Considerations, Questions and Discussion Items for the Workshop

The start of the workshop is planned to have presentations on introducing the group to the issues to be discussed, including background on the MGS, changes in the satellite fleet, etc. Next, reasons for considering real-time reception of X-Band satellite data will likely be presented and discussed, including the following potential topics:

• Fleet of weather and earth resource satellites moving towards X-band transmission by 2005-2006.
• Science capabilities not previously available until recently that could be used to support and do science in the Antarctic.
• Potential to have a large archive of data managed by and for the USAP and its grantees.
• Be a part of a ground reception network offering products and data not otherwise available.

In addition, possible applications for data from an X-band system will be reviewed including the following potential example topic areas:

• Real-time satellite data available for assimilation into the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) and Polar MM5 modeling systems at National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Ohio State University.
• Real-time use in science support of future McMurdo area Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project with sea ice state information
• Real-time use for weather forecasting for USAP Flight, station and ship operations.
• Ocean Color and Marine Sciences
• Geology – Land resource applications
• Glaciological studies

Based on these presentations and discussion, some important issues will likely be address by the group including:

• Is this MSG the best system to be utilizing? What of a new system?
• Redundancy and backup? What of having an alternative or second system?
• Easy tools to access and acquire the data? On station? Off station?
• Real-time transmission back to the US?
• Cost Effective? (Doing more with less dollars)

These considerations and questions will be the focus of the discussions during the workshop. Session chairs will be selected from the attendees to moderate this discussion. Small group discussion will also be possible, to allow some groups to focus on specific issues. The results from these discussions will be recorded and be a critical part of the workshop report that will be one of the key outcomes from this proposal.

Workshop Outcomes

This workshop will have a primary outcome: a report written to the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs entitled The Future of the Next Generation Satellite Fleet and the McMurdo Ground Station. This report will voice the science community’s interests in the MGS and advise NSF on the future of satellite reception in the USAP. It will be made available to the science community in both a hard copy form as well as an on-line version by mid May 2004. The workshop also will raise awareness of the capabilities and possibilities of the next generation fleet of satellites as well as the MGS itself.