Today, April 15th, the HUBC team received a visit from Dr. Ryan M. Stauffer, an ozone sonde expert and Research AST at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, and Dr. Anne M. Thompson, a specialist in tropospheric chemical and dynamical processes, to discuss ongoing research conducted by Howard students and scientists on site, as well as to share ozone sonde best practices and updates on data collection.

Dr. Stauffer, who is also the principal investigator for the Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) tropical ozone sonde network, highlighted the importance of fostering collaborations between students and scientists from both organizations, both in ozone sonde research and other areas of atmospheric dynamics. A total of 15 students and scientists attended the meeting, which culminated in an ozone sonde launch and a discussion sparked by live data analysis.

Data technician Rocio Rossi broke the ice with a lively discussion on the importance of Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) and the need to periodically assess instrumentation for accuracy and efficiency when obtaining PWV values, which are later used to feed into Numerical Weather Prediction models essential for storm and extreme weather event forecasting.

She was followed by research scientist Adrian Flores, who presented results on a novel and more precise method for monitoring the preflight conditioning of ozone sondes using the XDATA Monitor software, currently under development under the leadership of Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Dr. Holger Vömel. Adrian emphasized the operational advantages of the software for operators and proposed targeted refinements to further improve its performance and usability. He later led the ozone sonde launch, one of thousands of successful flights conducted under his supervision.

One of the most interesting presentations came from Dr. Anne Thompson, a distinguished atmospheric scientist and PI for the SHADOZ project, pictured here presenting on the vital role of ozone sondes in modern climate research.

Many wonderful presentations ensued. The day culminated with a common agreement; HUBC serves as a “super-site” for tropospheric and stratospheric data gathering, and all those who participated left with a desire to connect and to strengthen affiliations with it.