Howard Diamond Briefs Visiting Spanish Scientists

November 2018

ATDD’s Dr. Howard Diamond represented ARL’s Acting Director, Dr. Ariel Stein, during an information-sharing meeting hosted at NOAA’s Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters on November 28, 2018. Dr. Diamond, the U.S. Climate Reference Network Program Manager and U.S. Global Climate Observing System National Coordinator, was one of four speakers who presented highlights of NOAA’s air quality efforts to a group of six air quality scientists from Spain. Diamond provided an overview of ARL’s widespread activities focused on the boundary layer, describing measurements, monitoring, and modeling efforts across the organization and sharing insight into ARL’s unique activities and resources, such as the HYSPLIT model, which are directly relevant to the National Air Quality Forecasting Capability.

The U.S. Department of State arranged the meeting as part of its premier professional exchange program, the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which connects current and emerging foreign leaders with their counterparts and related organizations in the U.S. The Spanish scientists represented a variety of agencies interested in air quality, including some who currently use NOAA products, all of which wanted to benefit from a firsthand account of NOAA’s efforts as a world leader in the field.

In addition to Dr. Diamond, representatives from the Office of Weather and Air Quality, the National Weather Service’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction Environmental Monitoring Center, the Office of Weather and Air Quality, and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research gave presentations. The well-received talks gave our Spanish visitors a good sense of the breadth of NOAA’s air quality science and monitoring activities and perhaps elicited thoughts for possible future collaborations.