# Presentation: 358854

## Activities of the Kentucky Climate Center

- Stuart A. Foster
- State Climatologist for Kentucky
- Sub-Regional Climate Services Meeting
- NWS Central Region* *
- Columbia, Missouri
- July 20-21, 2004

## Outline

- Institutional Context
- Educational Initiative
- Service Activities
- Research Activities

## Institutional ContextAdministrative Hierarchy

- Western Ky University

- Ogden College

- Applied Research & Technology Program

- Department of Geography & Geology

- Kentucky
- Climate Center

## Educational Initiative Mission Statements

- Departmental Mission:  “The Department aims to involve all of its students in applied research activities ...with particular emphasis on local and regional development issues.”** **
- ARTP Mission:  “... opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to transition from academia to the workplace through participation in supervised, hands-on applied research and technological projects.”

## Educational Initiative	   Student Opportunities

- Educational Initiative	   Student Opportunities

- _Quantitative_
- Data Visualization
- & Analysis

- _Field Work_
- Instrumentation &
- Data Collection

- _Qualitative_
- Interpretation of
- Historical Accounts
- & Interviews

## Service Activities Service Delivery

- Data Requests
- Educational Outreach
- Website
- Water Availability Advisory Group

## Service ActivitiesAdding Value to Climatic Data

- Place current conditions into historical context
- Add spatial perspective
- Produce numerical and graphical summaries to aid interpretation

**Notes:**
Placing current conditions into historical context
Provide accurate representations of current conditions.
Produce useful summaries as aggregations of recent conditions.
Document historical events and extreme conditions to provide context for current conditions.
Incorporating spatial perspective
Compare conditions at a selected location to relevant reference locations
Portray the spatial extent and dimensions of events/conditions.
Effective communication
Provide easily interpreted numerical summaries.
Use graphic that aid in the interpretation of data.

## Service Activities

## Service Activities

## Research Activities		   GeoProfiles

- Research Activities		   GeoProfiles

- Leitchfield (154703)

- Rough River Lake (156988)

## Research Activities		   GeoProfiles

## Research Activities Flash Flood Hydrometeorology

- NOAA COMET study in conjunction with the NWSFO at Louisville and Jackson.
- Addresses the flash flood of August 3, 2001 in eastern Kentucky.
- Uses MM5 to assess mesoscale conditions associated with the event.

## Research ActivitiesSpatial Variability of Precipitation

- Research ActivitiesSpatial Variability of Precipitation

## Research Activities Barren River Area Mesonet

- Instrumentation
- Temperature
- Relative humidity
- Solar radiation
- Wind speed & direction
- Precipitation
- Soil moisture

- Site selection
- Partnership with
- 	Barren River ADD
- Instruments to be installed at three sites

## Research Activities Hydroclimatological Studies Initiative

- Collaboration between University of Delaware and Western Kentucky University
- Dynamically calibrated NWS radar data provides high-resolution data for climate monitoring and emergency response

## Think Small