GLIMS Update: GLIMS lunch at AGU, and more

[Jeffrey S Kargel]

Dear GLIMS colleagues,

It has been a while since I have sent a GLIMS Update.  This one contains 4
items:
1. GLIMS lunch at AGU.
2. GLIMS website redesigned and now public
3. GLIMSView available-- but not very user friendly yet
4. A little good news, big bad news, and a lot of no-news-yet on GLIMS
funding initiatives
5. ASTER data still can be obtained at no cost whatsoever-- sign up if you
have not.
6. EDC will embark on a new round of data processing to Level 1B.

1.  GLIMS lunch Tuesday December 9, 12:00-1:00 (and we may go as late as
2:00 for those who can).  Meet near the registration desk.  I have not been
to the conference building, so I am just guessing that the registration
desk is a suitable meeting place.  We'll decide on a restaurant (maybe that
will be already determined by advance reservation) and depart about 12:05.
For those who join us later than that, I will leave a message on the
message board (if it is reasonably closely placed relative to the
registration desk) under my name to indicate where we're going.  If you can
confirm your attendance before Sunday 8 A.M., please reply to
jkargel at flaglink.com.

2. Check the website.  It has a new look, some new content and updated old
content (and will have LOTS of new content before New Years).
http://www.glims.org.

3. GLIMSView is available in several formats.  Be cautioned, it is not very
user friendly, something that we hope to change in this winter.   We have
thus been reluctant to just announce it to the world, because we know it is
both somewhat unfriendly and a bit buggy.  Several people have gone through
it and done test analyses, so it is functional, just not where we would
like it to be.  If you really are eager to get your hands on it, it really
is very nice in some regards, and you might even find it useful for your
work.  Please contact Bruce Raup (braup at nsidc.org) if you are willing to be
another guinea pig in the name of science.  We expect many and frequent
upgrades, so if you try it, and don't like it, then please try again later.

4. The GOOD NEWS:  Coming on the heels of NSIDC's successful
database-related proposal, USGS has finally committed to providing
significant funding for GLIMS.  It amounts to half a full-time person (me
in this case), which is a substantial assistance.  The BIG BAD NEWS: My
NASA OES-03 proposal, for which many of you were collaborators or
co-investigators, was not funded.    It was a good proposal, and I have
seen encouragement from a program manager that suggests it may, like the
Phoenix, rise again.   The major criticism is that it was submitted to the
wrong program; I can take issue with that assessment, but that was the
panel's decision.  For now, it's dead.  SUBSTANTIAL NO-NEWS-YET:    Many of
you have submitted or are affiliated with several NASA OES-02 proposals.
Those ASTER Team Member and other proposals (of which I have one, also
involving many of you) will have decisions made in early January; several
others are in the same situation.  This is a high-stakes time, during which
we will learn whether NASA/USGS support for U.S. GLIMS activities is merely
significant (as it already is) or highly robust.   My best wishes to all of
you who have competed, and to GLIMS as a whole.

5. There has been a huge amount of ASTER glacier data obtained and
processed in the past year.  Each of you should be using it.  If you are
not yet signed up to acquire ASTER data from from the EDC Data Gateway,
contact me.  I need your name, full contact information, your role in
GLIMS, your proposed use for ASTER data.

6.  EDC will be embarking on a second major round of cloud screening and
processing L1A data to L1B and posting these for ftp access.  Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Jeff K

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Energy conservation isn't just "green" and future-oriented, it's for
economic prosperity, national/global security, and global peace.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Dr. Jeffrey S. Kargel
U.S. Geological Survey
2255 N. Gemini Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
U.S.A.

Telephone (+1) (928) 556-7034
Fax (+1) (928) 556-7014
Email: jkargel at usgs.gov
Home email: jkargel at flaglink.com
Home phone: (+1)(928) 527-4196