Chlorophyll gradients around the Falkland Islands It's mid spring in the South Atlantic and the ocean is blooming. Ocean currents concentrate the phytoplankton in some areas and spread them out in others. The resulting gradients in chlorophyll concentration across the region make the flow field visible to orbiting sensors such as MODIS which collected this image on November 22, 2004 Gene Feldman NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, SeaWiFS Project Office

Canadian Ice Cap Elevation Change Rates (dh/dt) For Periods and Waleed Abdalati NASA GSFC, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Oceans and Ice Branch Airborne elevation surveys of the Canadian ice caps were conducted in the spring of 1995 and 2000 using the WFF Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) to determine elevation changes. The observed changes indicated that Canada’s contribution to sea level during that period was mm/yr. Here we compare those observations to ICESat elevation change measurements from the 33-day operation period during the spring of 2004 at locations where the ICESat ground tracks intersected the aircraft flight tracks. The intent is to determine of the rate of elevation change and whether the net loss of ice increased, decreased, or remained the same during that period. Results shown in the table indicated that for most of the regions, ice caps that had been thinning either continued to thin, but at a slower pace, or began to thicken. Surface temperature measurements in the region for the two observation periods showed that in the north, temperatures were anomalously warm, but not as much so in the time period (0.4 deg. C) as in the time period (0.7 C). In the south, the more recent period was 1 deg. C warmer than in the late 1990s. These warm southern temperatures accelerated the thinning of Barnes ice cap, but the areas analyzed on Penny responded with increased growth. In the northwestern most region, Meighen ice cap showed substantial thinning despite ongoing warm temperature anomalies in the region, indicating that snow accumulation must have been very high. These results are limited by the fact that comparisons could only be made at crossovers with the previous aircraft flights that were optimized to cover outlet glaciers. As a result, the number of intersecting points is limited and does not capture some of the most dynamic regions of the ice caps. Despite this limitation, the information provided clearly captures significant changes in the ice caps that will be informed by continued operations of the ICESat mission and subsequent elevation measurements from the air and space.

Canadian Ice Cap Elevation Change Rates (dh/dt) For Periods and ∆dh/dt (m/yr) Ice Cap (S. to N.) dh/dt cm/yr dh/dt cm/yr ∆ dh/dt cm/yr Penny Barnes Devon S. Elles Pr of Wales Agassiz N. Elles Müller Mieghen General reduction in thinning or increased growth in (inner circles) compared to (outer circles) Barnes responding to warmer temperatures while Northern ice responding to cooler temperatures Some areas likely received high precipitation Limited by intersection points –Not capturing most rapidly changing ice edges Temp anom* +0.1/+1.1 Temp. anom.* +0.7/+0.4 Barnes Agassiz Devon S. Elles. Pr. of Wales N. Elles. Penny Mieghen Müller Temperature anomalies are given in deg. C as (95-00 anomaly)/(00-40 anomaly)

Coupling High-Resolution Earth System Models Using Advanced Computational Technologies Description and Objectives Apply advanced computational technologies to the problem of coupling high-resolution Earth system models Combine the emerging technologies of the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF), the Land Information System (LIS) and the Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS)/Distributed Oceanographic Data System (DODS) and couple them to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model to enable high-resolution modeling Christa Peters-Lidard, NASA GSFC, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Hydrological Sciences Branch Mimics the ESMF- subcomponent coupling design Both Application Driver (AppDriver) and parent gridded component are considered to be WRF LIS is implemented as a subcomponent to WRF The import and export states are defined using the intent attibutes in Fortran and not explicitly wrapped inside a data structure Initialization of surface characteristics now done by LIS, not WRF Standard Initialization (SI) Review of Coupling Design WRF-LIS coupling Review of Coupling Design GCE-LIS coupling Implements ESMF compliant design Application Driver separate from GCE and LIS GCE has been recoded using intent attributes MPI has been implemented in GCE Benefits of the Coupled Systems The coupled systems have a choice of Land Surface Models (LSMs) including NOAH 2.6, CLM 2.0, simple Sib, Sib2, and VIC The choice of LSMs provides ensemble members for numerical integrations Spin-up of initial soil moisture and temperature conditions specific to each LSM using observed and/or model forcing provides consistent, near equilibrium initial conditions Allows flexibility for initialization of land surface characteristics from satellite (MODIS, AVHRR) and surface based observations Provides an efficient method for the management of LSMs and their data sources

Configuration (100x100x41x 6s tstepx12hours) CPU Time (s)Ratio WRF-Noah (Default)8.93 WRF-LIS (0.9% Increase) Efficiency of the Coupled WRF-LIS system June 12, 2002 Initial Soil Moisture (%) at the surface using:  LIS 15 year spin-up using observed forcing And WRF SI derived soil  moisture The level of detail using LIS as well a gradient reversal will have a significant impact on the subsequent integration Future work and ongoing developments Evaluate modeled water/energy cycle against data from IHOP field program (now being populated on our GrADS/DODS server for instant access) Set up/execute LIS/WRF models for regional/continental U.S. (CONUS) application for IHOP time period Evaluate modeled water/energy cycles against regional & CONUS-scale models run in real time during IHOP

2D-STAR: First Synthetic Aperture L-Band Radiometer Image Synthetic aperture radiometry is a new technology to enable remote sensing from space with high spatial resolution. Applications: –Soil moisture and coastal salinity mapping (L-band) –Atmosphere temperature profiles from GEO (50 GHz) 2D-STAR is a new instrument developed at GSFC with funding from the IIP to demonstrate the technology –Synthesis in 2-dimensions –L-band (1.4 GHz) –Patch array –Dual polarization (V and H switched) Successful Images made for the first time with this technology during the Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX) in June, 2003 –2D-STAR on NASA P-3 –First ever images with these with technology Status –Measurements also made during SMEX-04 (Arizona and Mexico) –Proposal being prepared to complete reduction of data –Hardware changes to improve RF noise performance underway David Le Vine NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes, Microwave Sensors Branch

2D-STAR: First Synthetic Aperture Radiometer L-Band Image 2D-STAR is a new instrument to demonstrate aperture synthesis in two dimensions First successful images with this technology achieved during the Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX) in June, 2003 Right (top): Landsat image of Huntsville, AL experiment site –Red: Dense vegetation (forest covered mountains) –Green: Agricultural use –Blue: water Right (bottom): 2D-STAR L-band image of Huntsville site shown above in Landsat image