GOES-R PG: NWS Visits

Planned National Weather Service (NWS) Site Visits:

(none at this time)

Completed Proving Ground NWS Collaborative Site Visits:

Date
 Location
 Key Participants
February 17, 2009
Milwaukee, WI WFO From CIMSS: R. Aune, W. Feltz, J. Gerth, S. Lindstrom, R. Peterson, T. Schmit, K. Strabala, G. Wade; From the MKX WFO: S. Brueske (MIC), SOO J. Craven (SOO), J. Weidenfeld (ITO), C. Backlund, M. Cronce, S. Davis, C. Franks, M. Kavinsky, C. Kuhlman, C. Obergfell, R. Scharr, D. VanCleve, P. Zabel.
Purpose: CIMSS staff spent the day at the Milwaukee/Sullivan WFO to discuss the transfer of research to operations, with the meeting theme "Building on a collaborative foundation for success in operational satellite meteorology". Several CIMSS and NWS staff gave presentations during the meeting.
January 27, 2009
CIMSS (Madison, WI) From CIMSS: R. Aune, S. Bachmeier, K. Bah, J. Gerth, T. Schmit, G. Wade; From the MKX WFO: MIC S. Brueske, SOO J. Craven, ITO J. Weidenfeld, B. Borghoff, S. Davis.
Purpose: NWS MKX staff spent the day at CIMSS to discuss the transfer of research to operations, with the meeting theme of "Catering to the satellite needs of operational meteorology". Several CIMSS staff and NWS MKX staff gave presentations during the meeting.
November 5, 2008
 Boulder, CO WFO From CIRA/RAMMB: Steve Miller, Mark DeMaria, Deb Molenar, Bernie Connell, Ed Szoke and Renate Brummer. From the BOU WFO: MIC Larry Mooney, SOO Eric Thaler an d ITO Dave Tomalak. Also in attendance was Brian Motta (NWS/GSD/COMET).
Purpose: Discussion of an initial WFO BOU PG product list and technical realization. Follow-up actions: Dave Tomalak and Deb Molenar will work on introducing a BOU localization for the initial PG products.
October 14, 2008
 Boulder, CO WFO From CIRA: Ed Szoke and Renate Brummer. From the BOU WFO: about ha lf the staff, including SOO Eric Thaler and MIC Larry Mooney.
Purpose: Talk concerning our planned GOES- R Proving Ground interactions with the WFO at the WFO BOU Winter Workshop. Follow-up actions: As with the first meeting, the staff continued to be receptive to this project. There were a few more questions regarding some potential products down the road, such as convective produ cts, and definite interest in any type of good low cloud/fog product.
October 14, 2008
 Cheyenne, WY WFO Ed Szoke and Renate Brummer did the talk from Boulder. At CYS ab out half the staff attended (the other half), including SOO Melissa Goering.
Purpose: Talk concerning our planned GOES- R Proving Ground interactions with the WFO at the WFO CYS Winter Workshop. Follow-up actions: Similar to the earlier meeting. Because this second workshop, a repeat of the first for thos e who could not attend the first one, occurred exactly at the same time as the Boulder's seco nd workshop, we ended up doing this one by conference call, with Melissa showing the presenta tion as we talked. No specific concerns were raised by the WFO staff about their taking part in this interaction.
October 7, 2008
 Boulder, CO WFO From CIRA: Ed Szoke and Renate Brummer. From the BOU WFO: about half the staf f, including SOO Eric Thaler and MIC Larry Mooney. Also in attendance was Brian Motta (NWS/GS D/COMET)..
Purpose: Talk concerning our planned GOES- R Proving Ground interactions with the WFO at the WFO BOU Winter Workshop. Follow-up actions: Similar to the Cheyenne discussion, the staff is receptive to this project. Being a high-vis ibility WFO co-located with research labs in Boulder, they have a long history (actually dati ng back to the early 1980s when they were in Denver) of being involved in various evaluation projects. Specific follow-up would be on the technical end with Deb Molenar interacting with the Boulder IT person, Dave Tomalak.
October 2, 2008
 Cheyenne, WY WFO From CIRA: Ed Szoke. From CYS WFO: about half the staff, including SOO Meliss a Goering and MIC John Eise.
Purpose: Talk concerning our planned GOES- R Proving Ground interactions with the WFO at the WFO CYS Winter Workshop. Follow-up actions: Told the staff that we expected the first products to be available for their AWIPS in Novemb er, so follow-up would be accomplishing this, initially with Deb Molenar interacting with the ir IT person, Mike Gillen. Staff was receptive to being involved in the GOES-R Proving Ground , and, per our summer visit, had ideas about potentially useful products.
September 17, 2008
 CIMSS (Madison, WI) M. Cronce (Milwaukee WI WFO)
M. Cronce is a new general forecaster who will serve as the de facto liaison between NWS Sullivan and CIMSS to increase dialogue between the two institutions.  As part of the visit, M. Cronce met with three NESDIS Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) scientists and several state scientists to discuss operational implications of current and future Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), as well as the background and impetus of the GOES-R Proving Ground.
September 3, 2008
 Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI WFO J. Craven, K. Licitar, S. Hentz, J. Wood
On K. Licitar's last day as the Informatio n Technology Officer before retirement, J. Gerth met with him to give thanks and praise for his dedicated work with CIMSS as part of the GOES-R Proving Ground.  J. Gerth also talked with a large number of NWS Sullivan forecasters about GOES-R Proving Ground and research to operations activities of the past, present, and future.
August 22, 2008
 Nashvile, TN WFO
 H. Steigerwaldt, M. Davis
J. Gerth and Information Technology Office r M. Davis worked to troubleshoot the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS) ingest.  J. Gerth and H. Steigerwaldt talked about the GOES-R Proving Ground and the use of satellite imagery in operations.  There were also informal discussions with forecasters about imagery from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
August 20, 2008
 Huntsville, AL WFO
 M. Coyne, J. Burks
J. Gerth met with Meteorologist-In-Charge M. Coyne and Information Technology Officer J. Burks to discuss the unique arrangement between NWS Huntsville and the Short-term Prediction and Transition Center (SPoRT).  Also discussed was how NWS Huntsville, SPoRT, and CIMSS can work together to strongly embrace the collective mission of the GOES-R Proving Ground.
August 5, 2008
 Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI WFO J. Craven, K. Licitar, R. McMahon, J. Wood, M. Gehring
NWS Sullivan was introduced to gridded dat a from the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS), which has a purpose of illustrating the benefit of satellite observations in numerical weather prediction (NWP).  The new CRAS data in GRIdded Binary 2 (GRIB2) format, added into the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) will give forecasters a different perspective than existing NWP models.  The existing suite of GOES-R Proving Ground images and products were also checked to verify their accessibility in AWIPS.
July 31, 2008
 CIMSS (Madison, WI)
 C. Backlund, C. Franks, S. Hentz, K. Licitar (Milwaukee WI WFO)
As a part of current collaborative activities in exchanging data and information with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Sullivan, Wisconsin, J. Gerth gave a brief demonstration of the next generation AWIPS, AWIPS II, introducing the server architecture and user interface.  K. Bah show the visitors synethic GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) imagery he was preparing as part of a case for the Weather Event Simulator (WES).
June 25, 2008
 Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI WFO J. Craven, K. Licitar, S. Hentz, M. Gehring, P. Collar
As part of an effort to keep project objec tives relative to the needs of the field forecasters, informal presentations and meetings were held with present office staff to discuss the future of satellite imagery and how it can assist in weather situations difficult to forecast.  The current research-to-operations, including GOES-R Proving Ground, images and products currently transmitted to NWS Sullivan was assessed, with some minor corrections made.  Feedback was collected.
June 20, 2008
 Cheyenne, WY WFO From CIRA/RAMMB: Mark DeMaria, Steve Miller, Deb Molenar, Ed Szoke, Renate Brumm er. From WFO/CYS: Melissa Goering (SOO), Michael Gillen (Supervisor IT Specialist), Ray Gomez (ITO) , Richard Emanual (Forecaster), Dan Deal (Hydrometeorological technician), Scott Carpenter (S enior Forecaster).
Purpose: Initial Proving ground meeting wi th WFO CYS in Cheyenne. Talk concerning our planned GOES-R Proving Ground interactions with t he WFO. Follow-up actions: An initial list of useful PG products was created. The technical e xperts Deb Molenar and Ray Gomez defined which technical steps are needed to introduce new pr oducts into the CYS AWIPS system.
May 29-30, 2008
 Central Region Headquarters, Aviation Weather Center ( Kansas City, MO)
 P. Browning, G. Noonan, S. Silberberg
At NWS Central Region Headquarters (CRH) in Kansas City, MO, six CIMSS and Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB) scientists presented five talks and led discussions on new satellite applications, developed at CIMSS/ASPB, and provided to NWS via the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) as part of GOES-R Proving Ground and related activities. Satellite topics included MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) applications, updates on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder products, special aviation weather satellite products, forecast imagery from the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS), and a dynamic "nearcasting" system. There were a dozen participants on-site from CRH, the NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC), and the two nearest NWS Forecast Offices (FOs; Topeka, KS and Pleasant Hill, MO), while about ten other NWS FOs participated remotely via web broadcast.  The visiting CIMSS team were able to tour the AWC and continue their discussions with more forecasters.
May 22, 2008
 CIMSS (Madison, WI) L. Maximuk (Central Region HQ), K. Rizzo, J. Wood (Milwaukee WI WFO)
The Sub-regional (“Midwest”) Data Stewardship Workshop was held on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.  Amidst the meeting proceedings, Central Region Director L. Maximuk and NWS Sullivan Meteorologist-In-Charge K. Rizzo visited the CIMSS to discuss some of the local CIMSS activities dealing with the NWS and satellite applications in AWIPS.  This included talk of the GOES-R Proving Ground.
April 17 and April 25, 2008
 Boulder, CO WFO From CIRA: Ed Szoke. From CYS WFO: about half the NWS staff (including SOO Eric Thaler and MIC Larry Mooney)
Purpose: initial introduction of the GOES-R Proving Ground concept. Follow-up actions: The CIRA team committed to a follow-up meeting to introdu ce an initial Proving Ground plan and to discuss an initial list of PG products suitable for the WFO BOU.