NOAA Official to Discuss Advances in Climate Change and Earth Research

WASHINGTON, D.C.—April 19, 2013 – Alexander E. (Sandy) MacDonald, chief science advisor for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will highlight advances in climate change research at Internet2’s 2013 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, in Arlington, Virginia. 

Dr. MacDonald, who also directs NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory, will discuss how climate scientists leverage NOAA’s high-capacity research network, called NWave, to predict and explain climate changes. NWave—powered by the 100G Internet2 backbone—provides the critical high capacity network links that support large data flows for NOAA scientists to easily share computational resources with the U.S. Department of Energy and other U.S. government agencies.  He will also address NOAA’s efforts to handle this increasing volume of data and technical support for research.

Dr. MacDonald, a meteorologist, previously led NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory, which is now ESRL's Global Systems Division. He is widely published in the fields of atmospheric modeling, statistics, dynamics, and meteorological systems. Dr. MacDonald has received numerous awards, including four Presidential Rank Awards and a Gold Medal. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Utah, and is a former Air Force officer. His complete biography is available at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/about/macdonald.html.

He also holds the patent for Science On a Sphere®, a luminous, animated globe installed in museums around the world to educate the public about Earth and other planets. The Sphere will be demonstrated throughout the Annual Meeting.

The keynote speech will be streamed live at 10:30 a.m. To view the live stream, go to http://events.internet2.edu/2013/annualmeeting/program.cfm?go=session&id=10003023&event=1262

For a complete 2013 Internet2 Annual Meeting schedule, visit http://bit.ly/2013Internet2AnnualMeeting.

About Internet2

Internet2® is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation's leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges, and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research, and community service missions.

Internet2 consists of more than 220 U.S. universities, 60 leading corporations, 70 government agencies, 38 regional and state education networks and more than 100 national research and education networking partners representing more than 50 countries. Internet2 offices are located in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Emeryville, Calif.; and Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.internet2.edu.

About NOAA

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.

Media contacts:

 Internet2, Todd Sedmak, 202-331-5373 or todd@internet2.edu

NOAA, John Ewald, 240-429-6127 or john.ewald@noaa.gov

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