HQ
Dr. Ariel Stein is an invited speaker for the NOAA Educational Partnership Program’s upcoming 9th Biennial Education and Science Forum, during which Mark Cohen and Alice Crawford will be providing HYSPLIT tutorial. Scheduled from March 18-21, 2018 and hosted by Howard University and NOAA Cooperative Science Center in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M), the theme of this event is “Partnering with Academia to Prepare Highly Skilled and Diverse Candidates for NOAA’s STEM Workforce: Building Successful Educational and Research Collaborations for an Inclusive NOAA Mission Enterprise.”

Hyun Cheol Kim will travel to South Korea from February 19-23, 2018 for a project progress meeting (“Source Apportionment of PM2.5 using three-dimensional photochemical models: Top-down adjustment of NOx and SO2 emissions”) and a symposium on particulate matter issues in South Korea. He will visit Ajou University, National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), and Gyeonggi Institute of Health and Environment, and will present recent research on “Particulate matter source apportionment in South Korea: Emissions update using top-down approach.”

On February 15, 2018, OAR HQ Climate Portfolio Liaison Monique Baskin visited ARL for an introductory briefing on the lab and its activities. Dr. Ariel Stein presented an overview of ARL’s history and current programs and Dr. Howard Diamond presented a more detailed overview of climate science and observation activities at both HQ and ATDD, which Baskin is scheduled to visit in the near future. These presentations highlighted the usage of, and dependence on, ARL’s data by not only other NOAA line offices, but also by other national and international organizations. Dr. Stein also gave Ms. Baskin an overview and tour of the measurements lab, explaining the criticality of our efforts to climate monitoring.

Fantine Ngan gave a presentation at the Earth System Research Laboratory’s (ESRL) Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model meeting on February 15, 2018, via webinar, entitled “Inline coupling of WRF-HYSPLIT.” The talk presented the overview, development, and features of inline HYSPLIT and showed the evaluations using controlled tracer experiments.

ATDD
LaToya Myles is planning to attend and present an overview of ATDD’s research at the 9th Biennial Education and Science Forum. She also serves on one of the planning committees for this event.

FRD
Dr. Kiran Bhananagar at the University of Texas San Antonio contacted FRD to discuss possible collaborations related to high-resolution modeling of tracer dispersion experiments. Her group focuses on direct numerical simulations, large eddy simulations, and other types of modeling of turbulent flows. They also have a sensor program that includes work with unmanned aerial vehicles.

A revised manuscript entitled “Data Assimilation Impact of Tall Towers, Wind Turbine Nacelle Anemometers, Sodars and Wind Profiling Radars on Wind Velocity and Power Forecasts during the First Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP)” with Jim Wilczak at ESRL as lead author and Rick Eckman as a coauthor is nearly ready to be submitted to a journal, possibly Wind Energy. It looks at improvements to the wind forecast skill of the Rapid Refresh model resulting from the assimilation of additional observations available during the Wind Forecast Improvement Project.

FRD staff and other collaborators have revised the manuscript “Plume Dispersion in Low Wind Speed Conditions During Project Sagebrush Phase 2 with Emphasis on Concentration Variability” in response to reviewer and editor comments at Boundary Layer Meteorology. Dennis Finn is the lead author, with Roger Carter, Rick Eckman, Jason Rich, and collaborators at Washington State University as coauthors. The manuscript focuses on the high spatial variability in plume concentrations observed during the nighttime tests of Project Sagebrush Phase 2. The revised manuscript will be sent back to the journal shortly.