Working with the enemy? Social work education and men who use intimate partner violence

This article examines service user involvement in social work education. It discusses the challenges and ethical considerations of involving populations who may previously have been excluded from user involvement initiatives, raising questions about the benefits and challenges of their involvement. The article then provides discussion of an approach to service user involvement in social work education with one of these populations, men who use violence in their intimate relationships, and concludes by considering the implications of their involvement for the social work academy

Evaluation of Fengyun-3C Soil Moisture Products Using In-Situ Data from the Chinese Automatic Soil Moisture Observation Stations: A Case Study in Henan Province, China

Soil moisture (SM) products derived from passive satellite missions are playing an increasingly important role in agricultural applications, especially crop monitoring and disaster warning. Evaluating the dependability of satellite-derived soil moisture products on a large scale is crucial. In this study, we assessed the level 2 (L2) SM product from the Chinese Fengyun-3C (FY-3C) radiometer against in-situ measurements collected from the Chinese Automatic Soil Moisture Observation Stations (CASMOS) during a one-year period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 across Henan in China. In contrast, we also investigated the skill of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) SM products simultaneously. Four statistical parameters were used to evaluate these products’ reliability: mean difference, root-mean-square error (RMSE), unbiased RMSE (ubRMSE), and the correlation coefficient. Our assessment results revealed that the FY-3C L2 SM product generally showed a poor correlation with the in-situ SM data from CASMOS on both temporal and spatial scales. The AMSR2 L3 SM product of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) algorithm had a similar level of skill as FY-3C in the study area. The SMAP L3 SM product outperformed the FY-3C temporally but showed lower performance in capturing the SM spatial variation. A time-series analysis indicated that the correlations and estimated error varied systematically through the growing periods of the key crops in our study area. FY-3C L2 SM data tended to overestimate soil moisture during May, August, and September when the crops reached maximum vegetation density and tended to underestimate the soil moisture content during the rest of the year. The comparison between the statistical parameters and the ground vegetation water content (VWC) further showed that the FY-3C SM product performed much better under a low VWC condition (0.3 kg/m2), and the performance generally decreased with increased VWC. To improve the accuracy of the FY-3C SM product, an improved algorithm that can better characterize the variations of the ground VWC should be applied in the future

REFLECTIONS ON SINO-US SPACE COOPERATION

Since 2006, the US Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies has sponsored an annual workshop examining the strategic impact and implications of China’s space program. This workshop series has blossomed into a Track-II process, with participants from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and unofficial US government presence. A key focus of many of the discussions during these workshops has been the prospects for Sino-US cooperation in space. This issue has gained prominence since the 2007 PRC ASAT test, and the US subsequent 2008 American destruction of a malfunctioning satellite. Sino-US space cooperation is seen as potentially serving a confidence-building function, allowing the two sides to familiarize themselves with each other. This paper will examine some of the proposals laid out in these workshops for proposal, and discuss the potential pitfalls that confront them. It will then make some suggestions about how cooperation might be fostered

Satellite-based In-situ Monitoring of Space Weather:

Many recent satellites have mission periods longer than 10 years; thus, satellite-based local space weather monitoring is becoming more important than ever. This article describes the instruments and data applications of the Korea Space wEather Monitor (KSEM), which is a space weather payload of the GeoKompsat-2A (GK-2A) geostationary satellite. The KSEM payload consists of energetic particle detectors, magnetometers, and a satellite charging monitor. KSEM will provide accurate measurements of the energetic particle flux and three-axis magnetic field, which are the most essential elements of space weather events, and use sensors and external data such as GOES and DSCOVR to provide five essential space weather products. The longitude of GK-2A is 128.2° E, while those of the GOES satellite series are 75° W and 135° W. Multi-satellite measurements of a wide distribution of geostationary equatorial orbits by KSEM/GK-2A and other satellites will enable the development, improvement, and verification of new space weather forecasting models. KSEM employs a service-oriented magnetometer designed by ESA to reduce magnetic noise from the satellite in real time with a very short boom (1 m), which demonstrates that a satellite-based magnetometer can be made simpler and more convenient without losing any performance

Half a century of satellite remote sensing of sea-surface temperature

Sea-surface temperature (SST) was one of the first ocean variables to be studied from earth observation satellites. Pioneering images from infrared scanning radiometers revealed the complexity of the surface temperature fields, but these were derived from radiance measurements at orbital heights and included the effects of the intervening atmosphere. Corrections for the effects of the atmosphere to make quantitative estimates of the SST became possible when radiometers with multiple infrared channels were deployed in 1979. At the same time, imaging microwave radiometers with SST capabilities were also flown. Since then, SST has been derived from infrared and microwave radiometers on polar orbiting satellites and from infrared radiometers on geostationary spacecraft. As the performances of satellite radiometers and SST retrieval algorithms improved, accurate, global, high resolution, frequently sampled SST fields became fundamental to many research and operational activities. Here we provide an overview of the physics of the derivation of SST and the history of the development of satellite instruments over half a century. As demonstrated accuracies increased, they stimulated scientific research into the oceans, the coupled ocean-atmosphere system and the climate. We provide brief overviews of the development of some applications, including the feasibility of generating Climate Data Records. We summarize the important role of the Group for High Resolution SST (GHRSST) in providing a forum for scientists and operational practitioners to discuss problems and results, and to help coordinate activities world-wide, including alignment of data formatting and protocols and research. The challenges of burgeoning data volumes, data distribution and analysis have benefited from simultaneous progress in computing power, high capacity storage, and communications over the Internet, so we summarize the development and current capabilities of data archives. We conclude with an outlook of developments anticipated in the next decade or so

Processing and quality control of FY-3C GNOS data used in numerical weather prediction applications

The Chinese radio occultation sounder GNOS (Global Navigation Occultation Sounder) is on the FY-3C satellite, which was launched on 23 September 2013. Currently, GNOS data are transmitted via the Global Telecommunications System (GTS), providing 450–500 profiles per day for numerical weather prediction applications. This paper describes the processing of the GNOS profiles with large biases related to L2 signal degradation. A new extrapolation procedure in bending angle space corrects the L2 bending angles using a thin ionosphere model and the fitting relationship between L1 and L2. We apply the approach to improve the L2 extrapolation of GNOS. The new method can effectively eliminate about 90&thinsp;% of large departures. In addition to the procedure for the L2 degradation, this paper also describes our quality control (QC) for FY-3C GNOS. A noise estimate for the new L2 extrapolation can be used as a QC parameter to evaluate the performance of the extrapolation. A statistical comparison between GNOS bending angles and short-range ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) forecast bending angles demonstrates that GNOS performs almost as well as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS), especially in the core region from around 10 to 35&thinsp;km. The GNOS data with the new L2 extrapolation are suitable for assimilation into numerical weather prediction systems.</p

Observational needs of sea surface temperature

Sea surface temperature (SST) is a fundamental physical variable for understanding, quantifying and predicting complex interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. Such processes determine how heat from the sun is redistributed across the global oceans, directly impacting large- and small-scale weather and climate patterns. The provision of daily maps of global SST for operational systems, climate modeling and the broader scientific community is now a mature and sustained service coordinated by the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST) and the CEOS SST Virtual Constellation (CEOS SST-VC). Data streams are shared, indexed, processed, quality controlled, analyzed, and documented within a Regional/Global Task Sharing (R/GTS) framework, which is implemented internationally in a distributed manner. Products rely on a combination of low-Earth orbit infrared and microwave satellite imagery, geostationary orbit infrared satellite imagery, and in situ data from moored and drifting buoys, Argo floats, and a suite of independent, fully characterized and traceable in situ measurements for product validation (Fiducial Reference Measurements, FRM). Research and development continues to tackle problems such as instrument calibration, algorithm development, diurnal variability, derivation of high-quality skin and depth temperatures, and areas of specific interest such as the high latitudes and coastal areas. In this white paper, we review progress versus the challenges we set out 10 years ago in a previous paper, highlight remaining and new research and development challenges for the next 10 years (such as the need for sustained continuity of passive microwave SST using a 6.9 GHz channel), and conclude with needs to achieve an integrated global high-resolution SST observing system, with focus on satellite observations exploited in conjunction with in situ SSTs. The paper directly relates to the theme of Data Information Systems and also contributes to Ocean Observing Governance and Ocean Technology and Networks within the OceanObs2019 objectives. Applications of SST contribute to all the seven societal benefits, covering Discovery; Ecosystem Health & Biodiversity; Climate Variability & Change; Water, Food, & Energy Security; Pollution & Human Health; Hazards and Maritime Safety; and the Blue Economy

Estimation of hourly land surface heat fluxes over the Tibetan Plateau by the combined use of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites

Estimation of land surface heat fluxes is important for energy and water cycle studies, especially on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), where the topography is unique and the land–atmosphere interactions are strong. The land surface heating conditions also directly influence the movement of atmospheric circulation. However, high-temporal-resolution information on the plateau-scale land surface heat fluxes has been lacking for a long time, which significantly limits the understanding of diurnal variations in land–atmosphere interactions. Based on geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite data, the surface energy balance system (SEBS) was used in this paper to derive hourly land surface heat fluxes at a spatial resolution of 10&thinsp;km. Six stations scattered throughout the TP and equipped for flux tower measurements were used to perform a cross-validation. The results showed good agreement between the derived fluxes and in situ measurements through 3738 validation samples. The root-mean-square errors (RMSEs) for net radiation flux, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux and soil heat flux were 76.63, 60.29, 71.03 and 37.5&thinsp;W&thinsp;m−2, respectively; the derived results were also found to be superior to the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) flux products (with RMSEs for the surface energy balance components of 114.32, 67.77, 75.6 and 40.05&thinsp;W&thinsp;m−2, respectively). The diurnal and seasonal cycles of the land surface energy balance components were clearly identified, and their spatial distribution was found to be consistent with the heterogeneous land surface conditions and the general hydrometeorological conditions of the TP.</p