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At least 235 records · Page 13

Pickup protons and pressure-balanced structures: Voyager 2 observations in merged interaction regions near 35 AU

Five pressure-balanced structures, each with a scale of the order of a few hundredths of an astonomical unit (AU), were identified in two merged interaction regions (MIRs) near 35 AU in the Voyager 2 plasma and magnetic field data. They include a tangential discountinuity, simple and complex magnetic holes, slow correlated variations among the plasma and magnetic field parameters, and complex uncorrelated variations among the parameters. The changes in the magnetic pressure in these events are balanced by changes in the pressure of interstellar pickup protons. Thus the pickup protons probably play a major role in the dynamics of the MIRs. The solar wind proton and electron pressures are relatively unimportant in the MIRs at 35 AU and beyond. The region near 35 AU is transition region: the Sun is the source of the magnetic field, but the interstellar medium in source of pickups protons. Relative to the solar wind proton guyroadius, the thicknesses of the discontinuities and simple magnetic holes observed near 35 AU are at least an order of magnitude greater than those observed at 1 AU. However, the thicknesses of the tangential discontinuity and simple magnetic holes observed near 35 AU (in units of the pickup proton Larmor radius) are comparable to those observed at 1 AU (in units of the solar wind proton gyroradius). Thus the gyroradius of interstellar pickup protons controls the thickness of current sheets near 35 AU. We determine the interstellar pickup proton pressure in the PBSs. Using a model for the pickup proton temperature, we estimate that the average interstellar pickup proton pressure, temperature, and density in the MIRs at 35 AU are (0.53 +/- 0.14) x 10(exp -12) erg/cu cm, (5.8 +/- 0.4) x 10(exp 6) K and (7 +/- 2) x 10(exp -4)/cu cm.

Burlaga, L. F.↗

Algorithm for Estimating the Plume Centerline Temperature and Ceiling Jet Temperature in the Presence of a Hot Upper Layer

The experiments were designed to provide insight into the behavior of jet fuel fires in aircraft hangars and to study the impact of these fires on the design and operation of a variety of fire protection systems. As a result, the test series included small fires designed to investigate the operation of UV/IR detectors and smoke detectors as well as large fires which were used to investigate the operation of ceiling mounted heat detectors and sprinklers. The impact of the presence or absence of draft curtains was also studied in the 15 m hangar. It is shown that in order to predict the plume centerline temperature within experimental uncertainty, the entrainment of the upper layer gas must be modeled. For large fires, the impact of a changing radiation fraction must also be included in the calculation. The dependence of the radial temperature profile of the ceiling jet as a function of layer development is demonstrated and a ceiling jet temperature algorithm which includes the impact of a growing layer is developed.

ALGORITHMS↗

Estimation of Biomass Fire Temperature and Areal Extent from Calibrated AVIRIS Spectra

This paper describes an approach to derive a range of biomass fire parameters from spectra measured by NASA's Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). AVIRIS measures images of the upwelling spectral radiance from 400 to 2500 nm at 10nm intervals. Images are measured of 11 by up to 100 km with 20 by 20 m spatial resolution.

Biomass AVRIS biomass fire smoke cloud aerosol and↗

A Method for Obtaining High Time and Spatial Resolution Convective Cloud Top Data for the TTL

A method for obtaining high time and spatial resolution convective cloud top data for the TTL Leonhard Pfister, Eric Jensen, Rei Ueyama, Eliot Atlas, and Maria Navarro Convective systems in the tropics have a maximum in the cloud top altitude distribution of about 13.5 km. However, there is a significant tail to this distribution -- a few percent reach the cold point tropopause (CPT) at 16.5 km, and there has been clear evidence of convective mass deposited as high as 19 km in the tropics. The region between 13.5 km and the cold point tropopause is transitional, between the free tropical troposphere where convective mixing dominates, and the stratosphere where slow upward ascent dominates. In this region (the Tropical Tropopause Layer), convective injection, slow ascent, and mixing from midlatitudes all have similar time scales. So, even though only a few percent of convective systems reach the CPT, convection is important. Space Based Lidar and cloud radar measurements have yielded information about long term average statistical distributions of cloud altitude as a function of location. However, we also need time-dependent cloud top altitude and cloud top potential temperature information, primarily to understand the water vapor and TTL cloud distributions. This is because the effect of convection depends on the local temperature, and on the subsequent temperature history. Time dependent cloud top information is also needed to understand short-lived tracers because cross-isentropic flow is time and space dependent. This paper presents a method of obtaining time and space dependent convective cloud top theta (and altitude) information using 3-hourly geostationary brightness temperature data, coupled with global 3 -hourly rainfall estimates and temperature analyses. We explore different mixing algorithms to obtain the most reasonable agreement with near-simultaneous observations by cloudsat and calipso. Observations of short-lived tracers from ATTREX, coupled with short-term trajectories are used to test the method's accuracy. An important caveat is the ambiguity of evaluating convective cloud top altitudes under from combined cloudsat and calipso measurements.

cold point tropopause (CPT)↗

Estimation of tropical forest canopy temperatures, thermal response numbers, and evapotranspiration using an aircraft-based thermal sensor

Thermal infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data were collected at a resolution of 5 to 10 m from a tropical rain forest over an elevation gradient from 35 to 2700 m in the Braulio Carrillo National Park in Costa Rica. Flight lines were repeated with a 15 to 30 minute time difference for measurement of forest canopy thermal response over time. Concurrent radiosonde measurements of atmospheric profiles of air temperature and moisture provided inputs to LOWTRAN6 for atmospheric radiance corrections of the TIMS data. Techniques for using calibrated aircraft-based thermal scanner data to examine tropical forest canopy thermal properties are described. Forest canopy temperature changes over time assessed between repeated, duplicated flight lines were combined with estimates of surface radiative energy measurements from towers above the forest canopy to determine temperature spatial variability, calculate Thermal Response Numbers (TRN), and estimate evapotranspiration along the elevation gradient from selected one hectare forest inventory plots.

Luvall, Jeffrey C.↗

Conditions of origin of natural diamonds of peridotite affinity

Studies of mineral inclusions in natural diamonds and rare diamondiferous xenoliths from kimberlites show that most diamonds are associated with a dunite or harzburgite paragenesis. The diamondiferous periodites and dunites have predominantly coarse or tabular textures that suggest low-temperature (less than 1100 C) equilibration. Application of the K(D) Fe/Mg(Ga/Ol) geothermometer of O'Neill and Wood to analytical data for the minerals in these rocks shows that most have equilibrated below 1100 C. Application of this thermometer to pairs of olivine and garnet crystals included in individual diamonds indicates that the diamonds have crystallized in the range 900-1300 C, with a majority of estimated equilibration temperatures falling in the range below 1150 C. Comparison of these estimates of equilibration temperature with the zone of invariant vapor composition solidus for kimberlite and garnet lherzolite determined by Eggler and Wendlandt (1979) suggests that many diamonds may have formed in subsolidus events.

Boyd, F. R.↗

Recent progress on molecular hydrogen in Orion

The H2 emission from the Orion Molecular Cloud is, by an order of magnitude, the brightest known example of H2 emission, offering a means by which to estimate quantities connected with the mass flow. The size, temperature, velocity, and intensity of the lines can be used to infer the mass loss rate, the rate at which momentum is yielded to the cloud through masss loss, and the energy dissipation rate as the cloud is disrupted internally. Attention is accordingly given to the most recent observational results, with respect to morphology, extinction, level populations, and excitation temperature. The estimates concerning the mass loss phenomenon derived from H2 observations yield approximately the same numbers of those inferred from CO and H2O maser observations.

Beckwith, S.↗

The use of polar-orbiting satellite sounding data to estimate rural maximum and minimum temperatures

Atmospheric sounding products from NOAA's polar-orbiting satellites were used to derive and test predictive equations of rural shelter-level maximum and minimum temperatures. Sounding data from both winter and summer months were combined with surface data from over 5300 cooperative weather stations in the continental United States to develop multiple linear regression equations. Separate equations were developed for both maximum and minimum temperature, using the three types of sounding retrievals (clear, partly cloudy, and cloudy). Clear retrieval models outperformed others, and maximum temperatures were more accurately predicted than minimums. Average standard deviations of observed rural shelter temperatures within sounding search areas were of similar magnitude to root-mean-square errors from satellite estimates for most clear and partly cloudy cases, but were significantly less for cloudy retrieval cases. Model validation for surrogate polar and tropical climatic regions showed success in application of the four clear retrieval models (maximum and minimum temperature, for both winter and summer). This indicates the potential adaptability of these models to estimates of rural shelter temperature in areas outside of the United States.

Johnson, Gregory L.↗

Estimation of soil moisture from diurnal surface temperature observations

A coupled heat and moisture balance model was used to determine the thermal inertia of a grass covered top soil under different meteorological conditions. Relations between thermal inertia and soil moisture were established using the De Vries models for thermal conductivity and heat capacity to relate soil moisture and thermal inertia as a function of soil type. A sensitivity study of the surface roughness length and thermal inertia on diurnal surface temperature shows the necessity of focusing on the night time surface temperature rather than on the day time surface temperature, in order to estimate the soil moisture content of the top soil.

Vandegriend, A. A.↗

Soil temperature investigations using satellite acquired thermal-infrared data in semi-arid regions

Thermal-infrared data from the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission satellite were used to map the spatial distribution of diurnal surface temperatures and to estimate mean annual soil temperatures (MAST) and annual surface temperature amplitudes (AMP) in semi-arid east central Utah. Diurnal data with minimal snow and cloud cover were selected for five dates throughout a yearly period and geometrically co-registered. Rubber-sheet stretching was aided by the WARP program which allowed preview of image transformations. Daytime maximum and nighttime minimum temperatures were averaged to generation average daily temperature (ADT) data set for each of the five dates. Five ADT values for each pixel were used to fit a sine curve describing the theoretical annual surface temperature response as defined by a solution of a one-dimensinal heat flow equation. Linearization of the equation produced estimates of MAST and AMP plus associated confidence statistics. MAST values were grouped into classes and displayed on a color video screen. Diurnal surface temperatures and MAST were primarily correlated with elevation.

Day, R. L.↗

Analysis of ProSEDS Test of Bare-Tether Collection

NASA's tether experiment ProSEDS will be placed in orbit on board a Delta-II rocket to test bare-tether electron collection, deorbiting of the rocket second stage, and the system dynamic stability. ProSEDS performance will vary because ambient conditions change along the orbit and tether-circuit bulk elements at the cathodic end follow the step-by-step sequence for the current cycles of operating modes (open-circuit, shunt and resistor modes for primary cycles; shunt and battery modes for secondary cycles). In this work we discuss expected ProSEDS values of the ratio L,/L*, which jointly with cathodic bulk elements determines bias and current tether profiles; L, is tether length, and L* (changing with tether temperature and ionospheric plasma density and magnetic field) is a characteristic length gauging ohmic versus baretether collection impedances. We discuss how to test bare-tether electron collection during primary cycles, using probe measurements of plasma density, measurements of cathodic current in resistor and shunt modes, and an estimate of tether temperature based on ProSEDS orbital position at the particular cycle concerned. We discuss how a temperature misestimate might occasionally affect the test of bare-tether collection, and how introducing the battery mode in some primary cycles, for an additional current measurement, could obviate the need of a temperature estimate. We also show how to test bare-tether collection by estimating orbit-decay rate from measurements of cathodic current for the shunt and battery modes of secondary cycles.

Sanmartin, J. R.↗

Wave properties near the subsolar magnetopause - Pc 1 waves in the sheath transition layer

We study the waves in the frequency range of Pc 1 in the sheath transition layer of the magnetopause from the ISEE 1 and 2 observations. The waves are enhanced in the sheath transition layer, although they are scattered into the magnetosheath when the outer edge of the sheath transition layer is not sharp. The wave frequency is proportional to, and equal to, about 44 percent of the ion gyrofrequency. The waves are left-handed polarized for southward IMF, but linearly polarized for northward IMF. The direction of maximum variation is perpendicular to both the background field and the gradients of the field and density for northward IMF; for southward IMF, the waves are more turbulent. Wave generation mechanisms may depend on IMF orientations rather than the shock geometry. To investigate the free energy generating the waves for northward IMF, a method is developed combining the measurements from the fast plasma experiment and Lepedea to obtain a high time resolution estimate of the temperature anisotropy for strongly northward IMF. The estimated ion temperature anisotropy is enhanced, up to a factor of 2, within the sheath transition layer for northward IMF.

Song, P.↗

Assessment of Gaseous Helium Cooling in a Superconducting Coil Test Rig

An experimental rig was designed and constructed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to measure the alternating current (AC) losses of round, multifilament, superconducting (SC), magnesium diboride (MgB2) wire in the temperature range from 20 to 30 K. The rig resembles a permanent magnet (PM) motor with the stator windings omitted. Experiment packs containing the superconductor samples will be placed in the annular space between the rotor and the stator back iron. The original plan was to measure the AC losses by calorimetry using nonboiling liquid hydrogen as the cooling fluid. The present plan is to use helium gas (GHe) under a few bar pressure instead. This report summarizes the calculations that indicate that reasonable results can be obtained, even though the mass density of the GHe will be only a fraction of that of liquid hydrogen. It is necessary to show that the heat transfer coefficient from SC wire to GHe can be high enough, that the temperature rise of the He between the experiment inlet and outlet can be small enough, and that sufficient He flow can be driven by a commercially available He fan. Both straight wire samples to validate loss models and coils to simulate motor stator coils can be tested in the rig. The lowest superconductor temperature that is feasible to reach in the rig is estimated. The temperature range available for samples will be wider with the gaseous He system than it would have been with liquid hydrogen.

supeconductors↗

Assessment of a Technique for Estimating Total Column Water Vapor Using Measurements of the Infrared Sky Temperature

A method for estimating the integrated precipitable water (IPW) content of the atmosphere using measurements of indicated infrared zenith sky temperature was validated over east-central Florida. The method uses inexpensive, commercial off the shelf, hand-held infrared thermometers (IRT). Two such IRTs were obtained from a commercial vendor, calibrated against several laboratory reference sources at KSC, and used to make IR zenith sky temperature measurements in the vicinity of KSC and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The calibration and comparison data showed that these inexpensive IRTs provided reliable, stable IR temperature measurements that were well correlated with the NOAA IPW observations.

integrated precipitable water (IPW)↗

Vertical resolving power of a satellite temperature sounding system

The paper examines the vertical resolving power of satellite temperature retrieval systems. Attention is given to sounding instrument proposed by Kaplan, et al., (1977) which has been conceived to have greatly improved vertical resolving capabilities. Two types of tests are reported. The first, based on the work of Conrath (1972), involves a theoretical assessment of the manner by which the ambient temperature profile is averaged over height in order to produce an estimate of temperature at a given level. The second test is empirical involving the actual retrieval of temperature signals superimposed on a standard atmosphere with an emphasis on determining the minimum separation of the signals for which the sounder system is still capable of distinguishing individual signals.

Thompson, O. E.↗

Temperature sensitivity of differential absorption lidar measurements of water vapor in the 720-nm region

Recently measured properties of water vapor (H2O) absorption lines have been used in calculations to evalute the temperature sensitivity of differential absorption lidar (Dial) H2O measurements. This paper estimates the temperature sensitivity of H2O lines in the 717-733-nm region for both H2O mixing ratio and number density measurements, and discusses the influence of the H2O line ground state energies E-double-prime, the H2O absorption linewidths, the linewidth temperature dependence parameter, and the atmospheric temperature and pressure variations with altitude and location on the temperature sensitivity calculations. Line parameters and temperature sensitivity calculations for 67 H2O lines in the 720-nm band are given which can be directly used in field experiments. Water vapor lines with E-double-prime values in the 100-300/cm range were found to be optimum for Dial measurements of H2O number densities, while E-double-prime values in the 250-500/cm range were found to be optimum for H2O mixing ratio measurements.

Browell, Edward V.↗

Comments on 'Inference of cloud temperature and thickness by microwave radiometry from space'

The method proposed by Pandey et al. (1983) for estimating the temperature differential and thickness of clouds from microwave data obtained with the scanning multichannel microwave radiometers of the Seasat and Nimbus-7 satellites is examined critically. It is pointed out that both the thicknesses and the temperature differentials derived from them may not be meaningful unless accurate measurements of cloud-top height (from IR radiometry) and reliable data on liquid-water content are available. It is suggested that the good fits obtained in generating regression coefficients for the proposed method may be artifacts of the fixed or limited-range liquid-water densities of the cloud models used. With respect to cloud-top height, the need to quantify and account for differences in the fields of view and spatial resolutions of the IR and microwave radiometers, as undertaken for the case of precipitating clouds by Yeh and Liou (1983), is stressed.

Yeh, H.-Y. M.↗