Michigan
Deep Under Thunder Bay explorer Bob Ballard will receive
support from NOAA's Great
Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor and
our new Office of Ocean Exploration. He'll soon be going to
the new Thunder
Bay National Marine Sanctuary to begin charting wrecked
ships in the bay. More than a century of maritime heritage -
an estimated 166 shipwrecks dating from the 1880s - lies beneath
the waters. Lake Huron's cold fresh water has preserved history
here to an exceptional degree. This is the first sanctuary in
25 years to be designated solely on the basis of its submerged
cultural treasures.
Minnesota
The
Value of Fresh Water, and why it may become as valuable
as oil is today, is the focus of an article being developed
by National Geographic Magazine for spring 2002 publication.
To provide images, award-winning photographer Jay Dickman recently
shot airborne snow operations being conducted by NOAA's Shrike
Commander Aircraft N51RF in the Lake Superior watershed.
Images of the Shrike were photographed from a helicopter
flying in formation as the aircraft flew over survey flight
lines near Two Harbors and Silver Bay.
Northern
Rockies (northern Idaho and western Montana)
For Saving Lives and Property during the 2000 wildfire
season, 73 National Weather Service employees at 45 forecast
and other offices received tributes in recognition of outstanding
performance…and commitment to customer service. Indicating
an unprecedented season in duration and intensity, an assessment
reported that more than 79,700 wildfires had scorched at least
6.8 million acres. On August 10 alone, more than 13,000 recorded
lightning strikes caused over 500 new fires.
A three-year period of dry weather and above-normal temperatures
created tinder-dry forests leading to the prolonged fire season.
In much of the northern Rockies, fuel moisture was under 10%
at the season's peak. During the season, 64 incident meteorologists
were dispatched 246 times for a total of 1,772 days. Trained
and certified, these meteorologists provide fire weather forecasts
and on-site assistance to fire fighting crews.
The 2000 wildfire season marked the first under the weather
service's modernized structure for fire weather services. The
structure broadens support from just a few western weather forecast
offices to several across the country. For more information
visit NOAA's Fire
Weather web site.
Alaska
The
scope and consequences of current research on greenhouse
radiation in the Arctic will be far reaching. Collaborating
with the World Climate Research Program and the Department of
Energy, NOAA's Climate Monitoring
and Diagnostics Laboratory is conducting a greenhouse radiation
measurement standardization program in Barrow. The capabilities
of several international partners add to this effort. Of particular
interest are the still poorly understood contributions to greenhouse
radiation of the Arctic's extremely dry and cold conditions.
These conditions exist on the ground in the Arctic, and globally
in the higher portions of the atmosphere.
Florida
With
a NOAA Aircraft flyover, the Institute
for Business and Home Safety broke ground recently for its
new Tampa headquarters. NOAA Aircraft's "Miss Piggy" opened
the ceremonies with an introduction by meteorologist Jack Parrish.
The institute's goal is to reduce deaths, injuries, human suffering,
property damage, and economic losses caused by natural disasters.
It works to make natural disaster safety a core public value,
one that makes disaster resistance a key consideration at home
and work. Members are U.S. insurers and reinsurers.
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