The Payload Advisory Panel and the Data and Information System Advisory Panel of the Investigators Working Group of the Earth Observing System: A joint report

The Payload Advisory Panel of the Investigators Working Group (IWG) for the Earth Observing System (EOS) met 4 to 6 October 1993 in Herndon, Virginia. The Panel, originally composed of the Interdisciplinary Science Principal Investigators, was expanded to include all Principal Investigators and as such is now the IWG itself. The meeting also addressed directly a report from the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Advisory Panel. The meeting focused on payload issues in the years 2000 to 2005; however, some subjects in the nearer-term, most significantly EOSDIS, were considered. The overarching theme of convergence in Earth observations set a backdrop for the entire meeting. Other themes included: atmospheric chemistry; remote sensing of the global cycles of energy, water, and carbon in EOS; ocean and land-ice altimetry; and the EOSDIS. The Totol Solar Irradiance Monitoring Report and results from the Accelerated Canopy Chemistry Program are included as appendices

An Investigation of the Characterization of Cloud Contamination in Hyperspectral Radiances

In regions lacking direct observations, the assimilation of radiances from infrared and microwave sounders is the primary method for characterizing the atmosphere in the analysis process. In recent years, technological advances have led to the launching of more advanced sounders, particularly in the thermal infrared spectrum. With the advent of these hyperspectral sounders, the amount of data available for the analysis process has and will continue to be dramatically increased. However, the utilization of infrared radiances in variational assimilation can be problematic in the presence of clouds; specifically the assessment of the presence of clouds in an instantaneous field of view (IFOV) and the contamination in the individual channels within the IFOV. Various techniques have been developed to determine if a channel is contaminated by clouds. The work presented in this paper and subsequent presentation will investigate traditional techniques and compare them to a new technique, the C02 sorting technique, which utilizes the high spectral resolution of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) within the framework of the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) 3DVAR system. Ultimately, this work is done in preparation for the assessment of short-term forecast impacts with the regional assimilation of AIRS radiances within the analysis fields of the Weather Research and Forecast Nonhydrostatic Mesoscale Model (WRF-NMM) at the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPORT) Center

Southern hemisphere circulation anomalies associated with extreme Antarctic peninsula winter temperatures

The Southern Hemisphere reveals markedly different circulation patterns associated with extreme warm and cold Antarctic Peninsula (AP) winter temperatures. Warm winters are associated with negative 500 hPa height anomalies in the Amundsen Sea-Bellingshausen Sea (AS-BS) and positive anomalies in the South Pacific (SP) and Scotia Sea with opposing anomalies existent in cold winters. Furthermore, a switch in the relative strength of the two arms of the New Zealand split jet, the subtropical jet (STJ) and polar front jet (PFJ), occurs with the PFJ (STJ) strengthened and the STJ (PFJ) weakened in warm (cold) years leading to increased cyclonic activity in the AS-BS (SP) and a corresponding decrease in the SP (AS-BS). These hemispheric anomaly patterns bear a strong resemblance to those associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, and their origins can be ascribed to tropical sea surface temperatures (SST) changes. However, the correspondence between warm (cold) ENSO events and cold (warm) winters is not perfect. Potential contributors to this non-linearity include intraseasonal tropical SST variations (not necessarily represented in the usual filtered ENSO indices) and the persistence of local sea ice anomalies west of the Peninsula