals in response to conditions added to the hazard in northern Idaho an agency-wide solicitation titled "Increasing and northwestern Montana. Most unfavorable Interoperability and Performance of Grand Challenge weather conditions have continued in early Au- Applications in the Earth, Space, Life and gust, dry winds causing a large spread of the Microgravity Sciences," announced in 2000. The pro- fires. posals selected will now have their costs negotiated, Reports indicate that in middle July the atmo- with science teams expected to finish a joint-frame- spheric conditions prevailing in Washington and work policy by 2003. Oregon were the worst ever known, and fires NASA has committed $18 million to this develop- were burning in all parts of these states. Within ment phase, with the expectation that the first ad- the last few days northern California was visited vanced Earth System Models will begin production in by many fires, and the situation was aggravated 2004. Additional tasks selected in response to this by high temperature and low humidity, but at last announcement cover a broad variety of topics in earth account these fires have been controlled with the and space science. NASA will subsequently announce exception of one large fire burning on the Kla- individual team selections and award values this fall.® math National Forest in northwest California.— Communication to the BULLETIN from the U.S. Forest Service.

Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 7, 101.

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