Monthly News Summary – March 1999
McIDAS in BAMS
by Terri Gregory, SSEC Public Information Specialist
March 1999
The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (February 1999) has published the paper, “McIDAS: The Man computer Interactive Data Access System: 25 Years of Interactive Processing.” The landmark paper, the first to recount McIDAS technical history, appeared just four months after October 1998, McIDAS’ 25th birthday. Matthew Lazzara, lead author, treated McIDAS team members and fellow SSEC authors to donuts.
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In Print
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The Wisconsin State Journal featured University of Wisconsin milestones on January 31. In the milestones list, Professor Verner Suomi’s 1959 weather experiment on the Explorer VII satellite was mentioned. Professor Suomi, SSEC founding director, was shown in a natty polka-dot bow tie and posing with a satellite model. That issue also included a Sesquicentennial pullout section devoted entirely to UW-–Madison’s history. Other SSEC contributions were noted in the February 1999 In the News.
The E.W. Blanch Co. used CIMSS and SSEC hurricane images in a recent Catastrophe Perspectives report. “Frequency, 1998 in Review” printed Gary Wade’s montage of several images along Hurricane Georges’ storm track. The report also used Dave Santek’s three-color composite of Hurricane Bonnie. The report listed all 1998 Atlantic hurricanes with storm tracks and drew attention to the most destructive of the storms. The report noted that the catastrophic losses of 1998 were the highest in 15 years. E.W. Blanch specializes in risk and financial analysis.
SSEC’s Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) was featured in the Daily Cardinal, on February 17. AERI functions, use, and history were described and manager Fred Best noted that “a major benefit of AERI is that it runs 24 hours a day, producing temperature and moisture profiles every 10 minutes, unlike a weather balloon … which is usually only sent up twice a day.” Editor Jessica Laszewski hopes to run more science stories in the Cardinal, the oldest of UW-Madison’s two student-run newspapers.
GOES Biomass Burning Monitoring
Whys and Wows, the first of several UW–Madison Sesquicentennial road shows, was featured in Wisconsin Week and Wisconsin Week Wire for February 24. About two dozen UW–Madison researchers demonstrated their projects at the Milwaukee Public Museum on February 16. Elaine Prins and Joleen Feltz presented the GOES biomass burning monitoring program, using an engaging QuickTime movie and posters with satellite images. An event organizer, Brian Mattmiller of University News and Public Affairs, said that 1,694 school children from around Wisconsin visited the museum on that single day. Elaine said, “I think they were amazed at how many fires there are in South America, and the extent of the smoke.” Ron Seely ’s February 11 science column in the Wisconsin State Journal also featured the program. The next Sesquicentennial road show will be held in Menasha on March 9.
Highway (January 1999), a Northland College publication, features the college meteorology program and some of its graduates. Among them is CIMSS researcher Wayne Feltz, who received his undergraduate Northland degree in 1991. Wayne said, “My classes and internships … gave me a good understanding of what it would take to make it into the National Weather Service and other meteorological organizations.” The article also mentions Wayne’s flight through the eye of Hurricane Bonnie during 1998’s Convection And Moisture EXperiment. Northland College is in Ashland, Wisconsin.
Nick Nalli, a CIMSS graduate student stationed at NASA’s Langley Research Center, is participating in “Our Changing Earth,” a middle school program organized by LaRC with the American Association for the Advencement of Science, the Franklin Institute and Unisys. As noted in the LaRC News Researcher (January 15), students from Virginia’s Crittenden Middle School “are investigating satellite images of the earth … to determine what changes have taken place over the past ten to twenty years,” and the role of humans in contributing to change. Nick is one of a team of LaRC researchers working with students.
Doyle Rice, managing editor of Weatherwise magazine notes that he will use an infrared image of Hurricane Mitch from the CIMSS Web site in the March/April issue. Watch for it.
On the Air
John Mecikalski, CIMSS research meteorologist, appeared on Madison’s WMTV in a piece on a freak thunderstorm that hit Dane County on February 11. Reporter Mike Ogden’s piece ran Friday, February 12, in both 6 and 10 p.m. news programs with John’s explanation beginning the segment.
Tom Achtor appeared on Jonathan Overby’s Higher Ground radio variety show on Saturday night, February 27. Tom shared the twenty-minute segment on weather with Tim Marshall, Storm Track magazine editor. They spoke about distinguishing features of weather in the midwest including Wisconsin. Tom emphasized the beauty of its variability—watching the seasons change—and encouraged citizens to be concerned about human contributions to climate change. Higher Ground runs every Saturday night on WHA, Wisconsin Public Radio. Tom Achtor manages science programs for SSEC’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies.