Summer - it's that lazy, hazy time of year, and in some areas of the country, the emphasis is on the hazy with sky-rocketing temperatures, ozone alerts and poor air quality. NOAA is leading a multi-organization effort to study movement of airborne pollutants in the Northeastern United States, and what meteorological conditions contribute to this region's poor air quality. NOAA's largest research vessel, Ronald H. Brown, will be based in New England waters this summer to monitor the region.

According to recent FAA surveys, aircraft crashes due to icing claim about 30 lives, injure 14 others, and result in $96 million in property damage annually in the United States. The most serious icing conditions result from supercooled large droplets (SLD), which are chilled to temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius without freezing. Because SLD creates a primary icing hazard for in-flight aircraft, a SLD remote sensing detection technology was needed-and NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory has the solution.

Government and university scientists and forecasters are working together to improve forecasts of Pacific storms hitting the West Coast this winter. Their efforts include flying into almost a dozen storms to collect data on the damaging winter weather that typically strikes the West Coast, according to NOAA.

One hundred international scientists will board ships and planes today to examine how the clouds, rain and cool water temperatures of the Eastern Pacific affect the climate in the southwestern United States and parts of Central and South America.

Operating out of Monterey, Calif., since January 20, NOAA's Pacific Landfalling Jets Experiment's team of scientists has conducted 10 missions to date using one of the NOAA "Hurricane Hunter" P-3 aircraft crewed by NOAA Corps officers and civilians from NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center in Tampa, Fla. The initial results of these experiments have been to provide enhanced weather information to NWS forecasters and computer modelers about the intensity and structure of storms before they strike the U.S. West coast.

An impressive new instrument rigged to withstand high seas and ocean storms is sending back continuous wind data from its perch aboard the NOAA research vessel, Ronald H. Brown. Early reports indicate it's a huge success.

Researchers from around the world converged near the tiny island of Nauru in the Tropical Western Pacific where they'll launch a month-long atmospheric research effort to uncover clues regarding how the tropics influence weather and climate worldwide. The Tropical Western Pacific serves as the earth's heat engine, driving global weather events such as El Niņo and La Niņa, but this "furnace" is poorly understood.

Air pollution and its effects take a toll on the whole country, but especially in areas that are hot and humid. It can damage crops and forests and affect human health and scenic visibility. This summer, scientists from government and academia will pool their resources in an air quality study that will provide a better understanding of the basic chemical, meteorological, and transport processes that cause air pollution. NOAA's contribution is part of its Health of the Atmosphere air quality research program.

A team of international scientists, led by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is measuring a variety of pollutants and chemicals as they blow across the Pacific to the West Coast of North America to gage and monitor impacts on American populations.