CREST Attends AMS 2015 in Arizona

Posted on January 12, 2015

This year started out on a very exciting note! The 95th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting took place in Phoenix, Arizona from January 4th through 8th. Our research results at CREST took a big step forward in 2014 and we proudly showcased these achievements at the AMS meeting.

AMS is one of the largest events dedicated to the advances in atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences. The society has more than 13,000 members including the best meteorologists, hydrologists and other weather scientists.

Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA Administrator, was a keynote speaker and presented her vision for the meteorology enterprise in 2040. She mentioned the importance of Environmental intelligence and the world-changing technologies that were not available a year before. She emphasized the development of the innovative new ways to sample the atmosphere, and radical improvements in ocean and terrestrial observations.

Dr. Alexander (Sandy) MacDonald, Earth System Research Laboratory Director of CREST sponsor, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), assumed the role of the AMS President on the first day of the meeting. Dr. MacDonald commented, “I hope to make the best use of my years of experience to bring the government, commercial, and academic communities together.” Dr. MacDonald’s experience includes 43 years at NOAA, with an honorable list of awards and achievements in the fields of weather and climate. One of his most prominent achievements is the invention of Science On a Sphere which was showcased at the NOAA’s AMS exhibit and a technology CREST featured at last year’s Satellites and Society symposium. The sphere displays full-color animated images of satellite, geophysical, and astronomical data. It is an educational tool used by numerous museums and science centers around the world.

CREST Director, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi attended the meeting with the new NESDIS Assistant Administrator, Dr. Stephen Volz, and other NESDIS leadership. Dr. Khanbilvardi gave an overview of the 14 years of NOAA CREST sciences, education and outreach activities. More than 20 NOAA CREST members attended the AMS 2015 including Ruben Delgado, Barry Gross, Brian Vant-Hull, Nathan Hosannah, and CREST graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Gross and scientists from his group presented several abstracts describing how remote sensing can enable more accurate identification of air quality. NOAA-CREST Assistant Director, Shakila Merchant, participated in the pre-AMS meeting and networked with several potential graduate and undergraduate students interested to join NOAA-CREST at CCNY, Hampton University and UMBC. She also attended the WeatherFest, NCAS hosted Colour of Weather networking event and the 24th Symposium on Education. NOAA-Educational Partnership Program Cooperative Science Centers will propose to organize a session on NOAA Sciences and Education. This session will be held at the AMS 2016 Symposium on Education in New Orleans, LA. The session will fit well with the 2016 AMS theme Earth System Science in Service to Society.

The phrase “the climate is changing” was heard repeatedly throughout the meeting. However, during her address to AMS attendees, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy remained optimistic about what this means to scientists in our field, “If there is ever a challenge where the U.S. can shine and provide leadership, it is the challenge of climate change.” Powerful motivation for us all, especially us here at CREST.