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Solar particle propagation in magnetic fields revealing anisotropies in proton flux analyzed from Pioneer VI space probe data
A passive Fabry-Perot based instrument is described for detecting column CO2 through absorption measurements at 1.58 microns . In this design, solar flux reaches the instrument platform and is directed through two channels. In the first channel, transmittance fi5nges from a Fabry-Perot interferometer are aligned with CO2 absorption lines so that absorption due to CO2 is primarily detected. The second channel encompasses the same frequency region as the first, but is comparatively more sensitive to changes in the solar flux than absorption due to CO2. The ratio of these channels is sensitive to changes in the total CO2 column, but not to changes in solar flux. This inexpensive instrument will offer high precision measurements (error 4%) in a compact package. Design of this instrument and preliminary ground-based measurements of column CO2 are presented here as well as strategies for deployment on aircraft and satellite platforms.
As part of the International Space Station (ISS) Phase 1 program, NASA Lewis Research Center (LERC) and the Russian Space Agency (RSA) teamed together to design, build and flight test the world's first orbital Solar Dynamic Power System (SDPS) on the Russian space station Mir. The Solar Dynamic Flight Demonstration (SDFD) program was to operate a nominal 2 kWe SDPS on Mir for a period up to 1-year starting in late 1997. Unfortunately, the SDFD mission was demanifested from the ISS phase 1 shuttle program in early 1996. However, substantial flight hardware and prototypical flight hardware was built including a heat receiver and aperture shield. The aperture shield comprises the front face of the cylindrical cavity heat receiver and is located at the focal plane of the solar concentrator. It is constructed of a stainless steel plate with a 1-m outside diameter, a 0.24-m inside diameter and covered with high-temperature, refractory metal Multi-Foil Insulation (MFI). The aperture shield must minimize heat loss from the receiver cavity, provide a stiff, high strength structure to accommodate shuttle launch loads and protect receiver structures from highly concentrated solar fluxes during concentrator off-pointing events. To satisfy Mir operational safety protocols, the aperture shield was required to accommodate direct impingement of the intensely concentrated solar image for a 1-hour period. To verify thermal-structural durability under the anticipated high-flux, high-temperature loading, an aperture shield test article was constructed and underwent a series of two tests in a large thermal vacuum chamber configured with a reflective, point-focus solar concentrator and a solar simulator. The test article was positioned near the focal plane and exposed to concentrated solar flux for a period of 1-hour. In the first test, a near equilibrium temperature of 1862 K was attained in the center of the shield hot spot. In the second test, with increased incident flux, a near equilibrium temperature of 2072 K was achieved. The aperture shield sustained no visible damage as a result of the exposures. This paper describes the aperture shield thermal-vacuum qualification test program including the test article, test facility, procedures, data collection, test success criteria, results and conclusions.
Aerosol effects on atmospheric radiative fluxes provide a forcing function that can change the climate in potentially significant ways. This aerosol radiative forcing is a major source of uncertainty in understanding the climate change of the past century and predicting future climate. To help reduce this uncertainty, the 1996 Tropospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing Observational Experiment (TARFOX) and the 1997 Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) measured the properties and radiative effects of aerosols over the Atlantic Ocean. In the ACE 2 program the solar radiant fluxes were measured on the Pelican aircraft and the UK Met Office C130. This poster will show results from the measurements for the aerosol effects during the clear column days. We will compare the results with calculations of the radiant fluxes.
Both the anisotropic and isotropic diffusion theories can be used to extrapolate proton fluxes for E greater than or equal to 10 meV for over 50% of the particle events. The isotropic diffusion theory uses a diffusion coefficient: D = Mr sup beta. It was found that M and beta tended to be functions of flare position on the solar disk. A measurement of the interplanetary flux in near earth space gives a good indication of the polar cap fluxes. It was found that the 30 MHz absorption over the poles during a PCA is proportional to the square root of the integral proton flux E greater than or equal to 11 meV in interplanetary space, J = KA squared, with K = 8 plus or minus 2 and J in protons/sq cm-sec-ster.
The solar wind model of Weber and Davis (1967) is generalized to compute the heliospheric magnetic field resulting from solar rotation or a steady axisymmetric twist including a geometrical expansion which is more rapid than spherical. The calculated increase in the ratio of the toroidal to poloidal field components with heliocentric radial distance r clarifies an expression derived recently by Jokipii and Kota (1989). Magnetic-field components transverse to r do not in general grow to dominate the radial component at large r. The analysis also yields expressions for the Poynting flux associated with the steady twists.
The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Version 3 (V3) aerosol retrieval algorithm is described, which is based on the Version 2 (V2) algorithm with numerous updates. Comparisons of V3 aerosol retrievals to those of V2 are presented, along with a new approach to estimate uncertainties in many of the retrieved aerosol parameters. Changes in the V3 aerosol retrieval algorithm include (1) a new polarized radiative transfer code (RTC), which replaced the scalar RTC of V2, (2) detailed characterization of gas absorption by adding NO2 and H2O to specify total gas absorption in the atmospheric column, specification of vertical profiles of all the atmospheric species, (3) new bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) parameters for land sites adopted from the MODIS BRDF/Albedo product, (4) a new version of the extraterrestrial solar flux spectrum, and (5) a new temperature correction procedure of both direct Sun and sky radiance measurements. The potential effect of each change in V3 on single scattering albedo (SSA) retrievals was analyzed. The operational almucantar retrievals of V2 versus V3 were compared for four AERONET sites: GSFC, Mezaira, Mongu, and Kanpur. Analysis showed very good agreement in retrieved parameters of the size distributions. Comparisons of SSA retrievals for dust aerosols (Mezaira) showed a good agreement in 440 nm SSA, while for longer wavelengths V3 SSAs are systematically higher than those of V2, with the largest mean difference at 675 nm due to cumulative effects of both extraterrestrial solar flux and BRDF changes. For non-dust aerosols, the largest SSA deviation is at 675 nm due to differences in extraterrestrial solar flux spectrums used in each version. Further, the SSA 675 nm mean differences are very different for weakly (GSFC) and strongly (Mongu) absorbing aerosols, which is explained by the lower sensitivity to a bias in aerosol scattering optical depth by less absorbing aerosols. A new hybrid (HYB) sky radiance measurement scan is introduced and discussed. The HYB combines features of scans in two different planes to maximize the range of scattering angles and achieve scan symmetry, thereby allowing for cloud screening and spatial averaging, which is an advantage over the principal plane scan that lacks robust symmetry. We show that due to an extended range of scattering angles, HYB SSA retrievals for dust aerosols exhibit smaller variability with solar zenith angles (SZAs) than those of almucantar (ALM), which allows extension of HYB SSA retrievals to SZAs less than 50∘ to as small as 25∘. The comparison of SSA retrievals from closely time-matched HYB and ALM scans in the 50 to 75∘ SZA range showed good agreement with the differences below ∼0.005. We also present an approach to estimate retrieval uncertainties which utilizes the variability in retrieved parameters generated by perturbing both measurements and auxiliary input parameters as a proxy for retrieval uncertainty. The perturbations in measurements and auxiliary inputs are assumed as estimated biases in aerosol optical depth (AOD), radiometric calibration of sky radiances combined with solar spectral irradiance, and surface reflectance. For each set of Level 2 Sun/sky radiometer observations, 27 inputs corresponding to 27 combinations of biases were produced and separately inverted to generate the following statistics of the inversion results: average, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values. From these statistics, standard deviation (labeled U27) is used as a proxy for estimated uncertainty, and a lookup table (LUT) approach was implemented to reduce the computational time. The U27 climatological LUT was generated from the entire AERONET almucantar (1993–2018) and hybrid (2014–2018) scan databases by binning U27s in AOD (440 nm), Angström exponent (AE, 440–870 nm), and SSA (440, 675, 870, 1020 nm). Using this LUT approach, the uncertainty estimates U27 for each individual V3 Level 2 retrieval can be obtained by interpolation using the corresponding measured and inverted combination of AOD, AE, and SSA.
A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation, which is presumably due to the predominance of different cloud types throughout the day. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged by using the temporally averaged column water vapor amount and the temporally averaged cosine of the solar zenith angle. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.
A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.
The Galileo probe net flux radiometer (NFR) measured radiation fluxes in Jupiter's atmosphere from about 0.44 to 14 bars, using five spectral channels to separate solar and thermal components. Onboard calibration results confirm that the NFR responded to radiation approximately as expected. NFR channels also responded to a superimposed thermal perturbation, which can be approximately removed using blind channel measurements and physical constraints. Evidence for the expected NH3 cloud was seen in the spectral character of spin-induced modulations of the direct solar beam signals. These results are consistent with an overlying cloud of small NH3 ice particles (0.5-0.75 microns in radius) of optical depth 1.5-2 at 0.5 microns. Such a cloud would have so little effect on thermal fluxes that NFR thermal channels provide no additional constraints on its properties. However, evidence for heating near 0.45 bar in the NFR thermal channels would seem to require either an additional opacity source beyond this small-particle cloud, implying a heterogeneous cloud structure to avoid conflicts with solar modulation results, or a change in temperature lapse rate just above the probe measurements. The large thermal flux levels imply water vapor mixing ratios that are only 6% of solar at 10 bars, but possibly increasing with depth, and significantly subsaturated ammonia at pressures less than 3 bars. If deep NH3 mixing ratios at the probe entry site are 3-4 times ground-based inferences, as suggested by probe radio signal attenuation, then only half as much water is needed to match NFR observations. No evidence of a water cloud was seen near the 5-bar level. The 5-microns thermal channel detected the presumed NH4SH cloud base near 1.35 bars. Effects of this cloud were also seen in the solar channel upflux measurements but not in the solar net fluxes, implying that the cloud is a conservative scatterer of sunlight. The minor thermal signature of this cloud is compatible with particle radii near 3 gm, but it cannot rule out smaller particles. Deeper than about 3 bars, solar channels indicate unexpectedly large absorption of sunlight at wavelengths longer than 0.6 microns, which might be due to unaccounted-for absorption by NH3 between 0.65 and 1.5 microns.
The Galileo probe net flux radiometer (NFR) measured radiation fluxes in Jupiter's atmosphere from about 0.44 to 14 bars, using five spectral channels to separate solar and thermal components. Onboard calibration results confirm that the NFR responded to radiation approximately as expected. NFR channels also responded to a superimposed thermal perturbation, which can be approximately removed using blind channel measurements and physical constraints. Evidence for the expected NH3 cloud was seen in the spectral character of spin-induced modulations of the direct solar beam signals. These results are consistent with an overlying cloud of small NH3 ice particles (0.5-0.75 microns in radius) of optical depth 1.5-2 at 0.5 microns. Such a cloud would have so little effect on thermal fluxes that NFR thermal channels provide no additional constraints on its properties. However, evidence for heating near 0.45 bar in the NFR thermal channels would seem to require either an additional opacity source beyond this small-particle cloud, implying a heterogeneous-cloud structure to avoid conflicts with solar modulation results, or a change in temperature lapse rate just above the probe measurements. The large thermal flux levels imply water vapor mixing ratios that are only 6% of solar at 10 bars, but possibly increasing with depth, and significantly subsaturated ammonia at pressures less than 3 bars. If deep NH3 mixing ratios at the probe entry site are 3-4 times ground-based inferences, as suggested by probe radio signal attenuation, then only half as much water is needed to match NFR observations. No evidence of a water cloud was seen near the 5-bar level. The 5 microns thermal channel detected the presumed NH4SH cloud base near 1.35 bars. Effects of this cloud were also seen in the solar channel upflux measurements but not in the solar net fluxes, implying that the cloud is a conservative scatterer of sunlight. The minor thermal signature of this cloud is compatible with particle radii near 3 microns, but it cannot rule out smaller particles. Deeper than about 3 bars, solar channels indicate unexpectedly large absorption of sunlight at wavelengths longer than 0.6 microns, which might be due to unaccounted-for absorption by NH3 between 0.65 and 1.5 microns.
The use of ammonia as an actinometer for measurement of the solar flux in the region 1950-2150 A is presented. The solar flux was found to be 270 million photons/sq cm per sec at ground level in this wavelength interval in an area with minimum overhead ozone concentration. The advantages of this method over previously used methods are discussed, and the results are related to the present estimates of the tropospheric photodissociation rates for the freons CFCl3 and CF2Cl2 by radiation in this wavelength region.
Observation of the Sun in the 160 to 400 nm wavelength region reveals no significant broadband variation with solar flares, variability associated with the rotation of active regions, and a possible long term change which may be related to the 11 year sunspot cycle or longer. A continuing ultraviolet solar flux variability below 200 nm was observed from 1969 through the present from satellites, which is modulated at solar rotation rates. Recent observations from Nimbus-7 show the solar flux is varying by significant amounts also in the regions from 200 nm up to the Calcium 2 H-line at 396.8 nm. Typically the flux may vary over a solar rotation from about 10 percent at 160 nm to slightly less than 1 percent at the Ca2 K-line. Results of an evaluation of observations from rockets, satellites, and the ground measurements are discussed.
The solar magnetic fields emerging from the photosphere into the chromosphere and corona are comprised of a combination of “closed” (field lines with both ends rooted at the Sun) and “open” (field lines with only one end at the Sun) fields. Since the early 2000’s, the magnitude of total unsigned open magnetic flux estimated by coronal models has been in significant disagreement with in situ spacecraft observations, especially during solar maximum. Estimates of total open unsigned magnetic flux using coronal hole observations (e.g., using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or Helium (He) are in general agreement with the coronal model results and thus show similar disagreements with in situ observations. This paper provides a brief overview of the problem, summarizes the proposed explanations for the discrepancies, and presents results that strongly support the explanation that the discrepancy is due to dynamics at the open-closed boundary. These results are derived from determination of the total unsigned open magnetic flux, utilizing the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model at a particular spatial resolution and different field-line tracing methods. One of these methods produces excellent agreement with in situ observations. Our results imply that active regions residing near the boundaries of mid-latitude coronal holes are the primary source of the missing open flux. Furthermore, they resolve many of the seemingly contradictory facts that have made resolving the open-flux problem so difficult.
A new source of data on the solar output, namely limb flux from the one- and two-million degree corona is presented. This parameter is derived from data obtained at the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak with the 40 cm coronagraph of the John W. Evans Solar Facility and the Emission Line Coronal Photometer. The limb flux is defined to be the latitude-averaged intensity in millionths of the brightness of disk center from an annulus of width 1.1 minutes centered at a height of 0.15 solar constant above the limb of emission from lines at 6374A (Fe X) or 5303A (Fe XIV). Fe XIV data have been obtained since 1973 and Fe X since 1984. Examination of the Fe XIV data shows that there is ambiguity in the definition of the last two solar activity minima, which can affect the determination of cycle rise times and lengths. There is an indication that a constant minimum or basal corona may exist at solar minimum. Cycle 22 has had a much faster onset than Cycle 21 and has now overtaken Cycle 21. The rise characteristics of the two cycles were very similar up until Jul. to Aug. 1989, at which time a long-term maximum occurred in Fe X and Fe XIV, which could possibly be the solar maximum. Another maximum is developing at the current time. Cycle 21 was characterized in Fe XIV by at least 4 major thrusts or bursts of activity, each lasting on the order of a year and all having similar maximum limb fluxes which indicates that coronal energy output is sustained over periods in which the sunspot number declines significantly. Dramatic increases in the limb fluxes occur from minimum to maximum, ranging from factors of 14 to 21 in the two lines. Two different techniques to predict the epoch of solar maximum have been applied to the Fe XIV data, resulting in estimates of April 1989 (plus or minus 1 mo) and May 1990 (plus or minus 2 mos).
Solar EUV fluxes in the spectral range from 140 to 1850 A have been observed by spectrophotometers on the satellites AE-C, D, and E. Variations over the long period of one or two years cannot be verified quantitatively, as the observed small variations are of the same magnitude as possible variations of instrumental sensitivities and estimated uncertainties of absolute values from the rocket experiment which established the calibration of the AE-C instrument. Fortunately, no similar difficulty exists for the interpretation of observed EUV variations within smaller time periods up to that of a full solar rotation. Results from AE-C observations for many different wavelength groups for the year 1974 are shown by some detail and compared with some recent observations made by the AE-D and AE-E instruments.
A detector sharing the orbital rate of Venus has a unique perspective on solar periodicities. Fourier analysis of the 8.6 year record of solar EUV output gathered by the Langmuir probe on Pioneer Venus Orbiter shows the influences of global oscillation modes located in the convective envelope and in the radiative interior. Seven of the eight lowest angular harmonic r-mode familes are detected by their rotation rates which differ almost unmeasurably from ideal theoretical values. This determines a mean sidereal rotation rate for the envelope of 457.9 + or - 2.0 nHz which corresponds to a period of 25.3 days. Many frequencies are aliased at + or - 106 nHz by modulation from the lowest angular harmonic r-mode in the envelope.
The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) makes use of three sets of two independent, but complementary, flight instruments. The two instruments in each set include a three-channel narrow field-of-view scanning instrument (scanner) and a five-channel wide field-of-view staring instrument (nonscanner). The ERBE nonscanner instruments are designed for the conduction of broad spectral and spatial measurements of the earth's reflected solar and emitted radiation and the determination of the incident solar flux. The nonscanner solar calibration process is considered along with the solar calibration results. A description of the data processing algorithms is also provided, taking into account the earth viewing channels and the solar monitor.