Category: Highlights

SatERR is a bottom-up approach, where the four types of errors including measurement, preprocessing, observation operator, and representativeness errors are generated from sources and forward propagate through radiances, science products, and data assimilation systems. This approach can quantify and partition errors and uncertainties in science products, and capture leading features of the most important errors in a statistical sense for data assimilation.

Leveraging Satellite Observations with a Comprehensive Simulator

January 29, 2024

Satellite observations are vital for weather forecasts, climate monitoring, and environmental studies. In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to develop methods for quantifying and representing errors associated with satellite observations. ESSIC scientist John Xun Yang has led a team of scientists in the creation of an error inventory simulator, the Satellite Error Representation and Realization (SatERR).

Figure: The within-year variation of SST, with 2023 values shown in black.

New Record Ocean Temperatures and Related Climate Indicators in 2023

January 22, 2024

ESSIC/CISESS scientist Alexey Mishonov along with other scientists from the United States, China, New Zealand and Italy have a new article in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science documenting the record highs in the global ocean set in 2023.

Isaac Moradi smiles for the camera, wearing a red gridded button-up and a red tie

Moradi Appointed to AMS Radio Frequency Allocation Committee

January 10, 2024

Isaac Moradi, a research scientist and lead of the ESSIC numerical modeling and data assimilation affinity group, has been appointed as a member of the AMS Radio Frequency Allocation Committee, bringing invaluable expertise in microwave and radar observations and their role in weather predictions. The committee focuses on coordinating radio frequency spectrum management crucial to weather, water, and climate services. It serves a pivotal role in evaluating how spectrum policy changes might impact meteorological data collection and distribution. Moradi’s career, marked by advancements in data assimilation and numerical modeling through enhancing radiative transfer models, observations error analysis, improving the data assimilation systems for assimilating these observations, and developing advanced calibration techniques for satellite data, aligns seamlessly with the committee’s mission.

A photo from the GEO Blue Planet Symposium

Digital Solutions for Sustainable Oceans: 6th GEO Blue Planet Symposium

January 8, 2024

The 6th GEO Blue Planet Symposium, organized by ESSIC/CISESS Scientist and GEO Blue Planet Executive Director Emily Smail was held from October 31 to November 2 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The event, which brought together a global community focused on “Digital Solutions for Sustainable Oceans”, was a resounding success.

Figure: Blue crabs spend their early larval stages in off-shore water, making them vulnerable to ocean circulation and other highly variable environmental phenomena. (Graphic from Maryland Sea Grant Chesapeake Quarterly, 2012.)

ESSIC at Blue Crab Data Workshop

December 20, 2023

The Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee held a Blue Crab Data Workshop from Dec 5-7 to review sources of environmental and biological data that may help model the blue crab population for improving the management of this important marine resource and iconic Chesapeake Bay delicacy. Ron Vogel, ESSIC/CISESS senior faculty specialist, participated in the workshop as a subject matter expert on environmental data sources from satellites to be used in the modeling research.

Figure 1. The local perturbations in observed microwave brightness temperatures from an ascending orbit of (a) MetOp-B AMSU-A channel 14, (b) MetOp-C AMSU-A channel 14, a descending orbit of (c) NOAA-20 ATMS channel 15, and (d) SNPP ATMS channel 15 on January 15, 2022. The black triangle at the center for each panel is the Tonga volcano location. The outermost black-curved lines from the Tonga volcano location correspond to a phase speed of 330 m/s assuming that the perturbation has been generated at the time and location of initial volcanic eruption. From the 2nd outermost black-curved lines to the innermost lines, the phase speeds are 300, 270, and 230 m/s, respectively. The time information in each panel indicates the approximate observation time for the Lamb wave (between 300 m/s and 330 m/s indicated by black right-pointing triangles) and for the lead gravity wave (between 230 m/s and 270 m/s indicated by red right-pointing triangles). Red dots indicate the pixels where the brightness temperature perturbation is larger than 1.2 K.

Satellite Microwave Observations of the Hunga Tonga Eruption’s Atmospheric Waves

December 20, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS scientists Yong-Keun Lee and Christopher Grassotti are authors on a new paper in Geophysical Research Letters describing the first attempt to perform a detailed analysis of the stratospheric impact of the eruption from satellite microwave observations. The other authors on the paper are Neil Hindley from University of Bath and Quanhua (Mark) Liu from NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research.

ESSIC Celebrates 2023 Peer Awards

December 20, 2023

As a now traditional part of the ESSIC end-of-year Holiday Party, two annual peer awards were presented to honor the year’s Best Paper and the Employee of the Year. This year, Director Ellen Williams presented these awards to Chelsea Parker, Assistant Research Scientist, and Brenda Torney, Payroll Coordinator.

Zhang Presents Her New Book at the CTR Wilson Meeting

December 13, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS scientist Daile Zhang and her coauthor Ron Holle virtually presented their new
book–Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning –at the CTR Wilson
meeting on November 16, 2023. They discussed the motivation of writing the book and
introduced the content of each chapter. The audiences were interested in creating
undergraduate level courses and materials based on the book.

Caption:: A 6th grade class from New Hope Academy visited ESSIC/CISESS on 11/7/2023. (Top from left to right) Malar Arulraj explains how to “make a cloud in a bottle”; Veljko Petković uses a Lego model to teach about satellites; Hu Yang leads student a wearing “bat eyes”. (Center) Intern Ashmita Pyne instructs students wearing VR headsets. (Bottom from left to right) Guangyang Fang explains VR visualization; Hu Yang demonstrates an ultrasonic breadboard; Joseph Patton & Daile Zhang teach a lightning safety game. (Center photo by G. Fang; Top right and bottom center photos by K. Cooney; all other photos by A. Hughes.)

CISESS Hosts Outreach Event for Local Students

December 13, 2023

Last month, CISESS hosted a field trip for a 6th grade class from New Hope Academy. Twenty
students and five adults visited the ESSIC offices and participated in educational activities led
by CISESS scientists. CISESS Coordinator Kate Cooney organized and coordinated the event.

Reporting and Sharing Data for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research

November 27, 2023

ESSIC/NOAA Ocean Carbon and Acidification Data System (OCADS) Scientist Liqing Jiang led a chapter of the Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research, a

Category: Highlights

Leveraging Satellite Observations with a Comprehensive Simulator

New Record Ocean Temperatures and Related Climate Indicators in 2023

Moradi Appointed to AMS Radio Frequency Allocation Committee

Digital Solutions for Sustainable Oceans: 6th GEO Blue Planet Symposium

ESSIC at Blue Crab Data Workshop

Satellite Microwave Observations of the Hunga Tonga Eruption’s Atmospheric Waves

ESSIC Celebrates 2023 Peer Awards

Zhang Presents Her New Book at the CTR Wilson Meeting

CISESS Hosts Outreach Event for Local Students

Reporting and Sharing Data for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research

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