Evening Reception at the Smithsonian Institution

The Washington VAAC Tour

Presentation Guidelines

Poster Presentations

Manuscript Information

Evening Reception at the Smithsonian Institution

All the participants of the Conference are invited to attend a reception at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History on the evening (6:30 to 8:00 pm) of Wednesday 23 June. Chartered buses will be provided to transport people between the hotel and the Museum. The reception will be held in the Museum's Rotunda, and light food and beverages will be provided. The Geology, Gems, and Minerals Exhibit will also be open to the reception attendees.

The Washington VAAC Tour

The United States, under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates two Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs). One VAAC is part of the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Alaska Aviation Weather Unit in Anchorage, Alaska (Anchorage VAAC). The second VAAC, is part of both the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the NWS. The Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) of NESDIS and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) of the NWS share duties as the regional Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) located in Camp Springs, Maryland.

For it’s part of the Washington VAAC, the Satellite Analysis Branch monitors for volcanic activity through satellite remote sensing and is responsible for communication with the Volcano Observatories and Meteorological Watch Offices within its area of responsibility for the flow of volcanic and meteorological information relevant to the aviation community. A text-based Volcanic Ash Advisory (VAA) is issued and distributed through several global networks, and is placed on the internet. Imagery from polar orbiting and geostationary satellites allows SAB to detect the boundaries of a volcanic ash cloud and to estimate the altitude and movement of the ash plume. Forecasting where this ash will go is the responsibility of the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) side of the Washington VAAC. Currently this ash cloud forecast is done graphically through the issuance of a Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion (VAFTAD) model through several global networks.

Besides the Washington VAAC, the tour will also be able to view some of the 24 hour operations of 2 of the National Weather Service’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP); The Hydometeorological Prediction Center (HPC) and the Ocean Prediction Center (OPC).

OPC produces a variety of marine analyses and forecast products covering much of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans for users including fisheries, recreational boaters and professional mariners. The forecasters provide analyses and forecasts of wind, waves, fog and associated storm systems up to 5 days in advance, which help ensure the safety of life and property at sea. The center also prepares marine forecasts in response to emergency situations identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue.

Movies. If you plan to have movies in your presentation, please also name them following the same format, adding any helpful information after the last name.
Example: s2-04barnett-volcano.avi.

Movies. Please also upload all movies, they are NOT embedded in the file. If you don’t upload the movies they will not run during the conference.

Version.
The computers will be running the Windows XP operating system with Office XP Pro 2002 installed, so it is preferred that you save your presentation in this format.

PDF as a last resort. Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) is a last resort for making presentations because the speaker will not be able to advance the slides with the remote mouse. (The speaker will have to say “next slide” to advance through the presentation.)

Electronic Version if you use transparences. If you do end up using transparences, we would like to get an electronic version of your presentation (PDF format if possible). This will allow us to post all of the presentations on our web site after the conference.

Resolution.
The computers will be running with 1024 by 768 resolution and 32 bit color.

Internet Access.
There will be NO internet access on the presentation computers.

Web site reference.
If you have a web site relative to your topic or organization, please include the link in your presentation.

Movies.
All movies should start automatically. Moving the cursor of the remote mouse to click on the movie to start it can be somewhat difficult. (All movies should be named properly before they are inserted and they will need to be uploaded with the presentation to the ftp site.)

Sound.
Sound in a presentation should be avoided. If it is necessary, please contact the AV technician. Kenneth.Barnett@noaa.gov.

Animation.
Slide transitions and bullet animations should also be kept to a minimum.

Questions?
All questions regarding presentations should be sent to Kenneth.Barnett@noaa.gov.

Poster Presentations

• The poster display is a 4’ x 8’ (1.22m x 2.44m) Velcro covered panel with a horizontal orientation.

• Pushpins will be supplied for mounting your poster.

• Place the title at the top center of the poster.
• Use 72 point letters.
• Avoid hand drawn materials.
• Keep it simple.
• Make sure it has a logical flow.
• Use color, graphics, charts, and photos.
• Key points should be in large type.
• Do not try to tell the entire story on the panel.
• Save some key points for the one-on-one discussion.

• Due date for manuscript submission is July 30, 2004.
• Length: Up to 5 pages.
• Margins: 1” (2.54cm) all around for 8 1/2 x 11 paper; 1 3/4” (4.45cm) bottom for A4 paper.
• Columns: 2 columns with ¼” (64mm) space in between.
• Text: Single space; 9-11 point font.
• Title: Type at 1” top margin in center of first page in ALL CAPS.
• Do not include page numbers on bottom of pages
• Graphics may be included; however, please keep in mind that some complicated graphics (e.g., those using colors) do not reproduce well.

• Electronic submission in Microsoft Word format is required. Please send an email with manuscript attached to isvaas.ofcm@noaa.gov.
  In the body of your email, please give the main contact information for your abstract (name, full mailing address, phone and fax numbers, email address).