SeaWiFS captures algal blooms off Strait of Juan de Fuca Blooms of phytoplankton color the water along the coast to the north and south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in this SeaWiFS image collected on Friday, July 23, Without corroborating data collected at sea level, one cannot say which species of phytoplankton are coloring the water in this image, nor can one say whether or not they are harmful. This is, however, an area known to be afflicted by harmful algal blooms and data such as those represented by this SeaWiFS image could be potentially useful to coastal managers seeking a broader view of water conditions in the region ( /Gene Feldman, NASA GSFC, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Office for Global Carbon Studies

Airborne laser altimetry surveys in 1995 and 2000 reveal shrinking of Canada’s Arctic Ice Caps Northern ice cap shrinking can be attributed to a warm temperature anomaly in late 1990s Thinning more pronounced at lower elevation ablation zones around ice cap margins More dramatic thinning in southern ice caps despite absence of warm anomaly –Attributable to ongoing ice loss since little ice age 150 years ago When extrapolated to all ice caps in the regions (based on elevation), Canadian ice cap mass loss is 25 km 3 /yr or 0.06 mm/yr of sea level rise. –Roughly 20% of IPCC total estimate for all the world’s glaciers and ice sheets for last 100 years –About half that of Patagonia –About one quarter of Alaska Currently comparing to ICESat data to see if changes have accelerated or slowed. Canada’s Shrinking Ice Caps Waleed Abdalati, NASA GSFC, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Oceans and Ice Branch,

2000 Aircraft Flight Lines (repeats of 1995) +0.7 °C anomaly +0.1°C anomaly Barnes Ice Cap (RADARSAT) Canada’s Shrinking Ice Caps Waleed Abdalati, Oceans and Ice Branch, NASA GSFC -White area: Accumulation Zone -Dark area: Ablation zone Where thinning is accelerated

A Broad-band Microwave Radiometer Technique at X-band for Rain & Drop Size Distribution Estimation R. Meneghini, NASA GSFC, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Microwave Sensors Branch At X-band ( GHz), the brightness temperature, T b, is closely related to path-integrated attenuation The ratio of frequency-normalized differences in T b is nearly independent of cloud liquid water and number concentration, N t, and related to the path-averaged median mass diameter of the rain drops, D 0 Estimates of path-averaged rain rate, D 0 and N t can be obtained with T b measurements at 3 X-band frequencies

Above: Simulated radar reflectivity at 9.5 GHz (top), using measured drop size distributions, and differential radar reflectivity at (9.5, 12 GHz) (second from top); simulated T b (9.5 GHz) and differential T b (9.5, 12 GHz) (bottom). Right-top: Estimated D 0 versus ‘true’ D 0 (top); estimated N t versus true N t (bottom) where estimates are derived from brightness temperatures at 3 frequencies: (9.5, 10, 12 GHz) Right-bottom: Time sequence of estimated (top) and true rain rates (center); estimated versus true rainfall rates (bottom).