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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1993

Atmospheric infrared sounder

Work continued on analysis of data from the TOGA-COARE experiment. The MIT Microwave Temperature Sounder was flown on NASA's ER-2 at Wallops Island in the CAMEX experiment during September and October. The preliminary version of the 'microwave first-guess' algorithm for temperature and moisture was delivered to JPL. In the iterative minimum-variance algorithm moisture retrievals from MHS make use of the retrieved temperature profile in calculation of weighting functions and in determining the saturation moisture capacity at each level. Simulations have been run to address the question of how important the temperature profile accuracy is to the moisture retrieval.

Rosenkranz, Philip W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Intercomparison of MAS, AVIRIS, and HIS data from FIRE cirrus 2

The NASA ER-2 flight on 5 Dec. 1991 is unique among the FIRE Cirrus 2 missions in that data were acquired simultaneously by the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), and the High Resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS). These data represent a unique source of information about the spatial and spectral properties of cirrus clouds. The MAS is a new instrument which will aid in defining algorithms and building an understanding of the ability of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to remotely sense atmospheric conditions for assessing global change. In order to establish confidence in the absolute calibration accuracy of the MAS radiances, an inter-comparison of MAS radiances with AVIRIS and HIS has been undertaken.

Gumley, Liam E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

CIMSS FIRE research activities

An overview of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies' FIRE research activities is presented. Emphasis is on the analysis of the High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS) made from the ER-2 as well as ground based measurements made by the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) prototype.

Smith, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Ground-based passive remote sensing during FIRE IFO 2

During the FIRE Cirrus IFO II, a set of passive radiometers were deployed at the Coffeyville, Kansas, Hub, site B, to compliment the Radiation Measurement System (RAMS) on board the NASA ER-2 and NCAR Sabreliner. The following three instruments were used at the surface: Narrow-field-of View IR Radiometer (NFOV); Total-Direct-Diffuse Radiometer (TDDR); and Near-Infrared Spectroradiometer (NIRS).

Pilewskie, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1993

Meteorological analysis of the November 25 FIRE cirrus-2 case: A well-defined ridge-crest cirrus system over Oklahoma

On the morning of 25 Nov. 1991, a cirrus cloud system formed in a region extending eastward from the continental divide into central Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas. The system moved slowly eastward during the day and maintained a relatively constant scale and shape. From the satellite perspective, this cloud system had a number of morphological similarities to the 27-28 Oct. FIRE (First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project Regional Experiment) Cirrus-1 case analyzed by Starr and Wylie. By comparison, the present case had much better rawinsonde coverage. The rawinsonde network was much more extensive and the cloud system was relatively slow moving and well-located with respect to the enhanced sounding network and the National Weather Service (NWS) Wind Profiler Network. In addition to the rawinsonde soundings (1200 and 1800 UTC on 25 Nov. and 0000 and 0600 UTC on 26 Nov.) and satellite observations, four aircraft sorties were flown in the northern portion of this cirrus cloud system from mid-morning to mid afternoon. These included microphysical-radiation profiling missions by the NCAR Sabreliner near Tulsa (about midway between COF and OUN) and the NCAR King Air near Ponca City (about 80 km upwind of Tulsa), a microphysical profiling mission by the UND Citation near Tulsa, and a NASA ER-2 overflight. Thus, very good data are available for this case although, unfortunately, the cloud system remained south of the FIRE Hub site at Coffeyville (COF) where extensive ground-based remote sensor was located. The northern edge of the cloud system was visible from COF during most of the day. Given the wealth of available in situ and remote sensing observations, the similarity to the FIRE Cirrus-1 focal case study, and the particularly good match in scale and location of the cloud system with the rawinsonde and profiler networks, analysis of this case may yield very useful results on the life-cycle of this cirrus cloud system. The quality of the meteorological description for this case was assessed based on our preliminary analysis of the rawinsonde observations.

Starr, David↗
NASA NTRS1989

Ozone Hole Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (Pre-Flight)

The first segment of this video gives an overview of the Ozone Hole Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition, an international effort using balloon payloads, ground based instruments, and airborne instruments to study ozone depletion and the hole in the ozone over Antarctica which occurs every spring. False color imagery taken from NASA's Nimbus 7 satellite which documents daily changes in ozone is also shown. The second segment of this video shows actual take-off and flight footage of the two aircraft used in the experiment: the DC-8 Flying Laboratory and the high flying ER-2.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Airborne tunable diode laser spectrometer for trace-gas measurement in the lower stratosphere

This paper describes the airborne tunable laser absorption spectrometer, a tunable diode laser instrument designed for in situ trace-gas measurement in the lower stratosphere from an ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft. Laser-wavelength modulation and second-harmonic detection are employed to achieve the required constituent detection sensitivity. The airborne tunable laser absorption spectrometer was used in two polar ozone campaigns, the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment and the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition, and measured nitrous oxide with a response time of 1 s and an accuracy not greater than 10 percent.

Podolske, James↗
NASA NTRS1993

Airborne imaging of tropospheric emission at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

In September 1993, the NASA Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR) flew on board the NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft during CAMEX, and obtained the first wideband millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength images of tropospheric emission. The MIR is a cross-track radiometer with channels at 89, 150, 183 +/- 1, 3, 7, 220, and 325 +/- 1, 3, 8 GHz. This set provides upwelling brightness information at the two strong rotational water vapor lines at 183.310 and 325.153 GHz and three nearby atmospheric transmission windows. The wideband MIR images of convective raincells reveal unique cloud and precipitation mapping capabilities that are not available from lower frequency microwave channels. Comparisons between the 183 and 325 GHz spectra also reveal differential brightness temperature modes that are related to cloud water.

Wang, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Possible near-IR channels for remote sensing precipitable water vapor from geostationary satellite platforms

Remote sensing of troposheric water vapor profiles from current geostationary weather satellites is made using a few broadband infrared (IR) channels in the 6-13 micron region. Uncertainties greater than 20% exist in derived water vapor values just above the surface from the IR emission measurements. In this paper, we propose three near-IR channels, one within the 0.94-micron water vapor band absorption region, and the other two in nearby atmospheric windows, for remote sensing of precipitable water vapor over land areas, excluding lakes and rivers, during daytime from future geostationary satellite platforms. The physical principles are as follows. The reflectance of most surface targets varies approximately linearly with wavelength near 1 micron. The solar radiation on the sun-surface-sensor ray path is attenuated by atmospheric water vapor. The ratio of the radiance from the absorption channel with the radiances from the two window channels removes the surface reflectance effects and yields approximately the mean atmospheric water vapor transmittance of the absorption channel. The integrated water vapor amount from ground to space can be obtained with a precision of better than 5% from the mean transmittance. Because surface reflectances vary slowly with time, temporal variation of precipitable water vapor can be determined reliably. High spatial resolution, precipitable water vapor images are derived from spectral data collected by the Airborne Visable-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, which measures solar radiation reflected by the surface in the 0.4-2.5 micron region in 10-nm channels and has a ground instantaneous field of view of 20 m from its platform on an ER-2 aircraft at 20 km. The proposed near-IR reflectance technique would complement the IR emission techniques for remote sensing of water vapor profiles from geostationary satellite platforms, especially in the boundary layer where most of the water vapor is located.

Gao, B.-C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition 2: An overview

The sudden onset of ozone depletion in the antarctic vortex set a precedent for both the time scale and the severity of global change. The Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE), stages from Punta Arenas, Chile, in 1987, established that CFCs, halons, and methyl bromide, the dominant sources of chlorine and bromide radicals in the stratosphere, control the rate of ozone destruction over the Antarctic; that the vortex is depleted in reactive nitrogen and water vapor; and that diabatic cooling during the antarctic winter leads to subsidence within the vortex core, importing air from higher altitudes and lower latitudes. This last conclusion is based on observed dramatic distortion in the tracer fields, most notably N2O. In 1989, the first Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE-1), staged from Stavanger, Norway, and using the same aircraft employed for AAOE (the NASA ER-2 and the NASA DC-8), discovered that while NO(x) and to some degree NO(y) were perturbed within the arctic vortex, there was little evidence for desiccation. Under these (in contrast to the antarctic) marginally perturbed conditions, however, ClO was found to be dramatically enhanced such that a large fraction of the available (inorganic) chlorine resided in the form of ClO and its dimer ClOOCl. This leaves two abiding issues for the northern hemisphere and the mission of the second Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE-2): (1) Will significant ozone erosion occur within the arctic vortex in the next ten years as chlorine loading in the stratosphere exceeds four parts per billion by volume? (2) Which mechanisms are responsible for the observed ozone erosion poleward of 30 deg N in the winter/spring northern hemisphere reported in satellite observations?

Anderson, James G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Interpretation of NO(x)/NO(y) observations from AASE-2 using a model of chemistry along trajectories

In situ measurements of NO and NO(y) are used to derive the ratio NO(x)/NO(y) along the flight track of the NASA ER-2 aircraft. Data are presented for two flights at midlatitudes in October 1991 during the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition-2 (AASE-2). Aerosol particle surface area was concurrently measured. The observations are compared with a photochemical model integrated along back trajectories from the aircraft flight track. Comparison of observations with the model run along trajectories and at a fixed position clearly and quantitatively demonstrates the importance of an air parcel's dynamic history in interpretation of local chemical observations. Comparison of the data with model runs under different assumptions regarding heterogeneous chemistry further reinforces the case for occurrence of the reaction of N2O5 + H2O on sulfate aerosol surfaces in the atmosphere. Finally, comparisons for which relative changes in the model and the data are not consistent caution that our ability to resolve all the observations is not yet complete.

Kawa, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Effects of Pinatubo aerosol on stratospheric ozone at mid-latitudes

Mid-latitude ozone data from ER-2 aircraft measurements in 1989, 1991, and 1992 were examined to determine how sulfate aerosols from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo had affected ozone at about 18 km. N2O was used as a tracer to help distinguish between chemical and dynamical aerosol effects. At 20-45 deg N in February 1992, ozone was about 10-20% lower than February 1989 and 1991, with respect to N2O. Data from Aug. 1991 - Mar. 1992 showed changes in ozone with respect to N2O, but the magnitude of those changes was not correlated with the magnitude of the changes in aerosol surface area density.

Weaver, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

In situ measurements of the ClO/HCl ratio: Heterogeneous processing on sulfate aerosols and polar stratospheric clouds

Simultaneous in situ measurements of stratospheric ClO and HCl have been made for the first time, during numerous flights of the ER-2 aircraft covering latitudes 24-90 deg N from October 1991 through March 1992. The ClO/HCl ratio is identified as a key indicator of heterogeneous processing both outside and within the Arctic polar vortex. For ClO mixing ratios below about 120 pptv, remarkably constant ClO/HCl values of about 15% characterize the lower stratosphere. The observed values are significantly higher than those derived from a 2-D model using either gas phase photochemistry alone (2%), or including heterogeneous sulfate chemistry (5-10%). During the Arctic early spring, after conversion of HCl into reactive chlorine has taken place, the vortex edge is poorly defined by ClO levels. Loss of HCl and its slow recovery following low-temperature polar heterogeneous chemistry distinguishes HCl as a new and unique dynamical tracer of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC)-processed air.

Webster, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

In-situ measurements of changes in stratospheric aerosol and the N2O-aerosol relationship inside and outside of the polar vortex

Two optical particle counters on the ER-2, together covering a particle size diameter range from 0.1 microns to 23 microns, were used to measure the aerosol bulk quantities integral number, aerosol surface and volume, as well as detailed size distributions inside and outside of the polar vortex in the lower stratosphere. While AAES I (Arctic Airborne Stratospheric Expedition, (Dec. 88 - Feb. 89) was conducted in a period of relative volcanic quiescence, enhancements in aerosol number, surface and volume of factors around 10, 25 and 100 were observed during AASE 2 (Aug. 91 - Mar. 92) due to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The changes in these bulk quantities as well as in the size distributions measured both outside and inside the polar vortex are presented and compared with those obtained in polar stratospheric cloud events (AASE I). Except for a shift towards larger aerosol mixing ratios the general shape of correlograms between the measured N2O and particle mixing ratios remain similar before and after the eruption. Similar correlograms are used to interpret data from vertical profiles inside and outside of the polar vortex.

Borrmann, S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Stratospheric NO(y) measurements on the NASA DC-8 during AASE 2

We survey measurements of stratospheric NO(y) on the NASA DC-8 during AASE 2 in early 1992. Emphasis is on correlations with other long-lived species: O3, N2O, and CH4. No cases of extremely high NO(y)/O3 ratios were seen in 1992. This suggests that denitrification at higher altitudes was less pervasive than in 1989. Values of NO(y)/O3 in 1992 are comparable to, though perhaps lower than, those measured in 1989. The correlation of NO(y) with N2O changes over the course of the mission. Relative to the correlation for the whole season, low values of NO(y) occur in February, most notably on the 22nd. The reason for the low NO(y) is unknown. It is generally too warm at DC-8 altitudes for the presence of Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC) particles, but denitrification at higher altitudes, followed by descent, might account for the low values seen on 22 February. However, this may be unlikely since the NASA ER-2, flying during the same period, saw no evidence of denitrification at higher altitudes (Loewenstein et al., 1993).

Weinheimer, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition 2: An Overview

The sudden onset of ozone depletion in the antarctic vortex set a precedent for both the time scale and the severity of global change. The Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE), staged from Punta Arenas, Chile, in 1987, established that CFCs, halons, and methyl bromide, the dominant sources of chlorine and bromine radicals in the stratosphere, control the rate of ozone destruction over the Antarctic; that the vortex is depleted in reactive nitrogen and water vapor; and that diabatic cooling during the antarctic winter leads to subsidence within the vortex core, importing air from higher altitudes and lower latitudes. This last conclusion is based on observed dramatic distortion in the tracer fields, most notably N2O. In 1989, the first Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE-I), staged from Stavanger, Norway, and using the same aircraft employed for AAOE (the NASA ER-2 and the NASA DC-8), discovered that while NO(x) and to some degree NO(y) were perturbed within the arctic vortex, there was little evidence for desiccation. Under these (in contrast to the antarctic) marginally perturbed conditions, however, Cl0 was found to be dramatically enhanced such that a large fraction of the available (inorganic) chlorine resided in the form of Cl0 and its dimer ClOOCl. This leaves two abiding issues for the northern hemisphere and the mission of the second Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE-II): (1) Will significant ozone erosion occur within the arctic vortex in the next ten years as chlorine loading in the stratosphere exceeds four parts per billion by volume? and (2) Which mechanisms are responsible for the observed ozone erosion poleward of 30 deg N in the winter/spring northern hemisphere reported in satellite observations?

Anderson, James G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Effects of Pinatubo Aerosol on Stratospheric Zone at Mid-Lattiudes

Mid-latitude ozone data from ER-2 aircraft measurements in 1989, 1991 and 1992 were examined to determine how sulfate aerosols from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo had affected ozone at about 18 km. N2O was used as a tracer to help distinguish between chemical and dynamical aerosol effects. At 20-45 deg N in February 1992, ozone was about 10-20% lower than February 1989 and 1991, with respect to N2O. Data from Aug.1991 - Mar. 1992 showed changes in ozone with respect to N2O, but the magnitude of those changes was not correlated with the magnitude of the changes in aerosol surface area density.

Weaver, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

In-Situ Measurements of Changes in Stratospheric Aerosol and the N2O - Aerosol Relationship inside and outside of the Polar Vortex

Two optical particle counters on the ER-2, together covering a particle size diameter range from 0.1 micrometers to 23 micrometers, were used to measure the aerosol bulk quantities integral number, aerosol surface and volume, as well as detailed size distributions inside and outside of the polar vortex in the lower stratosphere. While AASE I (Arctic Airborne Stratospheric Expedition, (Dec. 1988 - Feb. 1989) was conducted in a period of relative volcanic quiescence, enhancements in aerosol number, surface and volume of factors around 10, 25 and 100 were observed during AASE II (Aug. 1991 - Mar. 1992) due to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The changes in these bulk quantities as well as in the size distributions measured both outside and inside the the polar vortex are presented and compared with those obtained in polar stratospheric cloud events (AASE I). Except for a shift towards larger aerosol mixing ratios the general shape of correlograms between the measured N2O and particle mixing ratios remain similar before and after the eruption. Similar correlograms are used to interpret data from vertical profiles inside and outside of the polar vortex.

Borrmann, S.↗