SSEC and CIMSS Take AMS Conference by Storm

Seattle welcomed the 91st Annual American Meteorological (AMS) Conference on 24 - 28 January 2011 with open arms and mostly cloudy skies. The sun peeked through a few times, but for the most part, there was plenty of weather for the visiting meteorologists.

CIMSS Director Steve Ackerman, with Raj Pandya, was the co-director of this year’s conference, whose theme, “Communicating Weather and Climate,” emphasized the idea that two-way communication is essential for scientific research, education and serving the public.

Ackerman and Panya contributed video entries to the AMS blog, with discussions on how to use scientific data wisely and how to communicate the results effectively. Another set of videos explores effective communication with conference attendees.

Tom Whittaker co-chaired the Interactive Information and Processing Systems (IIPS) 27th annual Conference, held during the AMS gathering. The IIPS Conference is the longest running conference at the annual meeting, and this year attracted more than 190 presenters in nearly 40 sessions.

Crowds eagerly awaited the opening of the Exhibit Hall.

SSEC maintained an exhibit booth during the meeting demonstrating some of the Center’s latest research, providing close-up looks at the 3-D globe, and allowing visitors to sample the full release version of McIDAS-V’s visualization tools.

Margaret Mooney (center) demonstrates McIDAS-V visualization tools.

Rick Kohrs (left) takes the next generation of climatologists on a 3-D tour of the globe.

Dr. Louis W. Uccellini, Director of the National Weather Service, National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), gets a satellite view of Earth
(and sets a classy new fashion trend in eyewear).

Local media found their way to the popular SSEC booth and experimented with a new approach to broadcasting 3-D technology.

The weather outside remained mostly cloudy and wet for the Conference, but SSEC scientists and researchers made a strong case for advanced instrumentation in satellite studies, participated in poster sessions, gave informative seminars, and demonstrated new uses of software and hardware in a myriad of presentations, posters, and seminars.

SSEC scientist Allen Huang presents a time-line of UW-CIMSS satellite developments

Back to Front Page