Four ACCAP Webinars Available: Alaska Weather Symposia, April Climate Outlook, River Ice Breakup, and GOES-17

Date

25 April 2018

Four Webinars Available
Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP)

Virtual Alaska Weather Symposia Webinar: Alaska Hydrologic Conditions going into Spring 2018
Jessica Cherry, National Weather Service
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. AKDT

April 2018 National Weather Service Alaska Climate Outlook Briefing
Rick Thoman, Climate Science and Services Manager, National Weather Service
Friday, 27 April 2018
12:00-1:00 p.m. AKDT

Alaska Climate Webinar Series: River Ice Breakup: What Do We Know?
Steven F. Daly, Engineer Research and Development Center/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Tuesday, 1 May 2018
10:00-11:00 a.m. AKDT

Virtual Alaska Weather Symposia Webinar: New Capabilities, Opportunities, and Challenges using GOES-17 in Alaska
Jordan Gerth, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. AKDT

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) announces four upcoming webinars. Registration is required to attend the webinars. All webinars will be available online or in-person in the Akasofu building, room 407 on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Virtual Alaska Weather Symposia Webinar: Alaska Hydrologic Conditions going into Spring 2018
Jessica Cherry, National Weather Service
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. AKDT

This webinar will provide a brief overview of current hydrologic conditions and notable events over the past winter, including late freeze up on the Kuskokwim, heavy snow in parts of the Interior, and drought in Southeast Alaska. It will also provide an outlook for breakup on the larger rivers this spring and possible flood risks, as well as information about daily forecast products through breakup and during open water season.

For more information and to register for this webinar, go to:
https://accap.uaf.edu/VAWS_April2018

April 2018 National Weather Service Alaska Climate Outlook Briefing
Rick Thoman, National Weather Service
Friday, 27 April 2018
12:00-1:00 p.m. AKDT

The tools and techniques for making monthly and season scale climate forecasts are rapidly changing, with the potential to provide useful forecasts at the month and longer range. This webinar will review recent climate conditions around Alaska, review forecast tools, and finish up with the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for the upcoming season.

This will be a monthly series generally taking place the third Friday of each month.

Thoman will also present a "Feature-of-the-Month" special addition in which he will highlight a topic relevant to the particular month.

For more information and to register for this webinar, go to:
https://accap.uaf.edu/April_2018

Breakup transforms an ice-covered river into an open river. Two ideal forms of breakup bracket the types of breakup that commonly occur. At one extreme is thermal breakup. During an ideal thermal breakup, the river ice cover deteriorates and melts in place, with no increase in flow and little or no ice movement. At the other extreme is the more complex and less understood mechanical breakup, which is the focus of this presentation. The main driver of mechanical breakup is the flow discharge hydrograph. The increase in flow induces stresses in the cover, and the stresses in turn cause cracks and the ultimate fragmentation of the ice cover into pieces that are carried by the channel flow. Ice jams take place at locations where the ice fragments stop; severe and sudden hydraulic transients can result when these ice jams form or when they release. This presentation will focus on mechanical breakup and the historical evolution of understanding of this topic. The presentation will include discussions of ice cover formation and the typical resulting ice structure, wave-ice interaction, the physics of the cracking, and the current status of understanding of breakup.

For more information and to register for this webinar, go to:
https://accap.uaf.edu/Breakup_2018

Following a successful launch, the second new-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-S) became GOES-17 and is currently in the test position of 89.5 degrees west longitude. This fall, the satellite will begin drifting to its new position at 137 degrees west longitude, where it will begin imaging as the operational GOES-West satellite this November. GOES-West will dramatically improve weather satellite imaging of Alaska, with four times more detail compared to previous generation geostationary weather satellites, even on the North Slope. This will enhance scientific studies and operational weather monitoring of Alaska for nearly a decade to come. This presentation will discuss the value of GOES-17, particularly the unique aspects and challenges for high latitudes.

For more information and to register for this webinar, go to:
https://accap.uaf.edu/VAWS_GOES17