VOCALS-REx Field Campaign
During October and November 2008, some 150 scientists from 40 institutions in eight nations will take part in the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems' (VAMOS) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx). VOCALS-REx is an international field program designed to make observations of critical components in the coupled climate system of the southeastern Pacific that are poorly understood and poorly represented in global climate models. That region is dominated by strong coastal upwelling and extensive cold sea surface temperatures; and it is home to the largest deck of stratocumulus clouds on Earth.

Specific foci of the campaign will be on processes controlling the properties of stratocumulus clouds, processes controlling the ocean transport of cold freshwater offshore, and chemical and physical interactions between the lower atmosphere and upper ocean. The experiment is a major component of the VOCALS program whose primary goal is to achieve improved understanding, model simulations, and predictions of the southeastern Pacific region's coupled ocean-atmosphere-land system on diurnal to inter-annual timescales. VOCAL-REx is an interagency effort with major contributions from the NOAA Climate Program Office's Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA). For more information, visit the VOCALs Web site.


Fig. 1 The VOCAL-REx Field Campaign. Schematic of the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems (VAMOS) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx).

CPO Personnel Receive Prestigious Awards
Several members of the Climate Program Office received awards this week, recognizing their contributions to the work of NOAA and the Federal government.

Chester J. Koblinsky, Director of the Climate Program Office, received the prestigious Presidential Rank Award, the highest award given to senior executives in the Federal service. Dr. Koblinsky is among 13 recipients from six Department of Commerce agencies recognized for their consistent excellence and superior accomplishments in service to the government.

Additionally, several CPO personnel received the 2008 NOAA Administrator's Award for NOAA-specific contributions. Christopher Miller, Krisa Arzayus, Lisa Vaughan, Nancy Beller-Simms, Neil Christersen, and Roger Pulwarty were acknowledged for outstanding leadership and dedication in developing U.S. CCSP Synthesis & Assessment Products that integrate climate research with decision support. The awardees were recognized by NOAA Administrator Vice Admiral Lautenbacher in a ceremony on October 22, 2008 in Silver Spring, Maryland.