1. Satellite Training Activities VISIT, SHyMet, and WMO VLab Focus Group Bernadette Connell Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado NOAA Satellite Direct Readout Conference, 4-8 April 2011

2. Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training Launched in 1998 Mission: To accelerate the transfer of research results from atmospheric remote sensing into NWS operations Method: Distance education techniques http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/visit/

3. Focus on stand-alone sessions Satellite Meteorology Severe Weather Winter Weather Tropical Lightning Climate Numerical Weather Prediction Fire Weather Other

4. Recent VISIT sessions - 2011 Synthetic Imagery from the NSSL 4-km WRF-ARW model in forecasting Severe Thunderstorms Synthetic Imagery in Forecasting Orographic Cirrus Objective Satellite-Based Overshooting Top and Enhanced-V Anvil Thermal Couplet Signature Detection Volcanoes and Volcanic Ash Part 2 for various Coastal Effects

5. VISIT “statistics” For the period: April 1999 – March 2011 94 Training topics 1564 Teletraining sessions delivered 23,481 Participants 5496 Web-based registrations via LMS (since 2005) CIRA: Dan Bikos, Jeff Braun CIMSS: Scott Bachmeier, Scott Lindstrom

7. Satellite Hydrology and Meteorology http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/shymet/ COURSES COURSES dedicated to operational satellite meteorology

8. Currently availablereleased Severe Thunderstorm March 2011 Tropical August 2010 Forecasters January 2010 Interns April 2006 On the horizon: AviationHydrology

9. GOES-R Proving Ground Activities Opportunities Incorporate GOES-R information and products Whole modules or applicable examples Blog (CIRA and CIMSS) Encourage dialogue and feedback between developers and users. http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes_r/proving-ground.html

10. WMO Regional Focus Group Americas and the Caribbean Organizers: CIRA, US NWS Training Branch, CIMSS, the International Desk at NCEP, RTC in Costa Rica and Barbados Participants: Antigua, Argentina, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Netherland Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Paraguay, Trinidad, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

11. largest session: 40 users logged into VISITview, 30 users logged into Yahoo Messenger http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/training/rmtc/focusgroup.asp VISITview browser mode Yahoo Messenger Bi-lingual: English and Spanish

12. KEYS TO SUCCESS  Motivation  Distribute the workload Cooperation and Collaboration  Input – experts and users  Native Language  Build capacity.. also true for VISIT and SHyMet activities Vlab Focus Group

13. Number of Countries Participating in Focus Group Sessions

14. Notes on participation Participation when coordinated with “events” Face to Face training Significant weather event Persistent participation Students, Intern forecasters Trainers Enthusiasts Recurring intermittent participants Trainers, seasoned observers, experts

15. What imagery/tool/approach is needed for training and for forecasting? Depends on the audience, their availability, and perspectives. Some are “ageless” Simple is good.