Real-time national GPS networks: Opportunities for atmospheric sensing

Real-time national Global Positioning System (GPS) networks are being established in a number of countries for atmospheric sensing. UCAR, in collaboration with participating universities, is developing one of these networks in the United States. The network, named "SuomiNet" to honor meteorological satellite pioneer Verner Suomi, is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. SuomiNet will exploit the recently-shown ability of ground-based GPS receivers to make thousands of accurate upper and lower atmospheric measurements per day. Phase delays induced in GPS signals by the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere can be measured with high precision simultaneously along up to a dozen GPS ray paths in the field of view. These delays can be converted into total electron content (TEC), and integrated water vapor (if surface pressure data or estimates are available), along each GPS ray path. The resulting continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time upper and lower atmospheric data create a variety of opportunities for atmospheric research. In this letter we describe SuomiNet, its applications, and the opportunity to coordinate national real-time GPS networks to create, a global network with larger scientific and operational potential. Copy right© The Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences (SGEPSS); The Seismological Society of Japan; The Volcanological Society of Japan; The Geodetic Society of Japan; The Japanese Society for Planetary Sciences

Correction to: Real-time national GPS networks: opportunities for atmospheric sensing (Earth, Planets and Space, (2000), 52, 11, (901-905), 10.1186/BF03352303)

Portions of this letter come from the content published in the paper by Ware et al. [1]

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Short- duration (1-3 h) rainfall extremes can cause serious damage to societies through rapidly developing (flash) flooding and are determined by complex, multifaceted processes that are altering as Earth's climate warms. In this Review, we examine evidence from observational, theoretical and modelling studies for the intensification of these rainfall extremes, the drivers and the impact on flash flooding. Both short- duration and long- duration (\textgreater1 day) rainfall extremes are intensifying with warming at a rate consistent with the increase in atmospheric moisture (~7% K-1), while in some regions, increases in short- duration extreme rainfall intensities are stronger than expected from moisture increases alone. These stronger local increases are related to feedbacks in convective clouds, but their exact role is uncertain because of the very small scales involved. Future extreme rainfall intensification is also modulated by changes to temperature stratification and large- scale atmospheric circulation. The latter remains a major source of uncertainty. Intensification of short- duration extremes has likely increased the incidence of flash flooding at local scales and this can further compound with an increase in storm spatial footprint to considerably increase total event rainfall. These findings call for urgent climate change adaptation measures to manage increasing flood risks

Real-time national GPS networks for atmospheric sensing

Real-time national global positioning system (GPS) networks are being established in a number of countries for atmospheric sensing. The authors, in collaboration with participating universities, are developing one of these networks in the United States. The proposed network, named "SuomiNet" to honor meteorological satellite pioneer Verner Suomi, is funded by the US National Science Foundation to exploit the recently shown ability of ground-based GPS receivers to make thousands of accurate upper and lower atmospheric measurements per day. Phase delays induced in GPS signals by the ionosphere and neutral atmosphere can be measured with high precision simultaneously along a dozen or so GPS ray paths in the field of view. These delays can be converted into integrated water-vapor (if surface pressure data or estimates are available) and total electron content (TEC), along each GPS ray path. The resulting continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time GPS moisture data will help advance university research in mesoscale modeling and data assimilation, severe weather, precipitation, cloud dynamics, regional climate and hydrology. Similarly, continuous, accurate, all-weather, real-time TEC data have applications in modeling and prediction of severe terrestrial and space weather, detection and forecasting of low-latitude ionospheric scintillation activity and geomagnetic storm effects at ionospheric mid-latitudes, and detection of ionospheric effects induced by a variety of geophysical events. SuomiNet data also have potential applications in coastal meteorology, providing ground truth for satellite radiometry, correction of synthetic aperture radar data for crustal deformation and topography studies, and detection of scintillation associated with atmospheric turbulence in the lower troposphere. In this paper we describe SuomiNet, its applications, and the larger opportunity to coordinate national real-time GPS networks to maximize their scientific and operational impact. © 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

Towards a process reference model for research management: An action design research effort at an Australian university

Increasing emphasis in the Higher Education sector for high impact research has generated a proliferation of activities aimed at supporting university research processes, commonly referred to as ‘research management’. While there has been considerable growth in this new field, it remains an elusive area, with a lacuna on what comprises good ‘research management’. A lack of common terminology and definition of the activities comprised within research management limits the capacity to provide efficient services, properly share learnings and consistently assess the effectiveness of this work. This paper discusses the development of a research management reference model, through an Action Design Research (ADR) project conducted at a leading Australian university. The model defines 10 core domains (with areas of activities and processes within each) that constitutes the end-to-end research management process. The model was derived and validated across four ADR cycles of a detailed case study – which proved its potential value. Future research is planned to further validate the model in other universities, both within Australia and internationally