News Briefs

Comings and goings

Victor Homar joined NSSL as an NRC post-doctoral scientist from Majorca, Spain. He is working with Dave Stensrud to examine the sensitivity of forecast extreme weather events in the U.S. and western Mediterranean to model initial and boundary conditions.

Zhongqi Jing left NSSL to continue working on software maintenance and development with the recently completed ORPG at the NWS Radar Operations Center.

FAA Excellence Award

NSSL was one of ten recipients of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Excellence in Aviation Award for 2002. NSSL was cited for its contribution to the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program, which was organized to generate more accurate and accessible aviation weather observations, warnings and forecasts. The award formally recognizes significant accomplishments resulting from aviation-related research efforts. NSSL continues to develop better ways to use NEXRAD weather radar data in aviation safety products and displays. Kim Elmore (CIMMS) accepted the award on behalf of the CIMMS and NSSL employees who worked on the project.

NASA asks NSSL to use their radar expertise to help with shuttle investigation

Three NASA officials spent several days with NSSL researchers in Norman studying NEXRAD data for clues following the recent shuttle disaster. Researchers used the experimental Warning Decision Support System - Integrated Information (WDSS-II), to analyze radar images of shuttle debris gathered by the Radar Operations Center and the National Weather Service Southern Region immediately following the tragedy. The radar data will help determine the trajectory of the debris as it fell.

Outstanding Scientific Research Paper

The Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) announced the 2002 Outstanding Scientific Paper Awards which included NSSL/CIMMS staff: Dave Jorgensen, et al. were recognized for "A dual-pulse repetition frequency scheme for mitigating velocity ambiguities of the NOAA P-3 airborne doppler radar." Outstanding Scientific Review Paper awards were given to R.B. Wilhelmson and Lou Wicker for "Numerical modeling of severe local storms," and to Bob Davies-Jones, Jeff Trapp, and Howie Bluestein for "Tornadoes and tornadic storms."

Severe Weather Workshop

The 2003 National Severe Weather Workshop was held February 27 through March 1 in Norman, OK. The annual threeday workshop, "Building Local and National Partnerships to Save Lives," was designed to enhance partnerships between severe weather forecasters and researchers, emergency managers, broadcast meteorologists, businesses, storm spotters and other weather enthusiasts. The latest techniques and practices for severe weather preparedness and response were presented by severe weather experts from across the nation during the workshop.

AUITI (Acronyms Used In This Issue)

CIMMS - Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
FAA - Federal Aviation Administration
GPS - Global Positioning System
IHOP - International H20 Project
MCS - Mesoscale Convective System
MCV - Mesoscale Convective Vortex
NCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NSSL - National Severe Storms Laboratory
NWS - National Weather Service
OU - University of Oklahoma
SPC - Storm Prediction Center
SMART-R- Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar
WSR-88D - Weather Surveillance Radar - 88 Doppler, same as NEXRAD