![image on left: Blizzard conditions in rural Iowa [Credit: NWS Des Moines/Mahaska County EMA]; image on right: Ice accumulated on NOAA Ship OSCAR DYSON Photo credits: NOAA Office of Marine and Aircraft Operations](images/2025/rotatorContent/20250218_blowing_snow_and_freezing_sea_spray_575x400.jpg "image on left: Blizzard conditions in rural Iowa [Credit: NWS Des Moines/Mahaska County EMA]; image on right: Ice accumulated on NOAA Ship OSCAR DYSON Photo credits: NOAA Office of Marine and Aircraft Operations")
STAR Co-hosts 20th CEOS Atmospheric Composition Virtual Constellation Meeting
Featured NewsMarch 25, 2025 STAR's Christopher Slocum Wins an 8th NOAA David Johnson AwardSTAR's winning history spans 27 years STAR congratulates Christopher Slocum for his 2025 NOAA David Johnson Award. Chris is the 8th STAR Johnson Award winner in the award's 27 year history. Past STAR winners also include:
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STAR is Shining!
Chris Slocum Wins NOAA David Johnson Award for Tropical Storm Forecasting Work3/25/2025 - Chris Slocum, a research scientist with NOAA NESDIS’ Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), has been selected as the 2025 winner of NOAA’s David S. Johnson Award. "The David S. Johnson award honors the first Administrator of what became NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service,” said Stephen Volz, Ph.D., Assistant Administrator for NOAA NESDIS. “It recognizes exemplary work from young scientists like Chris Slocum who are using satellite data to help save lives, protect the economy, and benefit society overall." Slocum is being recognized for developing new operational applications for Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) observations from NOAA’s GOES-R Series satellites that provide better guidance for tropical cyclone forecasting. “NOAA NESDIS has had a rich history of using satellite observations for tropical cyclone monitoring, analysis, and forecasting. The technology on today's generation of GOES satellites provides better insight into changes in convective activity within tropical cyclones,” Slocum said. “Our goal was to couple these improved observing capabilities with innovations in artificial intelligence/machine learning for the most challenging aspects of tropical cyclones forecasting–their formation and rapid intensification.” To read more about Chris Slocum's work visit his bio. STAR in the News
Tracking Francine’s Latest PathSeptember 12, 2024 - Bloomberg News reports: Francine is the third named storm to hit the mainland US this year. The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season got off to a quick start, but had stalled in recent weeks before Francine. It has now produced six storms, four of which became hurricanes. STAR's GOES-East geocolor image of the storm is featured. Read more in the Bloomberg News story 
AI and satellite imaging doing early wildfire detection in ColoradoJuly 30, 2024 - This week the Denver Post reports on a new artificial intelligence program — the Next Generation Fire System — which will help identify wildfires as small as an acre by scanning images taken by weather satellites orbiting about 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface. NOAA officials say it can process the deluge of data from the satellites — which capture images as frequently as every 30 seconds — and detect heat from fires smaller than a football field. The program then flags potential new fires to a dashboard so humans can check the images and verify the existence of a fire. While humans are great at detecting a new fire from satellite images, they can’t process the firehose of data as quickly and easily as the AI program, said STAR's Mike Pavolonis, NOAA Satellites’ Wildland Fire Program manager. Read more in the Denver Post story Announcements
New paper - Satellite Oceanography in NOAA by STAR authors highlighting STAR efforts and published 8/1/2024. |