Word: quickscat
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...hurricane season. But the storm surrounding the forecasters and Proenza, who this year replaced the avuncular Max Mayfield as the Hurricane Center's chief, doesn't look likely to lose strength any time soon. At the heart of the dispute is an aging weather satellite, known as QuickScat, named for the scatterometer that measures wind speed and direction. Proenza has argued for months that QuickScat, which was launched in 1999 and is well past its lifespan, needs to be replaced as soon as possible. And he has publicly criticized his bosses at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
...several Hurricane Center forecasters say Proenza is being alarmist and a distraction to their work. They argue that QuickScat is hardly as critical to their analyses as Proenza claims, given all the other high-tech measuring tools and methods at their disposal. As a result, they say, Proenza has needlessly divided the Hurricane Center staff and has called into question the forecasting acumen of those who disagree with him. "Bill has poisoned the atmosphere" and "doesn't respect the staff," Center forecaster James Franklin told a press conference today. Proenza is trying to shrug off the criticism, characterizing the rift...
...Hurricane experts seem divided over Proenza's assessment of the forecasting vulnerabilities and the QuickScat issue. Some side with the Hurricane Center revolt, questioning the scientific rigor of his study. Others, like Bob Atlas, director of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, insist that Proenza's concerns "are very well founded. QuickScat is [one of the most] valuable forecasting [tools]." Atlas says he applauds Proenza's outspokenness, predicting it will "accelerate the effort to replace QuickScat with an even better scatterometer satellite...
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