| RAMMB CIRA 4th Quarter Report |
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July August September 2008 |
Kathy-Ann Caesar, with the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), visited CIRA on August 19. CIMH is one of the WMO designated Regional Training Centers. Kathy-Ann has been involved in the monthly Virtual Focus Group Activities and has held bi-weekly virtual briefings in the Caribbean during the Hurricane season as well. We reviewed developments for the Virtual International Focus Group briefings as well as collaborations on regional satellite climatologies.
CIRA provided input to the development of the agenda for the WMO-sponsored Regional Training Course on the Use of Environmental Satellite Data in Meteorological Applications for RA III and RA IV. The training took place in Argentina September 22- October 3, 2008. CIRA prepared and delivered lectures focused on the status of GOES/POES, Introduction to Multispectral and Hyperspectral satellite data, VISITview training, and a demo on McIDAS software. In addition, CIRA helped coordinate two sessions that linked up with the monthly international weather briefings during the first week and two sessions that linked up with the GEOSS in the Americas workshop being held in Panamá during the second week. (B. Connell)
Participants and lecturers on the opening day of the course in Argentina. Click on photo to enlarge.
Monthly International Weather Briefings
The WMO Virtual Laboratory Task Team conducted 3 monthly English and Spanish weather briefings (for July, August, and September 2008) through VISITview using GOES and POES satellite Imagery from CIRA (http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html) and voice via Yahoo Messenger. The September briefings were held in conjunction with the WMO Satellite Training in Argentina on September 23 and 25. 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, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The participants include researchers and students as well as forecasters. The discussions were well attended with a peak of 28 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 hurricane activity in the Caribbean and the threat of severe weather in South America.
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 rammb server listed above. (B. Connell)
Sharing of Imagery and Products
GOES-12 imagery for June through August 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 June through August 1997-2008 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica are presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Monthly cloud frequency composites for June, July, and August 1997-2008 by 10.7 µm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica.
A comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for June, July, August 1999-2008 for Barbados is shown in Fig. 2.
Click on images to enlarge.
Figure 2. Comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 µm imagery for June, July, and August 1999-2008 for Barbados.
Imagery for Central and South America and the Caribbean have been consolidated and updated. The RAMSDIS Online imagery can now be viewed at one location (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/ramsdis/online/rmtc.asp). This step was a welcome upgrade to the International Weather Briefings page (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visitview/focus/viewgroup.html), allowing for viewing of higher resolution imagery as well as increased speed for the download of imagery.
Look for information on our activities on the Regional Training Center web page. http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/rmtc/ (B. Connell)