Welcome to the
Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA)

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

Report from the 2012 Summer Colloquium

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...

Polar Winds and Forecast Busts

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.    More...

Update: JCSDA - 2013 Research in Satellite Data Assimilation for Numerical Environmental Prediction

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

Summary of 10th JCSDA Workshop on Satellite Data Assimilation

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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