NASA-EPSCoR THEMES

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE/CLIMATE

Rapporteur – John Helsdon, SDSM&T

Themes presented for consideration (in no particular order)

• Using lightning activity, as observed from space, as a predictor of summer convective rainfall. (Helsdon)
• Develop a total-column water vapor climatology over SD using ground-based sensors. (DeFelice)
• Quantification of the error involved in using low-resolution aerosol optical thickness data for atmospheric correction of electro-optical sensor imagery over SD. (DeFelice)
• Meteorological and physical characteristics of fog in SD. (DeFelice)
• Precipitation estimation from multiple satellite spectral channels over SD. (DeFelice)
• Relationship between remote sensing of cloud properties, observed precipitation amount and efficiency, cloud electrification and lightning, and tropospheric aerosol properties. (Detwiler)
• Surface heterogeneity representations in mesoscale models. (Capehart)
• Atmospheric water budgets over the prairie wetlands. (Capehart)
• Expansion of the Land Data Assimilation System to include wetland coverage. (Capehart)
• The optical properties of atmospheric aerosols and their effects on satellite images of the earth’s surface – small-scale temporal and spatial variations. (Schiller)
• Analysis of ground validation data for TRMM including ground evaluation data from the prairie potholes of Eastern SD. (Hjelmfelt and Smith)
• Studies of trace gas fluxes of specific chemical species as indicators of ecosystem structure and function in the Prairie Wetlands complex (Zimmerman)
• Study relationships among surface processes and their spectral characteristics to develop satellite-based monitoring systems (Zimmerman)
• Conduct observational and mechanistic studies of the Prairie Wetlands complex on several spatial and temporal scales (Zimmerman)

The above themes can be combined under five categories:

    1.   WATER BUDGET COMPONENT STUDIES (Capehart, DeFelice, Detwiler, Helsdon, Hjelmfelt, and Smith)

• Total-column water vapor climatology
• Precipitation estimation using various satellite-based techniques
• Relating TRMM ground validation precipitation data to SD (wetlands)
• Total water budget analysis over wetlands

    2.    AEROSOL STUDIES (DeFelice, Detwiler, and Schiller)

• Error analysis of low resolution aerosol optical thickness – impact on satellite imagery
• Tropospheric aerosol properties
• Optical properties of aerosols – small scale temporal and spatial variations

   3.    MODELING STUDIES (Capehart)

• Surface heterogeneity – improved representation in mesoscale models
• Expansion of LDAS to include wetland coverage

   4.    TRACE GAS STUDIES (Zimmerman)

• Study fluxes of specific trace gas species
• Develop satellite-based monitoring systems
• Observational and mechanistic studies on multiple spatial and temporal scales

    5.    OTHER (DeFelice)

• Characterization of fog in SD

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