Engineering topics

Houben, Howard

Publications and source records attributed to Houben, Howard.

12 records

NASA NTRS2005

Data Assimilation and Data Fusion for Planetary Atmospheres

The overarching goal of this Cooperative Agreement was to develop a model and procedures for the data assimilation of planetary spacecraft atmospheric observations. Data assimilation - in its application to weather analysis and prediction - is the process of finding an initial state of the meteorological variables (winds, temperatures, pressures, etc.) of an atmosphere, which, when propagated forward in time using a deterministic general circulation model, reproduces all of the available observations over that time to within the measurement and computational errors. With this definition, data assimilation is seen to be a natural extension of well-known least-squares minimization techniques. The primary complication arises from the scale of the problem: For the Martian atmosphere with the available nadir-viewing Thermal Emission Spectrometer data from Mars Global Surveyor, approximately 1,000,000 individual measurements of channel radiances (in the 15-micrometer region, where these radiances relate directly to the surface and atmospheric temperature) were made per day. A suitable general circulation model for dealing with this data set has on the order of 20,000 independent variables. After some spatial and temporal averaging of the data - which provides a necessary statistical estimate of the representativeness of the measurements, a crucial issue in data assimilation - the problem reduces in scale to the solution of approximately 50,000 equations for the 20,000 variables.

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS2005

The Next Generation of Planetary Atmospheric Probes

Entry probes provide useful insights into the structures of planetary atmospheres, but give only one-dimensional pictures of complex four-dimensional systems that vary on all temporal and spatial scales. This makes the interpretation of the results quite challenging, especially as regards atmospheric dynamics. Here is a planetary meteorologist's vision of what the next generation of atmospheric entry probe missions should be: Dedicated sounding instruments get most of the required data from orbit. Relatively simple and inexpensive entry probes are released from the orbiter, with low entry velocities, to establish ground truth, to clarify the vertical structure, and for adaptive observations to enhance the dataset in preparation for sensitive operations. The data are assimilated onboard in real time. The products, being immediately available, are of immense benefit for scientific and operational purposes (aerobraking, aerocapture, accurate payload delivery via glider, ballooning missions, weather forecasts, etc.).

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS2005

Data Assimilation as a Tool for Developing a Mars International Reference Atmosphere

A new paradigm for a Mars International Reference Atmosphere is proposed. In general, as is certainly now the case for Mars, there are sufficient observational data to specify what the full atmospheric state was under a variety of circumstances (season, dustiness, etc.). There are also general circulation models capable of deter- mining the evolution of these states. If these capabilities are combined-using data assimilation techniques-the resulting analyzed states can be probed to answer a wide variety of questions, whether posed by scientists, mission planners, or others. This system would fulfill all the purposes of an international reference atmosphere and would make the scientific results of exploration missions readily available to the community. Preliminary work on a website that would incorporate this functionality has begun.

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS2005

Data Assimilation Technology Transfer from Planetary Exploration to Terrestrial Applications

Data assimilation can be a valuable tool for discovery and exploration. Planetary missions--principally polar orbiting spacecraft--are now capable of returning enough information to constrain global dynamical models. However, such missions operate under a number of severe constraints: there is no ground truth to calibrate and validate either the models or the data: and there are limited computational resources available, particularly onboard the spacecraft, for the near real-time processing that is required for aerobraking and other semi-autonomous maneuvers. A modified data assimilation approach, in which the prime analysis variable is the observed quantity (i.e., infrared radiances), has been found to be effective in deriving global meteorology from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer data. It may also be useful in a number of terrestrial applications (e.g. aerosol assimilation).

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS2002

Intercalibration of Mars Global Surveyor Datasets

The calibration and validation of satellite soundings of atmospheric variables is always a difficult prospect, but this difficulty is greatly magnified when the measurements are made at a different planet, whose meteorology is poorly known and poorly constrained, and for which there are virtually no prospects of obtaining ground truth. The Mars Global Surveyor which has been circling Mars in its mapping orbit since early 1999 includes a variety of instruments capable of making atmospheric observations: the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) which takes more than 100,000 nadir-view infrared spectra per day (although these observations are confined to the 2am - 2pm time of the sun-fixed orbit); much less frequent TES limb scans (still only at 2am and 2pm); the Mars Horizon Sensor Assembly measures side-looking broadband 15 micrometer radiation; Radio Science occultations at favorable seasons give high resolution temperature profiles; the Mars orbiter Camera and Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter have made water, dust, and carbon dioxide cloud detections. These observations are now being supplemented by high-resolution 15 micron measurements by THEMIS on Mars Odyssey. Thus, all of these observations are made at different times and places. Data assimilation techniques are being used to fuse this vast array of observations into a single dataset that best represents our understanding of the Martian atmosphere, its current meteorological state, and the relevant instrumental properties.

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS2002

Assimilation of TES Water Vapor Observations

The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the Mars Global Surveyor has made extensive observations of the Martian atmospheric water vapor column since the beginning of its mapping mission in early 1999. The results show broad agreement with the earlier Viking Mars Atmospheric Water Detector (MAWD) results (though column amounts in southern summer are higher, perhaps due to dust obscuration during the Viking mission). General circulation model (GCM) simulations of the annual Martian water cycle also show broad agreement with the TES observations. Details of the simulations depend on cloud and boundary layer parameterizations and on the adsorbing properties of the regolith. In order to make quantitative assessments of this agreement and to obtain observational values for the required physical parameters, a tracer transport data assimilation model has been developed. Model winds are derived from both tracer measurements and retrieved atmospheric temperature structures, providing a useful check of the underlying dynamical core of the GCM. By allowing detailed intercomparison between spacecraft and ground-based observations of Martian water vapor, the model should also contribute significantly to our understanding of the diurnal water cycle.

Houben, Howard↗

NASA NTRS1998

Making Intercontinental Burning Influences Quantitative: Lessons on Transport and Geochemistry From the 3-D Simulation of CO in PEM-T A and TRACE-A

We report on two aspects of the simulation of global transport of plumes originating from subtropical biomass fires. We use of meteorological assimilation (MM5) at 2-degree resolution with a Grail cloud parameterization and a Blackadar-based planetary boundary layer parameterization. Ames's GRACES model provides emissions, transport, and an appropriate level of simulated chemical transformation. We have worked with passive-tracer CO or linear chemistry. This is appropriate since we find major work to be done in evaluating CO source strengths and transport mechanisms before chemical integrations could be meaningful. First, we present mechanisms by which CO and other pollutants are introduced into the free troposphere, and are then transported with hate dilution from approx. 0 to approx. 180 degrees longitude. One principal conduit for these plumes is the vernal subtropical jet; however the plumes appear at various altitudes and latitudes as they influenced by frontal motions and (most likely) radiative processes. A common, repeated pattern of transport has pollutant plumes arriving in the distant Pacific Ocean from Africa and South America at 25 degrees south and 14 km altitude. Following this, there is then a general appearance of pollution at extending down to 5 kin at more equatorial (10 S) and polar latitudes (to 45 S). Second, we evaluate the quantitative success of our simulation. (Such success requires efforts considerably beyond trajectory analyses, and is necessary for our community to claim an understanding of the effects of biomass burning on global atmospheric chemistry and the planet's trend in oxidizing capacity.) We find that we simulate most pollution episodes sampled by Glenn Sachse's CO instrument and the Blake hydrocarbon analyses during PENT A. We will present our current ideas on why our general levels appear satisfactory when the observations are within 20 ppb of background levels, but substantially miss the variability associated with the most intense biomass burning plumes. As time allows, we will speculate on the origins of a class of plumes that appear in the mid-troposphere, but are missing from our simulations.

Chatfield, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1996

Microphysical Processes Affecting the Pinatubo Volcanic Plume

In this paper we consider microphysical processes which affect the formation of sulfate particles and their size distribution in a dispersing cloud. A model for the dispersion of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic cloud is described. We then consider a single point in the dispersing cloud and study the effects of nucleation, condensation and coagulation on the time evolution of the particle size distribution at that point.

Hamill, Patrick↗

NASA NTRS1994

Characteristics of finite amplitude stationary gravity waves in the atmosphere of Venus

This paper extends the study of stationary gravity waves generated near the surface of Venus reported previously by Young et al. to include finite amplitude effects associated with large amplitude waves. Waves are forced near the surface of Venus by periodic forcing. The height-dependent profiles of static stability and mean wind in the Venus atmosphere play a very important role in the evolution of the nonlinear behavior of the waves, just as they do in the linear wave solutions. Certain wave properties are qualitatively consistent with linear wave theory, such as wave trapping, resonance, and wave evanescence for short horizontal wavelenghts. However, the finite amplitude solutions also exhibit many other interesting features. In particular, for forcing amplitudes representative of those that could be expected in mountainous regions such as Aphrodite Terra, waves generated near the surface can reach large amplitudes at and above cloud levels, with clear signatures in the circulation pattern. At still higher levels, the waves can reach large enough amplitude to break, unless damping rates above the clouds are sufficient to limit wave amplitude growth. Well below cloud levels the waves develop complex flow patterns as the result of finite amplitude wave-wave interactions, and waves are generated having considerably shorter horizontal wavelenghts than that associated with the forcing near the surface. Nonlinear interactions can excite waves that are resonant with the background wind and static stability fields even when the primary surface forcing does not, and these waves can dominate the wave spectrum near cloud levels. A global map of Venus topographic slopes derived from Magellan altimetry data shows that slopes of magnitude comparable to or exceeding that used to force the model are ubiquitous over the surface.

Young, Richard E.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Radiatively forced dispersion of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic cloud and induced temperature perturbations in the stratosphere during the first few months following the eruption

A combined 3-dimensional circulation model and aerosol microphysical/transport model is used to simulate the dispersion of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic cloud in the stratosphere for the first few months following the eruption. Radiative heating of the cloud due to upwelling infrared radiation from the troposphere is shown to be an important factor affecting the transport. Without cloud heating, cloud material stays mostly north of the equator, whereas with cloud heating, the cloud is transported southward across the equator within the first two weeks following the eruption. Generally the simulations agree with Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) satellite observations showing the latitude distribution of cloud material to be between about 20 deg S and 30 deg N within the first few months. Temperature perturbations in the stratosphere induced by the aerosol heating are generally 1-4 K, in the range of those observed.

Young, Richard E.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The evidences of waves in the atmospheres of Venus and Mars

In the last 15 years, distributions of state properties and velocities measured in the atmospheres of Venus and Mars have indicated the presence of waves of varied types occurring from the lower atmosphere to the exosphere. This paper gives an organized picture of observations which indicate and characterize wave phenomena in the Venusian and Martian atmospheres, to illustrate how widely they occur, and to emphasize the probable importance of waves to the dynamics. Some of the Pioneer Venus Probe observations presented have not been previously discussed in the context of waves.

Seiff, Alvin↗

NASA NTRS1989

Dynamics of planetary-scale baroclinic waves during Southern Hemisphere winter

The characteristics of linear and finite amplitude baroclinic waves during Southern Hemisphere winter were investigated using a three-dimensional global primitive-equation spectral mode, with emphasis on the dynamics of planetary scale modes which propagate into the stratosphere. Linear stability computations showed that the winter zonally averaged basic state is baroclinically unstable, with the most unstable modes being Charney-type modes; however, the results showed that Green-type modes also exist; these give much larger relative amplitude in the stratosphere although they have smaller growth rates. The results suggest that the existence of both Charney and Green modes might explain certain observed properties of the eastward traveling waves, such as the lack of coherence between troposphere and stratosphere at zonal wavenumbers 1 and 2.

Young, Richard E.↗