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Mcpeters, R. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Mcpeters, R. D..

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

The vertical ozone distribution in the Antarctic ozone minimum measured by SBUV

The ozone profiles measured by SBUV in the region of the Antarctic ozone minimum are in error as archived for altitudes below the 7 mb level in the atmosphere because of the lack of a reasonable climatology to use for the initial guess profile. The ozone profile error in this region is examined, and it is shown that use of a reasonable climatology in this unusual region results in ozone profiles that agree substantially better with the balloon observations available from the Syowa station. The corrected profiles show that by 1984 there was 35 percent less ozone in the 15 to 30 km region than in 1979, and 14 percent less even in the 40 to 50 km region.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Some observations on the role of planetary waves in determining the spring time ozone distribution in the Antarctic

Ozone measurements from 1970 to 1984 from the Nimbus 4 backscattered ultraviolet and the Nimbus 7 solar backscattered ultraviolet spectrometers show significant decrease in total ozone only after 1979. The downward trend is most apparent in October south of 70 deg S in the longitude zone 0 to 30 deg W where planetary wave activity is weak. Outside this longitude region, the trend in total ozone is much smaller due to strong interannual variability of wave activity. This paper gives a phenomenological description of ozone depletion in the Antarctic region based on vertical advection and transient planetary waves.

Chandra, S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Meteoric material and the behavior of upper stratospheric polar zone

Ozone mixing ratios as a function of pressure level and time are presented based on data obtained with the Nimbus-7 SBUV instrument between 1979 and 1984, and implications of this data for the explanations of the spring Antarctic ozone depletion are considered. It is suggested that meteoric atoms react with the atmosphere to bond to OH, and subsequently react with HCl to form salts, resulting in the accumulation of chlorine during polar winter. The sudden release of this chlorine from photodissociation of these salts during spring could account for the loss of ozone in the upper atmosphere.

Aikin, A. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Nimbus 7 satellite measurements of the springtime Antarctic ozone decrease

Measurements from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet instrument and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Nimbus 7 satellite, a sun-synchronous polar-orbiting satellite which passes any given point on the dayside near local noon, are reported. These provide global measurements of ozone from November 1978 to the present which confirm the reported decline in total ozone in the Antarctic region and show the phenomenon to be regional in extent. The decrease occurs during September as the sun rises, reaching a minimum in mid-October. Seven years (1979-1985) of October monthly means show a 40 percent decrease in the ozone minimum and a 20 percent decrease in the surrounding ozone maximum.

Stolarski, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A nitric oxide increase observed following the July 1982 solar proton event

Following the solar proton event (SPE) of July 13, 1982, an increase in the strength of nitric oxide Gamma bands was observed in spectral scans of the atmospheric albedo made by the solar backscattered ultraviolet instrument on Nimbus 7. Analysis of the (10), (01), and (02) Gamma band strengths allow an estimate to be made of the cumulative amount of nitric oxide above an altitude of 50 km. An increase in nitric oxide in southern hemisphere high latitudes following the SPE amounting to about 5 x 10 to the 14th molecules per sq cm above an altitude of approximately 50 km is observed. The observed increase persists until the middle of September. A similar increase is not observed in the northern hemisphere, indicating that under summer conditions the mesospheric/thermospheric NO distribution returns to normal within a few days after the end of an SPE.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Observations of the effect of solar protons on the chemistry of the middle atmosphere

Ozone profile measurements made by backscattered ultraviolet instruments during two solar maxima are examined. Analysis of data from the BUV instrument on Nimbus 4 (1970-1978) showed three cases of ozone destruction associated with SPEs near the maximum of solar cycle 20: during events on January 25 and September 2, 1971, and during the giant event of August 4-8, 1972. Data from the SBUV instrument on Nimbus 7 (1978 present) show ozone destruction during five SPEs near the maximum of solar cycle 21: on June 7, 1979, August 21, 1979, October 13-14, 1981, July 13, 1982, and December 8, 1982. The observed response of ozone to the production of HOx and NOx by solar protons is used to better understand the complex chemistry of the middle atmosphere.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The response of ozone to solar proton events during solar cycle 21 - The observations

It is pointed out that during a solar proton event (SPE), large numbers of high-energy protons penetrate the earth's mesosphere and upper stratosphere and perturb the normal chemistry by ionizing molecules and changing the balance of odd nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. Changes in ozone caused by an SPE are produced very rapidly, typically in a matter of hours, and are confined to a limited geographic area, the region above 60 deg geomagnetic latitude. In this paper, an analysis is reported of the response of ozone to the significant SPE's in solar cycle 21 from the Nimbus 7 launch in October 1978 to date, using data from the solar backscattered ultraviolet instrument (SBUV). Ozone data during 15 SPE's were examined. It was found that ozone depletion occurred during SPE's on at least five dates.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The response of ozone to solar proton events during solar cycle 21 - A theoretical interpretation

The effects associated with the solar proton events (SPE) during solar cycle 21 are examined. The only SPE documented to cause an ozone depletion below 45 km (approximately 2 mbar) was the event which occurred on Aug. 4, 1972. The ozone decreases associated with this event follow approximately the theoretically predicted behavior discussed by Heath et al. (1977) and Reagan et al. (1981). Ozone decreases during the July 13, 1982 and the Dec. 8, 1982, SPEs also follow approximately their theoretically predicted behavior between 60 and 85 km. Attention is given to the energy deposition by solar protons and electrons, photochemistry, model descriptions, model results, the solar zenith angle effect, three solar proton events during solar cycle 20, sensitivity studies, and temperature effects.

Jackman, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Measurements of atmospheric nitric oxide from Nimbus 7 SBUV ultraviolet spectral scan data

Results are given of SBUV (solar backscattered ultraviolet instrument) measurements from Nimbus 7, when - one day per month - it is operated in a spectral scan mode, scanning from 160 nm to 400 nm in 0.2-nm steps. By measuring the intensity of a series of nitric oxide (NO) gamma band fluorescence features in this wavelength range, it has been possible to estimate the amount of NO in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere. The background of atmospherically scattered sunlight normally masks the much weaker NO gamma band emission, but these emission features are discriminated by subtracting a synthetic spectrum calculated for a model atmosphere that includes only Rayleigh scattering and absorption by ozone and oxygen. The resulting difference plot clearly reveals features resulting from processes not included in the simple model, such as NO gamma band emission. Nitric oxide is inferred by measuring the absolute intensity of various bands relative to the adjacent background and relating this intensity to total NO above an altitude determined by the backscattering contribution function for that band. NO observations near the solstice and at various latitudes are reported.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ozone depletion during solar proton events in solar cycle 21

Ozone profile data from the Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet Instrument on Nimbus 7 from 1979 to the present and clear cases of ozone destruction associated with five sudden proton events (SPEs) on June 7, 1979, August 21, 1979, October 13-14, 1981, July 13, 1982, and December 8, 1982 are found. During the SPE on July 13, 1982, the largest of this solar cycle, no depletion at all at 45 km is observed, but there is a 15 percent ozone depletion at 50 km increasing to 27 percent at 55 km, all at a solar zenith angle of 85 deg. A strong variation of the observed depletion with solar zenith angle is found, with maximum depletion occurring at the largest zenith angles (near 85 deg) decreasing to near zero for angles below about 70 deg. The observed depletion is short lived, disappearing within hours of the end of the SPE.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Satellite observation of SO2 from El Chichon - Identification and measurement

Absorption bands between 300 nm and 315 nm were observed in spectral scans of the atmospheric albedo made by the solar backscattered ultraviolet instrument (SBUV) on Nimbus 7 following the eruption of El Chichon. It is shown that these bands coincide with peaks in the absorption coefficient spectrum of SO2 and use the magnitude of the absorption to estimate the column content of SO2 present. A maximum concentration of 15 matm-cm of SO2 was observed west of Hawaii on April 15; the minimum detectable amount of SO2 in a single scan is about 1 matm-cm. The disappearance of the band structure at wavelengths below 300 nm indicates that the SO2 was between 20 km and 30 km altitude. An excess albedo was also observed near 300 nm which was attributed to increased scattering from volcanic aerosols; the wavelength of the scattering feature indicates that the aerosols also were near 25 km altitude.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Average ozone profiles for 1979 from the Nimbus 7 SBUV instrument

Monthly average ozone profiles from the first year of operation of the solar backscattered ultraviolet (SBUV) instrument on the Nimbus 7 satellite (November 1978 through October 1979) are tabulated for 10 deg latitude bands from 80 deg S to 80 deg N. For each month and latitude zone layer ozone amounts, standard deviations for 12 Umkehr layers (approximately 0-60 km), and the average total ozone for each zone are listed. The ozone mixing ratio and number density at the center of each layer are also given. It is found that the average SBUV profiles agree with average Umkehr profiles measured at Boulder to within 10 percent over most of the range. The Krueger-Minizner model is found to be a good representative ozone model for 45 deg N, agreeing with an annual average of measured profiles to better than 10 percent between 20 and 60 km.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Anomalous atmospheric spectral features between 300 and 310 nm interpreted in light or new ozone absorption coefficient measurements

Real structure is revealed, by an analysis of continuous scan data from the solar backscattered UV instrument on Nimbus 7, in the backscattered atmospheric albedo region between 300 and 310 nm where spectral anomalies have been reported in ground-based observation. The spectral anomalies are explainable as structure at the 1-5% level in the ozone absorption coefficient, as measured by Bass and Paur (1981). The new absorption coefficient measurements are judged to approach the 1%-level of accuracy in atmospheric radiation calculation, which should resolve discrepancies between different Dobson wavelength pairs and between different instruments and permit the more accurate analysis of such second-order effects as NO emission, SO2 absorption in polluted atmospheres, and Raman scattering effects.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Observations of ozone depletion associated with solar proton events

Ozone profiles from the solar proton events (SPE) of January and September 1971 and August 1972 were obtained after the backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) measured radiances were corrected for the direct effects of protons on the instrument. The SPE of August 1972 produced an ozone depletion of 15% at 42 km that persisted for one month in both northern and southern polar regions. This long recovery time indicates that NO(x) was produced in a quantity sufficient to alter the ozone chemistry. The two SPE in 1971 were of moderate size, but produced ozone depletions of 10-30% at 50 km with a 36 hour recovery time. This rapid recovery is consistent with the assumption that HO(x) is responsible for altering the ozone chemistry (Weeks et al., 1972). The magnitude of the observed depletion, however, exceeds that predicted by the chemical models.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Detection of nighttime atmospheric scattering of lunar UV radiances by the Nimbus 4 BUV instrument

Morphological studies of nighttime dark current data from the Nimbus 4 backscattered UV experiment indicate enhancements during the period of a full moon. The nature and magnitude of these lunar UV radiance enhancements are determined, and their potential use as a measure of nighttime ozone is considered. The data were grouped into five-day study intervals centered about each full moon sequence, and about each corresponding new moon interval. The analysis was performed in a magnetic frame of reference (McIlwain, 1961) in order to evaluate magnetospheric perturbation effects and to minimize the effects of charged energetic particle contamination or precipitation. All isolated elements showing spurious or abnormal enhancements were removed selectively (about 3%) to further screen the data. Results demonstrate the presence and uniqueness of a lunar signal, induced by atmospherically backscattered UV radiation. This signal was not sufficiently strong, however, to accurately map global nighttime ozone on the Nimbus 4 instrument.

Stassinopoulos, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Algorithm for vertical ozone profile determination for the Nimbus-4 BUV data set

A description is provided of the algorithm used by the Ozone Processing Team at NASA to process seven years of Backscatter Ultraviolet (BUV) ozone profile data. The algorithm is a modification of the original retrieval algorithm developed by Mateer (1972) to process some of the early data from the BUV experiment. Principal changes made are in the first guess selection scheme, the use of all wavelengths in the inversion, and the weighting of the various wavelengths according to the errors in the radiance estimation. It is found that the described BUV ozone profile algorithm is an extremely efficient algorithm for retrieving large amounts of satellite data. The algorithm makes full use of all the available information from the measured radiances including the longer wavelength radiances which previously had not been used.

Bhartia, P. K.↗
NASA NTRS1980

The behavior of ozone near the stratopause from two years of BUC observations

Two years of Nimbus 4 backscattered ultraviolet data have been recalibrated and reprocessed. A Laplace transform inversion was applied to radiances at 2876 A and below for 560,000 individual scans for the period April 1970-May 1972. The behavior of ozone near 50 km as a function of time, latitude, and longitude is presented. The high-latitude 1-mbar ozone mixing ratio is maximum at the winter solstice, about 10 microgram/g and is minimum at the summer solstice, about 4 microgram/g. Below 30 deg latitude the ozone is fairly constant at 4 microgram/g. Ozone variability is large in winter and spring and small in summer and fall.

Mcpeters, R. D.↗