Author: Travis Swaim

Ferraro presents at NASA event in San Diego

October 23, 2017

ESSIC visiting associate research scientist Ralph Ferraro attended a recent NASA Precipitation Measurements Mission (PMM) Science Team Meeting held in San Diego. Ferraro delivered an invited presentation titled "An Update on NOAA Operational Precipitation Products and NOAA’s Contributions to the PMM Science Team." Ferraro also presented a poster created by ESSIC Faculty Specialist Patrick Meyers titled "NOAA Evaluation of GPROF for AMSR2 …

Peterson creates virtual reality visualization of Hurricane Harvey

October 23, 2017

ESSIC post-doctoral associate Michael Peterson developed a virtual reality visualization of Hurricane Harvey using GOES-16 which puts the viewer on the space station looking down at the hurricane. Viewers can move their mobile phones in different directions for different views of the storm or use virtual reality equipment to immerse themselves in the visuals. You can view the animation here. …

Murtugudde publishes new article on monsoons and is quoted in Hindustan Times

October 16, 2017

ESSIC/AOSC Professor Raghu Murtugudde coauthored a new article in Scientific Reports titled “Role of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources in Intraseasonal Variability of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall.” The research found that rainfall moisture in India originates from land rather than exclusively from the ocean. It also revised the understanding of which bodies of water are primarily responsible for moisture transfer. The research was featured in a Hindustan …

Ides, Shahroudi and Zhou publish second collaborative article

October 13, 2017

ESSIC researchers Kayo Ides, Narges Shahroudi and Yan Zhou have published a new article concerning NOAA’s Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) process called the Community Global OSSE Package (CGOP). Part one, describing and explaining how to use the CGOP, was published last year in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. The new article focuses on validation of CGOP simulated “perfect” observations. The authors conclude that the simulations are …

ESSIC staff present at EUMETSAT conference in Rome

October 13, 2017

ESSIC staff presented at the annual Meteorological Satellite Conference hosted by EUMETSAT in Rome in early October. Research Professor & CICS-MD Director Hugo Berbery gave a presentation titled “Consistency Analysis of the Water Cycle from Recently-Derived Satellite Products.” Other ESSIC scientists presented on NOAA scientific results, including Xiaolei Zou, Narges Shahroudi, Lin Lin, Andrew Harris, Bin Zhang, Manik Bali and Likun Wang….

Peterson publishes article in Journal of Geophysical Research

October 11, 2017

ESSIC post-doctoral associate Michael Peterson coauthored an article published in the Journal of Geophysical Research called “A TRMM/GPM retrieval of the total mean generator current for the global electric circuit.” The research quantifies electrified weather and analyzes variation in the current depending on region and time. View the article here….

Local Eats: Kapnos Taverna

October 8, 2017

Kapnos Kouzina in Bethesda … airy, bright, breezy. Its sibling, Kapnos Taverna at The Hotel at UMD … deeper colours, elegant, jazzy. Like the happy hour – house wines are decent and the nibbles are good (had the crispy eggplant). Nice blend of folk at the bar – hotel guests, campus fac/students, locals. Had the tyrokaftari spread on flatbread the other day at lunch – yum. Another welcome addition to the area.
4/5 forks Parking: validated parking in the hotel parking …

You probably won’t read past this headline, according to the Post’s Angela Fritz

October 4, 2017

Putting out an article on the 24/7 tidal wave of information that we call the internet – and expecting people to read it – sometimes feels hopeless, even for writers at the Washington Post. Still, it’s critical to do so, especially using techniques that accommodate today’s internet-driven culture. Washington Post deputy weather editor and atmospheric scientist Angela Fritz discussed the importance and challenges of communicating science news to the public at the University of …

Hall coauthors ESSD snow-cover article; Will speak at London conference

October 4, 2017

ESSIC research scientist Dorothy Hall coauthored the recently published article “Overview of NASA's MODIS and VIIRS Snow-Cover Earth System Data Records.” The article, published by Earth System Science Data (ESSD) analyzes the system that NASA uses to measure snow cover and how it has been improved to minimize error in snow detection. Additionally, Hall will give an invited talk at the International Workshop on Fiducial Reference Measurements for …

Workshop aims to strengthen science communication skills

September 29, 2017

ESSIC research associate professor Melissa Kenney was a co-organizer of a recent CMNS-sponsored science communication and public engagement workshop. The program, developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology, reinforces skills such as communicating with news media and creating effective presentation visuals. The ESSIC-hosted event was widely attended by researchers and faculty from across …