Weekly Report for the Week Ending July 17, 2009
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GSFC Laboratory for Atmospheres, Code 613
Noteworthy science achievements/awards
Noteworthy personnel awards and staff changes
Projects/Missions
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is conducting it's Preliminary Design Review (PDR) in Linthicum, MD this week. The independent Standing Review Board is chaired by Steve Jurczyk, Deputy Director of NASA Langley. Code 610 presenters were Jim Irons (613.0), Project Scientist, and Brian Markham (614.4), Calibration/Validation Manager.
Significant planned events
Proposals
Highlights of inter-Directorate teaming
External interactions (HQ, universities, other Gov't organizations, etc.)
- Several Code 613 scientists (William Lau, A. Marshak, E. Wilcox, J. Joiner and others) attended the Gordon Conference, held July 5-10 at the Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. The aim of the Gordon Conference is to promote scientific exchange among researchers and graduate students on topics of current interests in an informal setting of a university campus. The theme of this year’s Conference is “Atmospheric radiation and Climate Change”, and the conference was attended by well over 150 participants from all over the world. A wide range of topics including radiative forcing, aerosol effects and interactions with clouds and precipitation, tropical convection, polar climate, satellite remote sensing and future climate projections were introduced by invited speakers and discussion leaders. William Lau presented an invited talk entitled “ Do Aerosols strengthen or weaken the Asian Monsoon?” where he showed , using NASA model and satellite data, new findings on effects of dust and black carbon in providing elevating heat source which accelerates the seasonal warming of the Tibetan Plateau, leading to earlier mountain snow and glacier melting, and subsequently alters the course of evolution of the Asian monsoon. The talk stimulated much discussions on future research directions, and on the tremendous societal impacts of aerosols in affecting water resource in monsoon countries.
- Scott Braun (613.1) participated in the PhD Preliminary Exam (July 11) for Matthew Miller at North Carolina State University, Dept. of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He serves on Matthew’s PhD Thesis committee and is an Adjunct Faculty member at NCSU.
- Scott Braun (613.1) participated in the PhD Preliminary Exam (July 7) for Sam Trahan at UMBC. He serves on Sam’s PhD Thesis committee.
- 613.3/Charles Jackman attended the "Particle Size Workshop" on June 30 and the AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) Science Team Meeting on July 1-2. Both events were held at the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA.
Accepted papers
- Scott Braun (613.1) submitted a paper entitled “A climatological perspective of the role of the Saharan Air Layer in Atlantic tropical cyclogenesis and evolution”, Monthly Weather Review.
- Mei Han (UMBC/GEST), Scott Braun (613.1), William Olson (UMBC/JCET), O. Persson (NOAA), and Jian-Wen Bao (NOAA) submitted a paper entitled “Application of TRMM PR and TMI measurements to assess cloud microphysical schemes in the MM5 model for a winter storm”, Monthly Weather Review.
- George Huffman (SSAI/613.1), Robert Adler (UMD ESSIC), David Bolvin (SSAI/613.1) and Guojun Gu (UMBC/GEST) submitted a paper entitled: Improving the Global Precipitation Record: GPCP Version 2.1. Geophysical Research Letters.
- Dennis Hlavka (SSAI/613.1), Lin Tian (UMBC/GEST), William Hart(SSAI/613.1), Lihua Li (555), Matthew McGill (613.1) and Gerald Heymsfield (613.1) submitted a paper entitled: Vertical cloud climatology during TC4 derived from high-altitude aircraft merged lidar and radar profiles. Journal of Geophysical Research.
- Spectral absorption properties of aerosol particles from 350-2500nm, Martins, J. V. (613.2/JCET); Artaxo, P.; Kaufman, Y. J. (613.2); Castanho, A. D.; Remer, L. A. (613.2), Geophy. Res. Lett., Vol. 36, doi: 10.1029/2009GL037435, L13810, 2009 [Published].
- "Accurate satellite-derived estimates of the tropospheric ozone impact on the global radiation budget" by J. Joiner (613.3), M. R. Schoeberl (610), A. P. Vassilkov (613.3), L. Oreopoulos (613.2), S. Platnick (613.2), N.J. Livesey, and P. F. Levelt, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 4447-4465, 2009 [published].
- "Spectral invariant behavior of zenith radiance around cloud edges observed by ARM SWS" by A. Marshak (613.2), Y. Knyazikhin, C. Chiu (JCET/613.2) and W. Wiscombe (613.2), Geophys. Res. Lett., [accepted].
- 613.3/A paper entitled “Effects of the 2006 El Niño on tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide: Implications for dynamics and biomass burning” by S. Chandra (GEST/Goddard), J. R. Ziemke (GEST/Goddard), B. N. Duncan (Goddard), T. L. Diehl (GEST/Goddard), N. J. Livesey (JPL), and L. Froidevaux (JPL) was published in the Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 9, 4239-4249, 2009. A brief summary of the paper is as follows: We have studied the effects of the 2006 El Niño on tropospheric O3 and CO at tropical and sub-tropical latitudes measured from the OMI and MLS instruments on the Aura satellite. The 2006 El Niño-induced drought caused forest fires to burn out of control during October and November in the Indonesian region. The effects of these fires are clearly seen in the enhancement of tropospheric O3 and CO concentrations in this region. We have used a global model of atmospheric chemistry and transport (GMI CTM) to quantify the relative importance of biomass burning and large scale transport in producing the observed changes in tropospheric O3 and CO. The model results show that during October and November both biomass burning and meteorological changes contributed almost equally to the observed increase in tropospheric O3 in the Indonesian region. The model results show an increase of 2-3% in the global burden of tropospheric ozone. In comparison, the global burden of CO increased by 8-12%. In recent years, El Nino events have occurred with greater frequency than in previous years dating back to 1979. Both the frequency and scale of emissions from biomass burning suggests that even relatively moderate El Niño events can be an important source of pollution in the atmosphere.
Noteworthy talks/presentations
- At the IGARSS Meeting, Cape Town, South Africa, July 13-17, 2009, Steven Platnick (613.2) is presenting two talks and Christina Hsu (613.2) is an invited speaker. Si-Chee Tsay (613.2) is also attending the meeting and a thesis assessment at Witwatersrand University.
- Lazaros Oraiopoulos (613.2) attending "Welcome to the NASA/Goddard Family: Captivating, Cultivating and Challenging You" July 16-17 as part of the CS on-boarding process.
- Warren Wiscombe (613.2) is attending the ARM Meeting in Washington, DC July 15-16, 2009.
Major events in the coming week
Education and Outreach
Climate & Radiation Branch Image of the Week: 2009 JAMEX/TIGERZ/RAJO-MEGHA Field Deployment in South Asia. URL: http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/viewImage.php?id=263
Issues and Concerns
- Michael Freilich, Chief of the NASA HQ Earth Science Division, reported to the NASA Advisory Committee this week that he is recommending an Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) replacement mission to OSTP and OMB without including the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) as a part of the OCO replacement payload. TIRS was reviewed this week as part of the LDCM satellite payload during the LDCM Preliminary Design Review. The LDCM Project still awaits formal NASA HQ direction to include TIRS on the LDCM payload.
Status of any major actions
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