| RAMMB CIRA 2nd Quarter Report |
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January February March 2008
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CIRA participated in the GEOSS in the Americas meeting at the AMS conference. The WMO sponsored training event has been tentatively set for September 2008 in Argentina. (B. Connell)
The WMO Virtual Laboratory Task Team conducted 3 monthly English and Spanish weather briefings (for January, February, and March 2008) through VISITview using GOES and POES satellite Imagery from CIRA (http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html) and voice via Yahoo Messenger. There were participants from the U.S.: CIRA, COMET, SAB at NESDIS, the International Desk at NCEP, as well as outside the U.S.: Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panamá, Peru, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The participants include researchers and students as well as forecasters. The discussions were well attended with an average of 19 computer connections and multiple participants at many sites. Mike Davison at NCEP International Desk started the sessions by providing an overall synoptic analysis. Throughout the sessions, participating countries offer comments on the features of interest for their local weather. Discussion topics included precursor signals for a transition to El Niño conditions, review of climatological placement of the ITCZ and Bolivian High, gravity waves in the Atlantic, eruption of Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador, outflow boundaries and undular bore signatures in Argentina and a subtropical cyclone in Argentina. (B. Connell)
The discussions mentioned above have mainly been coordinated with the RMTC Center of Excellence in Costa Rica. During the dry season months, Barbados has also been conducting monthly briefings for the Eastern Caribbean to stimulate discussion and collaboration for the Hurricane season. CIRA has been assisting with the logistics of the sessions and providing imagery through the hadar server listed above.
*** A lot of new material has been added to the Regional Meteorological Training Center of Excellence (RMTCoE) web page. Check it out at: http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/rmtc/ (B. Connell)
GOES-12 imagery for December 2007 through February 2008 were processed for the Regional Meteorological Training Centers of Excellence (RMTCoEs) in Costa Rica and Barbados. The archives are being used to look at cloud frequency during the rainy and dry seasons and detect local variations from year to year. The archived imagery also provides access to examples for use in satellite focused training efforts. The monthly cloud frequency composites for December 1996-2007, January and February 1997-2008 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica are presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Monthly cloud frequency composites for December 1996-2007, January and February 1997-2008 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica. Click on images to enlarge.
A comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for December 1998-2007, January and February 1999-2008 for Barbados is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for December 1998-2007, January and February 1999-2008 for Barbados.
The following web pages continue to provide on-line imagery in jpg format over Central and South America and the Caribbean.
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/RMTC.html
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/COS.html (for imagery over Costa Rica and Barbados
The imagery from these sites is also available for the international weather briefings through VISITView RAMSDIS Online:
http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html
http://vesta.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtc1.html
The following site continues to display satellite precipitation estimates and fire products: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/sica/main.html (B. Connell, D. Coleman)