|
|
NOAA 02-R315 CONTACT: Patricia Viets, NOAA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (301) 457-5005 July 31, 2002
The nation's historical weather and climate records, in danger of deterioration, are being transferred to a state-of-the-art digital medium at a newly dedicated facility in Jenkins, Ky., creating approximately 60 high-tech jobs for the area. Image Entry will dedicate a facility in Jenkins today where the company's staff will preserve the data for the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of the Climate Database Modernization Program. NOAA sponsors the program through its National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Previously in danger of being lost because of deterioration, these historic environmental records will be permanently conserved and made accessible to the public. It has been a priority for U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky to establish a strong partnership between the private sector and the government, as well as to bring more tech careers to the state. "Image Entry has built a reputation as a high quality and efficient federal contractor and now it is bringing that reputation to Letcher County," Rogers said. "These are the kind of high-tech jobs we are attracting to southern and eastern Kentucky because of our quality workforce and good business climate. This is a major step forward for the Jenkins area." The Climate Database Modernization Program brings historical climate records on paper into the world of computers and the Internet. These records include foreign data journals, shoreline charts, historical water levels, surface airways, marine observations, cooperative data forms, and film images of clouds, snow, ice, and fires. Even the daily and seasonal weather recordings of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson will be included. "Data is a large part of the foundation of NOAA," said Gregory Withee, assistant administrator of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA Satellite and Information Service). "It allows NOAA to support decision makers at all levels of the government and across the private sector. Through the efforts of the people in Kentucky, our knowledge about the environment is increasing. It is gained through better access and use of climate and environmental data." One of the early tasks that Image Entry completed was to digitize historical temperatures and rainfall records. "It is from this type of data that we can determine the probabilities of extreme rainfall events to help mitigate the impacts of flash flooding, for instance," said Thomas Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. "The daily weather observations that have been digitized will help us to understand temperature and precipitation patterns. These, in turn, are key to making wise decisions in such diverse areas as road design and construction, forestry management, air quality improvements, and wise energy use." Image Entry's partner in this program is Information Manufacturing Corporation from Rocket Center, W.Va. The Climate Database Modernization Program is currently in its third year. NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA Satellite and Information Service) is the nation's primary source of space-based meteorological and climate data. NOAA Satellite and Information Service operates the nation's environmental satellites, which are used for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and other environmental applications such as fire detection, ozone monitoring, and sea surface temperature measurements. In addition to the National Climatic Data Center, the agency operates two other data centers which house global data bases in oceanography, solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics, and paleoclimatology. To learn more, please visit: http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov. 
Problems or questions? Contact us.
Last modified: Wednesday, 19-Sep-2007 13:46:56 UTC
|