22 members of Denver and Pikes Peak LMAG and High Plains Section toured the David Skaggs Research Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, CO. There are 900 employees and 98 laboratories housed in this center.
The group visited four facilities:
The Earth Systems Research Laboratory. This facility monitors air quality worldwide, including carbon dioxide levels (Greenhouse gases) from several locations worldwide. They establish the standards of measurement of atmospheric gases around the world.
The National Weather Service Office for Northeast Colorado. This facility performs weather forecasting for the local region and provides weather alerts. It is one of three offices in Colorado.
The Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Weather Service. This facility monitors the Sun 24/7 to observe and predict Sunspots and Solar Flare activities. The center provides warnings to US military and space facilities of threats to personnel and satellite operations and threats to the US power infrastructure.
Space Weather Prediction Center
Finally, we stopped at the David Himes Planetary Theater, which provides a real-time display of worldwide weather from images generated from two Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellites that image the entire globe.
David Himes Planetary Theater
