Joe Klemp, senior scientist with NCAR, is the 2011 recipient of meteorology’s most prestigious award: The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal. Additionally, Dr. Klemp is this year’s recipient of The Charles Franklin Brooks Award for outstanding contributions to advance AMS publications and education. He is an active member of the AMS Publications Commission, having served in the past as its commissioner.
The AMS awards the Rossby Research Medal to individuals on the basis of outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere. Klemp is being honored for illuminating the dynamics of mountain waves and thunderstorms, and for his contributions to improvements in numerical techniques and community models.
The Front Page recently sat down with Klemp to learn more about him and his career-spanning research. In the interview, which you can view below, he explains how the offer of a post-doctoral research position at NCAR “really changed the whole direction of my career.”
Klemp will receive his medal and service award at the AMS Awards Banquet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Washington State Convention Center, Hall 6A-B-C-D.
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The Raj and Steve Show, Episodes 2 and 3
Your Conference Co-Chairs, Raj Pandya and Steve Ackerman, have been gleaning insights into the communication of weather and climate during the meeting. Episodes 2 and 3 of their continuing quest for Annual Meeting wisdom are available on the Ametsoc YouTube channel. In Episode 2, Steve (sensitively acknowledging Raj’s letdown of expectations for the Chicago Bears) talks about how science-driven information sometimes unintentionally creates high expectations for certainty when in fact uncertainty is a key to using such information wisely:
Then in Episode 3, Raj notes that scholars continue to puzzle over the communicative power of pictures, but have a firm grasp of the power of the word. Words, Raj points out, have the power to create pictures of their own, ultimately trumping numbers in their ability to motivate and convince an audience:
A New Way to Look at Tornadoes
Its official release isn’t until next month, but the newest AMS book, Economic and Societal Impacts of Tornadoes, is debuting here in Seattle. The authors, Kevin Simmons and Daniel Sutter, are economists who gathered U.S. tornado casualty data from sources such as NOAA and the U.S. Census and used an economic approach to evaluate the National Weather Service’s efforts to reduce those casualties. The communication theme is a significant aspect of their analysis, and their book discloses some interesting findings on the efficacy of tornado warnings in the United States. The authors sat down with us at the Meeting to discuss their book and research.
[And remember that other AMS books can be purchased at the skybridge near the AMS Resource Center (Exhibit Hall 4D). Signings will also be held there throughout the week–watch for the tweets!]
Serendipity Culminates in 'Highly Significant' Award
Frank Marks, Director of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, believes in serendipity. He jumped at an opportunity to conduct radar research on tropical cyclones for the Division some 30 years ago following a field project in western tropical Africa. There, in Dakar, he had serendipitously met his mentor, Verner E. Suomi, and hasn’t looked back since.
On Wednesday at the Awards Banquet (7 p.m. in the Washington State Convention Center, Hall 6A-B-C-D), the AMS will present Dr. Marks with the Verner E. Suomi Award for creative use of airborne Doppler radar and other technologies to advance the understanding of the dynamics of tropical cyclones. The AMS grants this award annually to individuals in recognition of highly significant technological achievement in the atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.
The Front page sat down with Marks to learn more about him and his career-spanning research. While wrapping up the interview, which you can watch below, he shared this perspective: “When an opportunity presents itself, you take it. That’s how I’ve lived my life.”
Science Meets Art on Floor 2
Art is a method of communication, a dialogue between artist and audience. The exhibit “Forecast: Communicating Weather and Climate,” currently on display on the second floor of the convention center, is also about communication between artists and scientists. The collaborative exhibit paired up Washington State artists with forecasters, climatologists, and atmospheric scientists with the idea that looking at weather and climate through a different lens opens up a new viewpoint and ultimately greater understanding. The end result is not only interesting artwork but what turned out to be enlightening experiences for those involved. Here’s one of the two interviews with the artists and scientists up on Ametsoc YouTube:
If you haven’t already, stop by to view the photography, paintings, and sculptures that portray the weather in a way you may not have seen before.
For more from the scientists’ perspective, take a look at University of Washington science writer Vince Stricherz’s article.
Meet the Winners, Then Read Their Books
Got a long flight home after the meeting? Looking for some reading material to help pass the time? Then you should stop by the Atmospheric Science Librarians International booth (# 121) in the main Exhibit Hall at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday for the 2011 ASLI’s Choice Book Awards. The ceremony will offer an opportunity to hobnob with some of the literati, as a number of authors of the honored books will be present to accept their awards.
The ASLI’s Choice Committee selected the best titles from 2010 in three categories: science, history, and popular.
The winner in the science category is Measurement Methods in Atmospheric Sciences: In Situ and Remote, by Stefan Emeis, which ASLI chose for being “a comprehensive overview of the many atmospheric monitoring and measurement methods and instruments.”
The top choice in the history category is Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming, by Paul N. Edwards, selected for its “insightful analysis of the models and data that form the basis of our understanding of climate change.”
In the popular category, the winner is The Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate Change : A Complete Visual Guide, 
by Juliane L. Fry, Hans-F Graf, Richard Grotjahn, Marilyn N. Raphael, Clive Saunders, and Richard Whitaker, which ASLI describes as a “beautifully illustrated, authoritative and succinct introduction to meteorology and climate.”
For the second year in a row, an AMS title will be feted, as Weather on the Air: A History of Broadcast Meteorology received an honorable mention in the history category. Author Robert Henson will be at the ceremony to accept his award, and he’ll also be signing copies of the book on the skybridge near the AMS Resource Center (Exhibit Hall 4D) on Wednesday from 2:45 to 4:00 p.m.
Top 10 Lists, NOAA-Style
The arrival of a new year is a good time to reflect on the significant events of the past 12 months. On Monday, Deke Arndt of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center highlighted the noteworthy trends and events of 2010 in his talk, “The Climate of 2010 in Historical Perspective.” The presentation included these top-10 lists of notable 2010 events, as voted by a panel of weather and climate experts.
National Events
1. Consecutive Winter Blizzards/Extreme Snow Season (December-February)
2. Nashville and Central TN flooding (May)
3. Hot Summer in the East (June-August)
4. Midwest Super Storm (October)
5. Hawaiian Drought (Throughout 2010)
6. No hurricanes made U.S. landfall despite active Atlantic (June-November)
7. Near Eradication of CONUS Drought (July)
8. Vivian, SD Hailstone (July)
9. New England Flooding (February-April)
10. Minnesota as tornado leader (Spring & Summer)
Global Events
1. Russo-European-Asian Heat Waves (Summer)
2. 2010 as [near] warmest on record (Calendar Year)
3. Pakistani Flooding (Late July into August)
4. El Niño to La Niña Transition (Mid-to-Late Boreal Spring)
5. Negative Arctic Oscillation (December-February)
6. Brazillian Drought (Ongoing)
7. Historically inactive NE Pacific Hurricane Season (May 15-November 30)
8. Historic N. Hemispheric Snow Retreat (January through June)
9. Minimum Sea Ice Extent (Mid September)
10. China Drought (First half of 2010)
Photos, Photos, and More Photos
Pictures are up on the Ametsoc Facebook photo albums! Here’s just a sampling, from Sunday’s WeatherFest. Don’t forget to check back there for more updates later today and throughout the week.
Turning Scientists into Communicators
With the word “communication” flying around the meeting all week, it might become easy to lose track of how it applies to each of us as individuals–or whether it applies to us at all. Does your role as a meteorologist also involve being a communicator? Isn’t that the job of the professional communicators?
This weekend’s communication workshop, “Integrating Communication, Weather, and Climate: More Than Just ”Talking about the Weather!’, asked those questions to some communication professionals, and their answers provided new insights to the many meteorologists in attendance. They ultimately agreed on a couple of key points: 1) the complexities of climate science make communication particularly difficult, and 2) we all have a role in communicating our science, whether it be to the public, government officials, colleagues, students, or even to our families, neighbors, and friends.
And why shouldn’t scientists also be communicators? Panelist Kim Curtis of Resource Media pointed out that scientists are among the most trusted groups by the public, more than even friends and family (and that is despite the fact that only 18% of the public actually know a scientist personally.)
The problem is that there are serious obstacles to getting the message through to the public and insuring they are receiving accurate information. Kathy Rowan of George Mason University highlighted the difficulties of communicating slow-onset risks–that is, hazards (such as long-term climate change) that progress over an extended period of time. She pointed out that humans are wired to focus on what is directly in front of them and often have difficulty looking into the future.
Expanding on that point, Bud Ward of the Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media pointed out that when discussing climate change, the public has difficulty accepting costs that must be paid today when tangible benefits may not be felt for a very long time. As he mentioned, we have trouble even agreeing whether to use the term”climate change” or “global warming.” And of course, there are the political aspects related to communicating climate to the public. All of this obviously generates confusion.
So how can scientists overcome these difficulties and act as de facto communicators? The panelists’ recommendations included making explanations as succint and as simple as possible and addressing and discussing uncertainty in science rather than ignoring it. But the prevailing opinion was that scientists communicate most effectively when they make science relevant to the public. Some panelists noted the importance of telling stories that help the public understand how climate impacts their daily lives. And Ward explained how he avoids contentious political discussion when he speaks to local communities by emphasizing the specific ways climate could impact those areas.
According to the panelists, the ultimate goal is make science interesting to the general public while also providing technically accurate information–a fine balance, indeed, but one that hopefully will become less daunting after this week’s meeting.
Bring Your Popcorn!
Satisfy your movie fix all week at the Weather Video Preview Theater in room 303. Close to 50 different movies will be shown throughout the meeting, with screenings running from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day. DVDs of many of the movies will be available for purchase at the AMS Resource Center in Exhibit Hall 4D (they can also be found online at http://www.sky-fire.tv/index.cgi/INDEX.HTML), and a portion of proceeds from every DVD sold will be directed to AMS educational and outreach programs.
The movies were specifically chosen for the quality of both their production and their scientific content, with the subject matter ranging from the quick-moving (lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and extreme storms of all kinds) to the slowest of the slow (glaciers).
Among those films that are back by popular demand are the British Broadcasting Cooperation’s Cloudspotting program (a compilation of high-definition time-lapse skyscapes set to music), as well as features from the National Science Foundation’s series for the ResearchChannel.
Check out below the preview of the Nova special, Hunt for the Supertwister, one of the films to be featured at the Preview Theater.