What is the JCSDA?
The Joint Center for Satellite Data
Assimilation (JCSDA) is dedicated to developing and improving the
ability to exploit satellite data more effectively in the United
States. It is a distributed and collaborative effort that facilitates
the usefulness of billions of satellite observations
available daily and shared across several operational agencies in the
United States.
JCSDA Vision:
A weather, climate and environmental analysis and prediction
community empowered to effectively assimilate increasing amounts
of advanced satellite observations from the evolving Global Earth
Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).
JCSDA Mission:
To accelerate and improve the quantitative use of research and
operational satellite data in weather, ocean, climate and
environmental analysis and prediction systems. Satellite data
volume has increased one-hundred-thousand fold in the past decade,
from nearly fifty new instruments.
JCSDA Goals:
- Reduce from two years to one year the average time for
operational implementation of new satellite technology
- Increase uses of current satellite data in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models
- Advance the common NWP models and data assimilation infrastructure
- Assess the impacts of data from advanced satellite sensors on weather and climate predictions
The 2nd Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation Summer
Colloquium was held in Santa Fe, NM from July 24 - August 3,
2012. The objective of these Colloquia is to foster the
education of the next generation of data assimilation scientists.
Eighteen graduate students and recent post-docs, as well as one
more senior scientist, took part, selected by the JCSDA Executive
Team from a pool of 27 applicants. A substantial fraction of the
students have research interests beyond weather, including air
quality and aerosols, climate, oceans, and ecosystem production.
More...
Northern Hemisphere Dropouts
Day-7 500 hPa geopotential height anomaly correlation scores for control (blue)
and experiment (red), with verification of day-7 dropout events in panels
a and b highlighted.
Researchers Brett Hoover and David Santek of the University of Wisconsin,
working under a grant from the Joint Center, are trying to refine the procedure
used to control the quality of winds derived from MODIS observations in NH and
SH Polar Regions. The winds - or atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) - are obtained
by tracking cloud and water vapor features in infrared window and water
vapor bands from successive orbits. The figure shows day 7 NH anomaly
correlations for control forecasts and experimental forecasts with an
improved QC system. Points labeled a and b represent forecast busts -
sometimes referred to as dropouts. Hoover and Santek find that performance
on non-dropout days is largely unchanged, but that a positive impact is
observed in some (e.g., a) but not all (e.g., b) forecast dropout events.
In this preliminary report they attempt to relate improvements (or lack thereof)
in forecast busts to the prevailing flow regime.
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The Fiscal Year 2013 Federal Funding Opportunity for JCSDA external grants on
Research in Satellite Data Assimilation for Numerical Environmental Prediction is posted at:
JCSDA 2013 Federal Funding Opportunity
The announcement calls for proposals for scientific projects in the following areas:
1.Testing and integration of existing, fully validated and operationally-generated
quality control parameters and satellite products, into U.S. operational
data assimilation models (for weather, ocean or land) with an aim to
improve the forecast skill (using global and/or regional metrics).
Preference will be given to sensors and/or parameters with a likelihood
of providing a positive impact on U.S. operational forecast skills.
2.Assimilation of surface-sensitive channels and cloud or rain-impacted
radiances, from both microwave and infrared sensors.
3.Upgrade of Line by Line modeling in support of the U.S. Community
Radiative Transfer Model, with a focus on bringing this LBL capability
to modern standards and incorporating recent updates.
Coordination with JCSDA's CRTM team is expected.
Total funding is expected to be approximately $500,000 per year.
Individual annual awards in the form of grants or cooperative
agreements are expected to range from $90,000 to $150,000.
It is anticipated that 3-5 awards will be made. Project duration
will be 1-2 years, with funding for the second year contingent
on satisfactory progress in the first year and funding availability.
Letters of Intent to propose are due by Nov. 1, and full proposals
by Jan. 2, 2013. Proposers should follow application and
submission directions spelled out in the FFO.
The due date for submission of proposals to the Fiscal Year 2013 Federal
Funding Opportunity for JCSDA external grants on Research in Satellite
Data Assimilation for Numerical Environmental Prediction was January 2, 2013.
The Joint Center management team has initiated a review and selection process
that is expected to be completed by the end of the spring.
We anticipate that the start date for approved projects will be August 1, 2013.
For additional information contact
Sid.Boukabara@noaa.gov
More than 130 scientists from the JCSDA and its academic and private sector partners,
including principal investigators, program managers and JCSDA management/staff,
participated in the 10th Annual JCSDA Workshop on Satellite Data Assimilation,
at NOAA's new Center for Weather and Climate Prediction on the research campus
of the University of Maryland in College Park, October 10 - 12, 2012. The plenary
sessions were held in the building's magnificent new auditorium with its
state-of-the-art audio-visual and connectivity infrastructure.
The purpose of these annual workshops is to review the ongoing and planned
scientific development sponsored by the Center, and to plan and coordinate
future efforts. The Joint Center supports scientific development work with
proposal-based, internally directed funds as well as with external grants
awarded via a competitive process open to the broader scientific community.
In addition, JCSDA individual partners undertake their own research
contributing to the Center's objectives.
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