Engineering topics

Xu, Xiaojing

Publications and source records attributed to Xu, Xiaojing.

8 records

NASA NTRS2016

Cosmic Radiation Dose Measurements from the RaD-X Flight Campaign

The NASA Radiation Dosimetry Experiment (RaD-X) stratospheric balloon flight mission obtained measurements for improving the understanding of cosmic radiation transport in the atmosphere and human exposure to this ionizing radiation field in the aircraft environment. The value of dosimetric measurements from the balloon platform is that they can be used to characterize cosmic ray primaries, the ultimate source of aviation radiation exposure. In addition, radiation detectors were flown to assess their potential application to long-term, continuous monitoring of the aircraft radiation environment. The RaD-X balloon was successfully launched from Fort Sumner, New Mexico (34.5 degrees North, 104.2 degrees West) on 25 September 2015. Over 18 hours of flight data were obtained from each of the four different science instruments at altitudes above 20 kilometers. The RaD-X balloon flight was supplemented by contemporaneous aircraft measurements. Flight-averaged dosimetric quantities are reported at seven altitudes to provide benchmark measurements for improving aviation radiation models. The altitude range of the flight data extends from commercial aircraft altitudes to above the Pfotzer maximum where the dosimetric quantities are influenced by cosmic ray primaries. The RaD-X balloon flight observed an absence of the Pfotzer maximum in the measurements of dose equivalent rate.

Mertens, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

NASA Space Radiation Risk Project: Overview and Recent Results

The NASA Space Radiation Risk project is responsible for integrating new experimental and computational results into models to predict risk of cancer and acute radiation syndrome (ARS) for use in mission planning and systems design, as well as current space operations. The project has several parallel efforts focused on proving NASA's radiation risk projection capability in both the near and long term. This presentation will give an overview, with select results from these efforts including the following topics: verification, validation, and streamlining the transition of models to use in decision making; relative biological effectiveness and dose rate effect estimation using a combination of stochastic track structure simulations, DNA damage model calculations and experimental data; ARS model improvements; pathway analysis from gene expression data sets; solar particle event probabilistic exposure calculation including correlated uncertainties for use in design optimization.

Blattnig, Steve R.↗

NASA NTRS2014

GCR Environmental Models III: GCR Model Validation and Propagated Uncertainties in Effective Dose

This is the last of three papers focused on quantifying the uncertainty associated with galactic cosmic rays (GCR) models used for space radiation shielding applications. In the first paper, it was found that GCR ions with Z>2 and boundary energy below 500 MeV/nucleon induce less than 5% of the total effective dose behind shielding. This is an important finding since GCR model development and validation have been heavily biased toward Advanced Composition Explorer/Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer measurements below 500 MeV/nucleon. Weights were also developed that quantify the relative contribution of defined GCR energy and charge groups to effective dose behind shielding. In the second paper, it was shown that these weights could be used to efficiently propagate GCR model uncertainties into effective dose behind shielding. In this work, uncertainties are quantified for a few commonly used GCR models. A validation metric is developed that accounts for measurements uncertainty, and the metric is coupled to the fast uncertainty propagation method. For this work, the Badhwar-O'Neill (BON) 2010 and 2011 and the Matthia GCR models are compared to an extensive measurement database. It is shown that BON2011 systematically overestimates heavy ion fluxes in the range 0.5-4 GeV/nucleon. The BON2010 and BON2011 also show moderate and large errors in reproducing past solar activity near the 2000 solar maximum and 2010 solar minimum. It is found that all three models induce relative errors in effective dose in the interval [-20%, 20%] at a 68% confidence level. The BON2010 and Matthia models are found to have similar overall uncertainty estimates and are preferred for space radiation shielding applications.

Slaba, Tony C.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Empirical STORM-E Model

Auroral nighttime infrared emission observed by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument onboard the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite is used to develop an empirical model of geomagnetic storm enhancements to E-region peak electron densities. The empirical model is called STORM-E and will be incorporated into the 2012 release of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). The proxy for characterizing the E-region response to geomagnetic forcing is NO+(v) volume emission rates (VER) derived from the TIMED/SABER 4.3 lm channel limb radiance measurements. The storm-time response of the NO+(v) 4.3 lm VER is sensitive to auroral particle precipitation. A statistical database of storm-time to climatological quiet-time ratios of SABER-observed NO+(v) 4.3 lm VER are fit to widely available geomagnetic indices using the theoretical framework of linear impulse-response theory. The STORM-E model provides a dynamic storm-time correction factor to adjust a known quiescent E-region electron density peak concentration for geomagnetic enhancements due to auroral particle precipitation. Part II of this series describes the explicit development of the empirical storm-time correction factor for E-region peak electron densities, and shows comparisons of E-region electron densities between STORM-E predictions and incoherent scatter radar measurements. In this paper, Part I of the series, the efficacy of using SABER-derived NO+(v) VER as a proxy for the E-region response to solar-geomagnetic disturbances is presented. Furthermore, a detailed description of the algorithms and methodologies used to derive NO+(v) VER from SABER 4.3 lm limb emission measurements is given. Finally, an assessment of key uncertainties in retrieving NO+(v) VER is presented

Mertens, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

An Investigation of Widespread Ozone Damage to the Soybean Crop in the Upper Midwest Determined From Ground-Based and Satellite Measurements

Elevated concentrations of ground-level ozone (O3) are frequently measured over farmland regions in many parts of the world. While numerous experimental studies show that O3 can significantly decrease crop productivity, independent verifications of yield losses at current ambient O3 concentrations in rural locations are sparse. In this study, soybean crop yield data during a 5-year period over the Midwest of the United States were combined with ground and satellite O3 measurements to provide evidence that yield losses on the order of 10% could be estimated through the use of a multiple linear regression model. Yield loss trends based on both conventional ground-based instrumentation and satellite-derived tropospheric O3 measurements were statistically significant and were consistent with results obtained from open-top chamber experiments and an open-air experimental facility (SoyFACE, Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment) in central Illinois. Our analysis suggests that such losses are a relatively new phenomenon due to the increase in background tropospheric O3 levels over recent decades. Extrapolation of these findings supports previous studies that estimate the global economic loss to the farming community of more than $10 billion annually.

Fishman, Jack↗

NASA NTRS2008

Influence of Solar-Geomagnetic Disturbances on SABER Measurements of 4.3 Micrometer Emission and the Retrieval of Kinetic Temperature and Carbon Dioxide

Thermospheric infrared radiance at 4.3 micrometers is susceptible to the influence of solar-geomagnetic disturbances. Ionization processes followed by ion-neutral chemical reactions lead to vibrationally excited NO(+) (i.e., NO(+)(v)) and subsequent 4.3 micrometer emission in the ionospheric E-region. Large enhancements of nighttime 4.3 m emission were observed by the TIMED/SABER instrument during the April 2002 and October-November 2003 solar storms. Global measurements of infrared 4.3 micrometer emission provide an excellent proxy to observe the nighttime E-region response to auroral dosing and to conduct a detailed study of E-region ion-neutral chemistry and energy transfer mechanisms. Furthermore, we find that photoionization processes followed by ion-neutral reactions during quiescent, daytime conditions increase the NO(+) concentration enough to introduce biases in the TIMED/SABER operational processing of kinetic temperature and CO2 data, with the largest effect at summer solstice. In this paper, we discuss solar storm enhancements of 4.3 micrometer emission observed from SABER and assess the impact of NO(+)(v) 4.3 micrometer emission on quiescent, daytime retrievals of Tk/CO2 from the SABER instrument.

Mertens, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Kinetic Temperature and Carbon Dioxide from Broadband Infrared Limb Emission Measurements Taken from the TIMED/SABER Instrument

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment is one of four instruments on NASA's Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. SABER measures broadband infrared limb emission and derives vertical profiles of kinetic temperature (Tk) from the lower stratosphere to approximately 120 km, and vertical profiles of carbon dioxide (CO2) volume mixing ratio (vmr) from approximately 70 km to 120 km. In this paper we report on SABER Tk/CO2 data in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region from the version 1.06 dataset. The continuous SABER measurements provide an excellent dataset to understand the evolution and mechanisms responsible for the global two-level structure of the mesopause altitude. SABER MLT Tk comparisons with ground-based sodium lidar and rocket falling sphere Tk measurements are generally in good agreement. However, SABER CO2 data differs significantly from TIME-GCM model simulations. Indirect CO2 validation through SABER-lidar MLT Tk comparisons and SABER-radiation transfer comparisons of nighttime 4.3 micron limb emission suggest the SABER-derived CO2 data is a better representation of the true atmospheric MLT CO2 abundance compared to model simulations of CO2 vmr.

Mertens, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Empirical Storm-Time Correction to the International Reference Ionosphere Model E-Region Electron and Ion Density Parameterizations Using Observations from TIMED/SABER

The response of the ionospheric E-region to solar-geomagnetic storms can be characterized using observations of infrared 4.3 micrometers emission. In particular, we utilize nighttime TIMED/SABER measurements of broadband 4.3 micrometers limb emission and derive a new data product, the NO+(v) volume emission rate, which is our primary observation-based quantity for developing an empirical storm-time correction the IRI E-region electron density. In this paper we describe our E-region proxy and outline our strategy for developing the empirical storm model. In our initial studies, we analyzed a six day storm period during the Halloween 2003 event. The results of this analysis are promising and suggest that the ap-index is a viable candidate to use as a magnetic driver for our model.

Mertens, Christoper J.↗