Engineering topics

Lin, Y. T.

Publications and source records attributed to Lin, Y. T..

11 records

NASA NTRS2012

U-Pb Dating of Zircons and Phosphates in Lunar Meteorites, Acapulcoites and Angrites

Zircon U-Pb geochronology has made a great contribution to the timing of magmatism in the early Solar System [1-3]. Ca phosphates are another group of common accessory minerals in meteorites with great potential for U-Pb geochronology. Compared to zircons, the lower closure temperatures of the U-Pb system for apatite and merrillite (the most common phosphates in achondrites) makes them susceptible to resetting during thermal metamorphism. The different closure temperatures of the U-Pb system for zircon and apatite provide us an opportunity to discover the evolutionary history of meteoritic parent bodies, such as the crystallization ages of magmatism, as well as later impact events and thermal metamorphism. We have developed techniques using the Cameca IMS-1280 ion microprobe to date both zircon and phosphate grains in meteorites. Here we report U-Pb dating results for zircons and phosphates from lunar meteorites Dhofar 1442 and SaU 169. To test and verify the reliability of the newly developed phosphate dating technique, two additional meteorites, Acapulco, obtained from Acapulco consortium, and angrite NWA 4590 were also selected for this study as both have precisely known phosphate U-Pb ages by TIMS [4,5]. Both meteorites are from very fast cooled parent bodies with no sign of resetting [4,5], satisfying a necessity for precise dating.

Zhou, Q.↗

NASA NTRS2011

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Extragalactic Sources at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey

We report on extragalactic sources detected in a 455 square-degree map of the southern sky made with data at a frequency of 148 GHz from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope 2008 observing season. We provide a catalog of 157 sources with flux densities spanning two orders of magnitude: from 15 mJy to 1500 mJy. Comparison to other catalogs shows that 98% of the ACT detections correspond to sources detected at lower radio frequencies. Three of the sources appear to be associated with the brightest cluster galaxies of low redshift X-ray selected galaxy clusters. Estimates of the radio to mm-wave spectral indices and differential counts of the sources further bolster the hypothesis that they are nearly all radio sources, and that their emission is not dominated by re-emission from warm dust. In a bright (> 50 mJy) 148 GHz-selected sample with complete cross-identifications from the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey, we observe an average steepening of the spectra between .5, 20, and 148 GHz with median spectral indices of alp[ha (sub 5-20) = -0.07 +/- 0.06, alpha (sub 20-148) -0.39 +/- 0.04, and alpha (sub 5-148) = -0.20 +/- 0.03. When the measured spectral indices are taken into account, the 148 GHz differential source counts are consistent with previous measurements at 30 GHz in the context of a source count model dominated by radio sources. Extrapolating with an appropriately rescaled model for the radio source counts, the Poisson contribution to the spatial power spectrum from synchrotron-dominated sources with flux density less than 20 mJy is C(sup Sync) = (2.8 +/- 0.3) x 1O (exp-6) micro K(exp 2).

Marriage, T. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

The RF spectra of first and subsequent lightning return strokes in the 1- to 200-km range

An experimental characterization of the frequency spectra of first and subsequent stroke electric fields are presented over a distance range from about 1 km, where the fields are primarily electrostatic, to 200 km, where they are primarily radiation. Spectra are presented to about 700 kHz for lightning within 12 km and to about 300 kHz for lightning at 50 and 200 km. It is shown that the return stroke ground wave spectrum beyond 50 km has a peak near 4 kHz but that within 10 km the spectrum shows a steady increase with decreasing frequency to 1 kHz. Frequency spectra at all ranges fall off roughly as 1/f for frequencies between 5 and 100 kHz, while the falloff above 100 kHz is faster as the distance to the stroke increases. From this high-frequency attenuation an RF conductivity for central Florida of between 0.002 and 0.005/ohm/m was determined.

Serhan, G. I.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Calculations of lightning return stroke electric and magnetic fields above ground

A lightning return stroke model with which the two station electric and magnetic fields measured at ground level can be reproduced is used to compute fields at altitudes up to 10 km and at ranges from 20 m to 10 km. These calculations provide the first detailed estimates of the return strokes fields that are encountered by aircraft in flight. With the advent of modern aircraft utilizing low voltage digital electronics and reduced electromagnetic shielding by way of structures containing advanced composite materials, these calculations are of considerable practical interest. Further, since airborne electric and magnetic field measurements are presently being attempted, a comparison of the calculations presented with appropriate experimental data, when they are available, will constitute a test of the return stroke model.

Uman, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Lightning return stroke models

We test the two most commonly used lightning return stroke models, Bruce-Golde and transmission line, against subsequent stroke electric and magnetic field wave forms measured simultaneously at near and distant stations and show that these models are inadequate to describe the experimental data. We then propose a new return stroke model that is physically plausible and that yields good approximations to the measured two-station fields. Using the new model, we derive return stroke charge and current statistics for about 100 subsequent strokes.

Lin, Y. T.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Errors in magnetic direction finding due to nonvertical lightning channels

A theory showing that errors in lightning magnetic direction finding due to nonvertical source orientations are minimized by detecting the field from the lowest possible channel section is presented. For 99 cloud-to-ground lightning channels photographed in Arizona, 45 exhibited a bottom few hundred meters within about 8 deg of the vertical, the standard deviation of the distribution of lower-channel tilt angles being about 18 deg. These experimental results, coupled with theory, suggest that if a wideband gated direction finder is used, polarization errors due to nonvertical sources can be kept less than 1 deg for lightning beyond 10 km.

Uman, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Characterization of lightning return stroke electric and magnetic fields from simultaneous two-station measurements

The paper presents a characterization of Florida lightning return stroke electric and magnetic fields derived from simultaneous measurements of the fields at two separate stations, one station being within 15 km of the lightning, the other at either about 50 or 200 km from the lightning. Also presented are: (1) examples of correlated wave forms, (2) typical first and subsequent stroke wave forms over the distance range 1.0-200 km, and (3) the following statistical data from which the typical wave forms were derived: for electric field, rise time, initial peak value, ramp starting time, ramp slope, value at 170 microsec, ratio of value at 170 microsec to initial peak, zero-crossing time for 50 and 200 km wave forms; for magnetic fields, time of hump following initial peak, ratio of hump value to initial peak value, zero-crossing time for 50 and 200 km wave forms. Return stroke electric and magnetic field characteristics appear to be independent of location in Florida.

Lin, Y. T.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Effects of 200 km propagation on Florida lightning return stroke electric fields

The electric fields produced by lightning return strokes near Kennedy Space Center, Florida, have been measured simultaneously at distances of about 5 to 25 km and about 200 km. Detailed records of the first 12 microsec of waveforms from four strokes are presented, as well as data on the initial field risetimes for 58 first and 92 subsequent strokes. The mean field risetime measured between the 10 to 90% points was about 1 microsec at the close station and about 2 microsec at the distant one.

Uman, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Electric field statistics for close lightning return strokes near Gainesville, Florida

The salient properties of the electric field intensity from first and subsequent lightning return strokes in the 0-25 km distance range near Gainesville, Fla., are presented, including electric field wave shape versus distance, initial peak rise time versus distance, rise time histograms, initial peak magnitude versus distance, normalized (to 100 km) initial peak magnitude histograms, normalized initial peak magnitude versus rise time, ramp starting time versus distance, and field at 170 microsec versus distance. The mean normalized initial peak field for first return strokes was 9.9 V/m and for subsequent strokes, 5.7 V/m. The maximum measured values of normalized initial peak field were about 30 V/m. The largest field recorded at 170 microsec was about 25 kV/m generated by a first stroke within 0.5 km. Return strokes were found to lower a typical charge of the order of 1 C in 170 microsec.

Tiller, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Correlated electric and magnetic fields from lightning return strokes

The first broad band (1 kHz to 5 mHz) correlated measurements of electric and magnetic fields from close lightning return strokes are presented. Sample wave forms are shown for the distance range 2-200 km. The transmission line return stroke model is used to find a typical current wave shape and return stroke velocity from the experimental data, and theoretical curves are given of electric and magnetic field as a function of time for 1, 5, 10, and 100 km by using this typical current and velocity.

Uman, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Electric radiation fields of lightning return strokes in three isolated Florida thunderstorms

Peak value and risetime distributions for the electric radiation fields produced by lightning strokes to ground in three isolated Florida thunderstorms are presented. The storm at 195 km produced about 1000 return strokes having an average peak radiation field (normalized to 100 km) of about 5.5 V/m, the storm at 110 km produced about 700 strokes having 2.0 V/m, and the storm within 10 km produced about 100 strokes having 15.0 V/m. For each storm the average peak radiation field for first strokes was only slightly greater than the average peak field for subsequent strokes. For the sample of three storms the average peak radiation field in a given storm was proportional to the number of subsequent strokes per flash in that storm. The field risetimes for the two distant storms have statistical properties which are essentially identical to those reported for distant storms in Pennsylvania, whereas the close Florida storm exhibited significantly faster risetimes.

Lin, Y. T.↗