COMET Update (Provided by AMS 9/25/2008)

Since the last update, sent in July, COMET has published 12 new training materials in the areas of satellite meteorology, oceanography, tropical meteorology, aviation, climatology, and hydrology. Read on for additional details and direct web links of modules that may be of interest to you!

Hot off the presses is a brand new website called the Environmental Satellite Resource Center or “ESRC”. Available online at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/esrc, this site is a searchable database-driven website that provides easy access to a wide range of useful information, education, and training about low-earth orbit and geostationary satellites from trusted sources. Users are invited to contribute additional resources via an online submission form through the site. Check it out!

Just this past August in time for the peak of Atlantic hurricane season COMET published another chapter in our online “Introduction to Tropical Meteorology Textbook”. “Chapter 10: Tropical Cyclones” is a very thorough treatment of the topic and is available online at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/tropical/textbook/.

New Hydrology titles from this past quarter include:

• “Dams and Dam Failure – Module 2: St. Venant Equations, Modeling, and Case Study” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/hydro/damfailure/basic2/

• “Introduction to Distributed Hydrologic Modeling” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/hydro/DHM/Intro/

New Oceanography titles include:

• “Analyzing Ocean Swell” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/oceans/ocean_swell/  

• “North Wall Effects on Winds and Waves” at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/oceans/northwall/

And in the area of aviation forecasting, we just published “Writing TAFs for

Winds and Low-Level Wind Shear” available at http://meted.ucar.edu/dlac2/mod3

Also recently published is a new basic-level module entitled “Introduction to

Climatology” which is available at http://www.meted.ucar.edu/afwa/climo/intro/

Finally, four new Spanish translations of previously published titles are also available. Check out this URL for a chronological listing of all our recent publications: http://www.meted.ucar.edu/about_new.htm

As always, these materials are freely available to everyone, courtesy of our sponsors (NOAA’s NWS, NESDIS GOES and NPOESS programs, Naval Meteorology and
Oceanography Command, the Air Force Weather Agency, and the Meteorological

Service of Canada), as well as special funding from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, EUMETSAT, the National Science Foundation, and the NOAA NWS International Affairs office.

Don’t forget you’ll need to register in order to access the modules. Registration is free, easy and available in both English and Spanish.  We welcome any comments, suggestions, or feedback you have on these or any other training offerings available through the MetEd Website.

Questions?  Please contact Wendy Schreiber-Abshire, COMET Meteorologist, at abshire@ucar.edu or 303-497-8477

AMS Scholarship Program Information (provided by AMS 9/26/2008)

The AMS is pleased to announce the 2009/2010 AMS/Industry Minority Scholarships.  Now entering its 17^th year, the scholarship is intended to help support college education for minority students traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, especially Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, and Native Hawaiian students, who intend to pursue careers in the atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.  The two-year scholarships, funded by industry and through donations made by members to the AMS 21st Century Campaign, are for $3000 per year (second year funding depends on successful completion of the first academic year).  Minority students who will be entering their freshman year of college in the fall of 2009 are eligible to apply.

Since the inception of the program, we have awarded the scholarships to 113 outstanding students.  To continue the success, the Society needs your help in spreading the word about AMS Scholarships.  Please pass along the scholarship applications and details to students and teachers and colleagues as appropriate.  The details and application is online at http://www.ametsoc.org/amsstudentinfo/scholfeldocs/appminority2009.pdf.  Feel free to make several copies for distribution. 

 

Please remind teachers and/or students that the completed application should be sent to the listed chapter nearest them and to send a photocopy of the application materials to AMS Headquarters.  Information on all AMS fellowships and scholarships, including the Minority Scholarship, is available on the Internet at http://www.ametsoc.org  If you have any questions, please call Donna Sampson, Development & Student Program Manager at 617-227-2426-246 or e-mail dfernand@ametsoc.org.