NWA Remote Sensing Committee
Activities and Accomplishments
Summary of the 4 Mar '11 telecon. Plans for the joint GOES Users Conference and 2011 NWA Annual meeting in Birmingham, AL in October are nearing completion. It was decided that it would be best to delay any remote sensing workshop until the 2012 meeting in Madison, WI.
During the 30 Nov '10 telcon, committee chair Ralph Ferraro thanked outgoing members Jeff Underwood, Pam Heinselman, Craig Nelson, and Jay Martinelli, and welcomed incoming members Peter Roohr, Rob Cifelli, Sheldon Kusselson and Les Lemon. Goals for 2011 were discussed. We will have an active role in planning for the joint NWA/GOES Users Conference in Birmingham. We will also be seeking partnerships with like-minded agencies or committees here in the U.S. or abroad. A possible new partnership could be the Chinese Meteorological Agency. The committee has offered its services to help broadcasters with the remote sensing portion of their certification test by developing a web portal.
7 Apr '10 telcon minutes: Discussions at the 7 Apr 2010 meeting included: Planning for a joint GOES-R Users Conference along with the 2011 NWA Annual Meeting in Birmingham, AL; upcoming newsletter articles on NPOESS, lightning, and remote sensing decision support among others; status of the MetSat and other awards; and potential partnerships with AMS SatMet committee and EUMETSAT.
At the 1 May '09 telcon discussions focused on possible award nominees, and planning for a Broadcasters Workshop at the 2009 Annual Meeting in Norfolk, VA. The session topics discussed included Dual-Polarization Radar and microwave satellite products.
Minutes of the 30 January '09 meeting Plans for the upcoming year were discussed, such as the continued series of newsletter articles on remote sensing, and a session for the Broadcast Workshop at the 2009 NWA meeting in Norfolk, VA.
At the 2008 Annual Meeting, held in Louisville, KY from October 11-16, several members of the committee were in attendance. A session entitled "Weather in 2020" was chaired by Ken Carey, and featured a presentation by Brian Motta on future radar and satellite capabilities. Dennis Buechler also chaired a session on "Instruments and Techniques - Satellite" in which Jordan Gerth, the 2007 MetSat winner, gave two presentations. Poster presenters were: Dennis Buechler, Jim Gurka, Gary Ellrod, and Amanda Mims, winner of the 2008 MetSat award.
Minutes of the 23 Sep '08 conference call
Minutes of the January 10, 2008 conference call.
The committee met on 17 Oct '07 at the Annual Meeting in Reno to discuss activities for the year and
goals for 2008. Among the highlights during the year were the invigoration of the undergraduate Meteorological Satellite Award, redesign of the web site, and approval of a letter of support for operational implementation of GPS-Meteorology services. At the Annual Meeting, special joint sessions with the Education, Professional Development, and Weather Analysis and Forecasting Committees were held in Reno. These sessions were chaired by Ken Carey, Brian Motta and Ralph Ferraro. A panel discussion on QuikSCAT was moderated by Pablo Santos and Tom Lee. Rodger Brown (NSSL) was awarded the Fujita Research Achievement Award for his pioneering work in radar meteorology. The 2007 MetSat Award winner, Mr. Jordan Gerth presented his paper.
Minutes of the October 3, 2007 conference call.
Minutes of the June 27, 2007 conference call.
A conference call was held on April 3, 2007 to discuss the status of activities and plans for the remainder of the year. Major items of discussion include: status of letters of support for GPS-Met implementation (which has been resubmitted) and a GOES hyperspectral sounder, a joint session on remote sensing at the annual meeting, and solicitation of papers for the Undergraduate Satellite Meteorology Award. A summary of the April 3, 2007 meeting provides more information.
Our committee was well represented at the Annual Meeting, held in Cleveland, OH from October 13-17, 2006. A special session was held in honor of the late Dr. Rod Scofield, who passed away in February 2006. The session, chaired by Ken Carey and Mike Eilts, highlighted Rod's career, was prefaced by testimonies from some who knew him well. Featured papers reviewed advances in remote sensing of precipitation, the Oklahoma mesonet, lightning detection, as well as expected benefits of future spacecraft. At the awards banquet on Wednesday, a Special Lifetime Achievement Award for Rod was presented to Rod's wife Joyce and son Brett. Gary Ellrod received the T. Fujita Research Achievement Award for work in the application of satellite data to aviation meteorology. Oral presentations at the meeting were made by Gary Ellrod and John Knox. Ralph Ferraro and Gary Ellrod had poster presentations. Jim Gurka was co-author of a presentation on GOES-R.
The committee telcon held on October 4, 2006 discussed two new committee members for 2007: James Yoe (Deputy Director, Joint
Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, NOAA/NESDIS), and Pablo Santos, (Science Operations Officer, NWS Miami). A series of
training articles on remote sensing in the NWA newsletter will begin with a kickoff article by Wayne Mackenzie in October,
followed by an article on Total Precipitable Water by Tom Lee in the November issue.
A complete summary of the October meeting is online.
A conference call held on July 13, 2006 discussed updates on several activities such as: awards nominations,
a training initiative, newsletter submissions, letters of support for a geo-microwave imager and Hyperspectral
Environmental Sounder (HES), a special session at the 2006 Annual Meeting, and recruiting new committee members with GPS/profiler
expertise. An undergraduate meteorology student, Michael Stanga of St. Cloud State University, will become the first
student member of the committee. Read the summary of the July 13 meeting for details.
A mid-year conference call was held on April 4, 2006 to discuss ongoing and planned actvities such as a training initiative, a special
session at the 2006 Annual meeting, and web page improvements. Read the complete summary of the April 4
meeting for more details.
The committee met during the AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta on January 31, 2006. It was agreed to pursue the major goals of holding a session on
integrated remote sensing products at the 2006 NWA Annual Meeting, and to identify training needs on current and emerging technologies.
Complete meeting notes are now available.
The Remote Sensing Committee met at Surface Systems Inc. on October 19, 2005 in suburban St. Louis during the Annual Meeting to discuss the
year's accomplishments, and plan activities for 2006.
A letter of endorsement from the NWA for a geostationary microwave imager
was completed by Ralph Ferraro and other committee members and posted for comments (0905). The draft letter will
be submitted to the NWA Council for approval and distributed to scientists and managers within NASA and NOAA.
A session on remote sensing of volcanic ash
was completed by Gary Ellrod as part of a Web-based tutorial on volcanic ash hazards sponsored by the NWA Aviation Committee.(10/05)
Several committee members are actively involved in planning and support of scientific meetings such as the GOES-R Users Conference IV (May 2006),
PolarMAX 2005 (October 2005, Silver Spring, MD) and numerous AMS meetings.
Several newsletter articles were published during 2005 on the NOAA-18 launch, NPOESS training, and radar and satellite
images of Hurricane Katrina.
Several new members joined the committee early in 2005. David Trask (SSI) gives us expertise in road weather and supporting
technologies. Craig Nelson (NOAA retired) commanded NOAA survey ships and has a strong background in marine weather and the NPOESS program.
Col. Mike Haas is the current Aerospace Director in the NPOESS program, and worked on the VIIRS instrument with Aerospace, Inc.
John Knox is professor of atmospheric science at Georgia Institute of Technology and lends expertise in satellites and atmospheric dynamics.
A special sesssion on future satellite systems (NPOESS and GOES-R) was held the 2004 Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon on 21 October.
The session discussed some of the capabilities of the new systems and updates on their progress.
Kristopher B. Karnauskas was presented with the Weather Satellite Applications Award at the 2004 Annual
Meeting for his paper on measuring outgoing longwave radiation over Africa using AVHRR data.
An article on Remote Sensing Committee, its members and activities, appeared in the June 2004 newsletter.
A letter of support for the NASA Lightning Mapper Sensor (LMS)
as an add-on instrument on a future GOES platform was approved by the NWA Council and distributed to scientists and managers within NOAA and NASA. (5/04)
Two new members joined the committee: Michael Eilts, Warning Decision Technologies, Inc., Norman OK, and Kenneth Carey, Mitretek, Inc., Fairfax, VA. (2/04)
Two remote sensing workshops focusing on winter weather hazards were conducted at the 2003 Annual Meeting in Jacksonville, FL. (10/03)
Articles on GOES-12 and GOES-9 activation, and the NASA Global Precipitation Mission were published in the NWA newsletter. (3/03 and 10/03)
Held committee meeting at the AMS Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA (1/03)
Several new committee members added: Jim Gurka (NESDIS), Tom Lee (NRL Monterey), Steve Vasiloff (NOAA/NSSL), Neil Fox (U. of Missouri),
Dennis Buechler (U. Ala. Huntsville), Seth Gutman (NOAA/FSL). Re-enlisted members were: Gary Ellrod (Chairman), Ralph Ferraro (NESDIS), and Brian Motta (NOAA/FSL).
Vernon F. Dvorak, former NESDIS scientist, received Special Award for his satellite-based tropical cyclone intensity estimation technique. (10/02)
Stephanie Bergman, a junior at Ohio State University, received the Third NWA Meteorological Satellite Applications Award. (10/02)
Gary Ellrod contributed a section on satellite image interpretation for the Web-based NWA-sponsored course on
"Thunderstorm Avoidance for pilots" (5/01)
Gary Ellrod provided an hour long presentation on aviation applications of satellite data at the NWA Annual Meeting held in Gaithersburg, Maryland (10/00)
Second Satellite Applications Award given to Sarah Thompson (University of Missouri).
First Satellite Applications Award presented to Augustine Iacopelli (Valparaiso University). The Committee homepage was updated to include resources on private sector remote sensing industries. - (10/99)
The Committee met at the Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City. - (10/98)
The NWA Remote Sensing Committee's Homepage was activated - (8/98)
Remote Sensing Committee met at the NWA Annual Meeting in Reno. Two new members joined the committee,
Ralph Ferraro and Gary Ellrod, both of NESDIS. - (10/97)
Remote Sensing Student Research Award was announced. The award, and accompanying scholarship money, will be sponsored by Ms. Frances Holt of the NOAA/NESDIS Office of Research and Applications, Camp Springs, MD. - (12/96)
The committee also met at the Annual Meeting on October 14, 2008. Thanks were extended to outgoing chair Ken Carey, and outgoing committee members Walt Petersen and Neil Fox. Ralph Ferraro (NESDIS) will assume the chair position beginning 1 January 2009. New members of the committee will be Jay Martinelli (Creighton University) and Stacy Bunin (Nobilis, Inc.)
Minutes of the 19 Jun '08 conference call
Minutes of the April 10, 2008 conference call.
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