NOAA, EUMETSAT sign long-term agreement for weather, climate monitoring

August 28, 2013

Building on a 30-year relationship, top officials from NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) signed a long-term cooperative agreement, ensuring continued space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.

At a ceremony at the European Union (EU) Delegation in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., NOAA acting administrator and Alain Ratier, EUMETSAT’s director general, signed the agreement. They were joined by Dr. Francois Rivasseau, deputy chief of mission, EU Delegation to the United States.

“The need for environmental intelligence has never been stronger. This partnership with our EUMETSAT colleagues allows us to continue collecting and sharing vital space-based observations, resulting in a better understanding of our global environment,” Sullivan said.

Ratier added, “The partnership between EUMETSAT and NOAA has continuously developed over the last 30 years and taken a strategic dimension, bringing substantial benefits to Europe, the USA and the worldwide user communities. Today the partnership covers back-up arrangements and data exchange for geostationary satellites and full sharing of low Earth orbit satellite systems, with the Initial Joint Polar System and the Jason series. With this agreement, we have established a policy framework to further develop our cooperation into the next decades.”

Key successes of the NOAA-EUMETSAT partnership include:

NOAA and EUMETSAT operate a joint polar satellite system, where EUMETSAT’s Metop satellites fly in the mid-morning orbit, while NOAA’s polar satellites and the Suomi NPP spacecraft fly in the afternoon orbit. Both agencies share all the data, which form the backbone of all medium range weather forecasts in the United States and Europe and make up the majority of the data used by the U.S. weather model (GFS) and the major European weather model (ECMWF).NOAA instruments fly onboard the EUMETSAT satellites, and EUMETSAT instruments are on the NOAA spacecraft, providing cost savings and more uniform datasets for meteorologists and scientists across continents.NOAA and EUMETSAT also exchange data from geostationary satellites, and have a back-up agreement in place for data sharing should either agency’s spacecraft experience trouble.The partnership also extends to the Jason-2 ocean surface topography mission that has been crucial to improvements in weather modeling and tropical storm intensification forecasting, and is supporting the EU-led Copernicus Earth Observation program with data from the Suomi NPP satellite.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. For more information about NOAA satellites, please visit: www.nesdis.noa.gov and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

View the original article here

NOAA, EUMETSAT sign long-term agreement for weather, climate monitoring

August 28, 2013

Building on a 30-year relationship, top officials from NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) signed a long-term cooperative agreement, ensuring continued space-based weather, water and climate monitoring.

At a ceremony at the European Union (EU) Delegation in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., NOAA acting administrator and Alain Ratier, EUMETSAT’s director general, signed the agreement. They were joined by Dr. Francois Rivasseau, deputy chief of mission, EU Delegation to the United States.

“The need for environmental intelligence has never been stronger. This partnership with our EUMETSAT colleagues allows us to continue collecting and sharing vital space-based observations, resulting in a better understanding of our global environment,” Sullivan said.

Ratier added, “The partnership between EUMETSAT and NOAA has continuously developed over the last 30 years and taken a strategic dimension, bringing substantial benefits to Europe, the USA and the worldwide user communities. Today the partnership covers back-up arrangements and data exchange for geostationary satellites and full sharing of low Earth orbit satellite systems, with the Initial Joint Polar System and the Jason series. With this agreement, we have established a policy framework to further develop our cooperation into the next decades.”

Key successes of the NOAA-EUMETSAT partnership include:

NOAA and EUMETSAT operate a joint polar satellite system, where EUMETSAT’s Metop satellites fly in the mid-morning orbit, while NOAA’s polar satellites and the Suomi NPP spacecraft fly in the afternoon orbit. Both agencies share all the data, which form the backbone of all medium range weather forecasts in the United States and Europe and make up the majority of the data used by the U.S. weather model (GFS) and the major European weather model (ECMWF).NOAA instruments fly onboard the EUMETSAT satellites, and EUMETSAT instruments are on the NOAA spacecraft, providing cost savings and more uniform datasets for meteorologists and scientists across continents.NOAA and EUMETSAT also exchange data from geostationary satellites, and have a back-up agreement in place for data sharing should either agency’s spacecraft experience trouble.The partnership also extends to the Jason-2 ocean surface topography mission that has been crucial to improvements in weather modeling and tropical storm intensification forecasting, and is supporting the EU-led Copernicus Earth Observation program with data from the Suomi NPP satellite.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. For more information about NOAA satellites, please visit: www.nesdis.noa.gov and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

View the original article here

Obama promises long-term help for Joplin (Reuters)

JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday afternoon that the tornado that hit this city of 50,000 people a week ago was a tragedy that will require a national and long-term response.

"We're going to be here long after the cameras leave," he said, referring to federal support for rebuilding efforts that he predicted would be "a tough, long slog."

Obama toured a disaster scene where crushed cars, piles of wood, clothing and a broken dishwasher lay helter-skelter amid the rubble on lots where houses once stood.

Later he spoke at a memorial service at Missouri Southern State University.

The city also planned a moment of silence on Sunday, precisely one week after the deadly tornado struck, killing at least 139 people and destroying parts of the town.

Missouri state officials said on Sunday they had 146 sets of human remains from the tornado, up from 142 on Saturday, but they did not change the death toll from Saturday's 139. There is a chance that remains of one person are in more than one set, state officials say.

An official list of 87 names was released of victims who have been positively identified and whose relatives have been notified.

Forty-three people were listed as unaccounted for, although officials said that number included four persons reported as deceased by their families but for whose deaths official confirmation was still underway.

The tornado was rated an EF-5, or the strongest possible, and the deadliest single twister in the United States since 1947.

Standing amid the wreckage, Obama told reporters after meeting survivors on Sunday that he had heard some "harrowing stories" but also some "miraculous ones."

He said he had spoken with an 85-year-old man who had just taken a chicken pot pie out of the oven when the storm was approaching.

"He went into the closet and came out without a scratch," Obama said.

Some had criticized today's presidential visit as a distraction from more important work on the ground.

But Darrin Pitts, a 31-year-old student at West Governor's University in Joplin, disagreed.

"After everything that's happened, that I've been living in all week, it was only right to do something," Pitts said.

"It shows national support to the people who've lost everything."

TOLL MAY RISE

There is a good chance the death toll will rise because of the number known to be still missing, and as more bodies are found in the clearing of rubble from areas flattened by the storm.

Some families have expressed frustration at the slow pace of identifying the victims and releasing the remains. Families have not been allowed to enter the morgue to view and identify the remains.

Authorities have defended that policy as necessary to be sure that no mistakes are made.

"A year from now, two years from now, those loved ones will want to be sure that the person they buried is truly their mother, their father, their daughter, their son," Andrea Spillars, Missouri Deputy Director of Public Safety, has said.

Speaking on CBS TV's "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said he was sure the city would be rebuilt despite efforts to cut government budgets in the face of deficits.

"I'm confident we'll find the resources to get this done from whatever method it takes. We've had an unbelievable outpouring of private donations already, and I have a great deal of experience with our federal partners," Nixon said

"When you come to priorities, when God chooses your town and takes it away from you, then the people of Missouri and the people of America are going to do everything within our power to make sure we help rebuild."

On his Sunday visit, Obama vowed to cut through any federal red tape to help with rebuilding Joplin.

Mary Gillis, a 40-year-old high school teacher from Rolla, Missouri whose son lost his apartment in last week's tornado, said Obama's visit provided "a sense of closure to those who were affected and help to reunite the community."

Ashlee Wheeler, a 22-year-old telemarketing worker from Seneca, Missouri who has been in town to help sort through the donations pouring into the city, said she hopes the country will continue paying attention long after Obama's gone.

"The people of Joplin need us right now," she said, "they need our help."

(Additional reporting by Elliott Blackburn and Megan Gates; Writing by Jerry Norton; Editing by James B. Kelleher)

View the original article here