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English: A top view scene of someone doing some research and going through the pages of a book and using a magnifying glass on it. The scene happens on a wooden background. There are also some other research related items in the scene, such as: sticky notes, pencil, ruler or notebook

ESSIC Scientists Earn NASA HBG Peer Awards

NASA recently announced the selections for the 2023 Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) Annual Peer Awards. Several ESSIC scientists were awarded for scientific achievement and scientific/technical support. The ceremony commemorating these awards was held on Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 2:00pm.

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Figure: The International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensors 128 X 128-pixel array of (a) event count, (b) total event energy density, (c) mean event energy density, (d) pixel minimum energy density, (e) pixel maximum energy density, and (f) pixelwise 95% quantile energy density during March 2017–September 2020, computed separately for each pixel, indexed by CCD pixel numbers.

Evaluating Lightning Observations from Space

ESSIC/CISESS Scientists Daile Zhang, Scott Rudlosky (NOAA), and colleagues published a study that uses the well-documented Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Lightning Imaging Sensors (LIS) performance to determine if the International Space Station (ISS) LIS performs well enough to bridge the gap between TRMM LIS and the new generation of Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLMs).

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The image on the left is from satellite imagery in a CA Sierra Nevada watershed. The image on the right is the same image with snow (blue pixels) identified using the approach discussed below. CREDIT: Justin Pflug

Estimating Forest Snow Resources Using Commercial Satellite Observations

1.2 billion people around the world rely on seasonal snow for their water supply. However, no snow-focused satellite currently exists. The satellites that do attempt to look at the spatial coverage and temperature of snow often struggle to retrieve information about snow in forested regions, which accounts for nearly half of Earth’s snow cover. The forest canopy blocks a lot of satellite remote sensing retrievals, forcing scientists to rely on models. However, processes that control how snow accumulates and melts are pretty different in forested and exposed locations. For example, warmer forests like in the US Pacific Northwest have larger amounts of snow intercepted by the forest canopy and winter snowmelt. This typically makes snow last longer in clearings than in the forest. The opposite is true in colder climates, where snow tends to last longer in the forest.

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ESSIC scientists attend the NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions Science Team Meeting. From left to right: Veljko Petkovic, Ralph Ferraro, Rachael Kroodsma, Lisa Milani, Chris Kidd, Robert Adler

ESSIC Attends NASA Precipitation Measurement Missions Science Team Meeting

Last week, NASA held its annual meeting of the Precipitation Measurement Mission (PMM) Science Team at the University of Minnesota. The team consists of approximately 40 principal investigators and several other co-investigators. ESSIC has eight scientists involved in this capacity. The PMM scientists present the current status of their projects that are centered around the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and its constellation of other satellites.

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Grand Challenges Team Meets With County Stakeholders

Last week, the Grand Challenges team, led by ESSIC Director Ellen Williams, met with Matt Fleming, Executive Director of the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, to begin a partnership to better understand the climate and environmental issues and priorities of Anne Arundel county and the city of Annapolis.

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