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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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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1976

Advanced Sensors and Applications Study (ASAS)

The present EOD requirements for sensors in the space shuttle era are reported with emphasis on those applications which were deemed important enough to warrant separate sections. The application areas developed are: (1) agriculture; (2) atmospheric corrections; (3) cartography; (4) coastal studies; (5) forestry; (6) geology; (7) hydrology; (8) land use; (9) oceanography; and (10) soil moisture. For each application area. The following aspects were covered: (1) specific goals and techniques, (2) individual sensor requirements including types, bands, resolution, etc.; (3) definition of mission requirements, type orbits, coverages, etc.; and (4) discussion of anticipated problem areas and solutions. The remote sensors required for these application areas include; (1) camera systems; (2) multispectral scanners; (3) microwave scatterometers; (4) synthetic aperture radars; (5) microwave radiometers; and (6) vidicons. The emphasis in the remote sensor area was on the evaluation of present technology implications about future systems.

Chism, S. B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Operational utilization of remotely sensed data

The use of data from environmental satellites and other remote sensing platforms in some of NOAA's operational services are described. Topics discussed include: hurricanes; severe local storms and tornadoes; forest guidance; weather forecasting; hydrology; space program support; oceanography; search and rescue; and wildlife management. Applications which have become routine, and those which are in advanced field test are included. Some applications yield a clear cut economic benefit. In other cases, benefits -- if any -- are obscure. In yet other cases, benefits in one sector may be offset by detriments in another. Illustrative examples are given.

Jones, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Potential applications of digital, visible, and infrared data from geostationary environmental satellites

An hourly, digital data base from the Visible/Infrared Spin-Scan Radiometer (VISSR) instrument on the GOES-1 and SMS-2 geostationary satellites is described. Several examples of developmental applications of these quantitative digital data are presented. These include a review of recent attempts to develop products that are of use to meteorologists who provide services to aviation, agriculture, forestry, hydrology, oceanography, and climatology. The sample products include high resolution thermal gradients of land and ocean surfaces, thermal change analyses, fruit frost/freeze application, cloud-top altitude analysis, analysis of hurricane characteristics, and analyses of solar insolation.

Miller, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Use of an inertial navigation system for accurate track recovery and coastal oceanographic measurements

A data acquisition system using a Litton LTN-51 inertial navigation unit (INU) was tested and used for aircraft track recovery and for location and tracking from the air of targets at sea. The characteristic position drift of the INU is compensated for by sighting landmarks of accurately known position at discrete time intervals using a visual sighting system in the transparent nose of the Beechcraft 18 aircraft used. For an aircraft altitude of about 300 m, theoretical and experimental tests indicate that calculated aircraft and/or target positions obtained from the interpolated INU drift curve will be accurate to within 10 m for landmarks spaced approximately every 15 minutes in time. For applications in coastal oceanography, such as surface current mapping by tracking artificial targets, the system allows a broad area to be covered without use of high altitude photography and its attendant needs for large targets and clear weather.

Oliver, B. M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

First in new environmental spacecraft series to be launched

A series of operational meteorological monitoring satellites (TIROS-N) is described. Emphasis is placed on environmental monitoring instruments onboard the satellites that provide technological advances over previous sensors. Benefits in the areas of weather forecasting, oceanography, water resource management, and flood forecasting are discussed along with the operational capability to collect and transmit environmental data from platforms on land, at sea, and airborne, and to track stations motion. The participation of Canada, Great Britain, and France is mentioned and a description of the launch vehicle is included.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1977

Marine decision aids from space

The article discusses satellite observation of marine environments via microwave sensors and visible/infrared measurements. Specific applications include the monitoring of physical oceanography, weather and climate, coastal processes, ice processes, and resource use management. Four types of information delivery systems are identified: direct-to-user, regional/local user, global modeling user, and research user modes. Current developments in the marine information system include onboard correlation of synthetic aperture radar images at 10 to 100 m resolutions, and the extraction of wave, ship, iceberg or areal feature information from the image or signal before correlation.

Nagler, R. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Earth observations and photography experiment: Summary of significant results

Observation and photographic data from the Apollo Soyuz Test Project are analyzed. The discussion is structured according to the fields of investigation including: geology, desert studies, oceanography, hydrology, and meteorology. The data were obtained by: (1) visual observations of selected Earth features, (2) hand-held camera photography to document observations, and (3) stereo mapping photography of areas of significant scientific interest.

El-Baz, F.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Satellite remote sensing facility for oceanograhic applications

The project organization, design process, and construction of a Remote Sensing Facility at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at LaJolla, California are described. The facility is capable of receiving, processing, and displaying oceanographic data received from satellites. Data are primarily imaging data representing the multispectral ocean emissions and reflectances, and are accumulated during 8 to 10 minute satellite passes over the California coast. The most important feature of the facility is the reception and processing of satellite data in real time, allowing investigators to direct ships to areas of interest for on-site verifications and experiments.

Evans, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

NASA oceanic processes program: Status report, fiscal year 1980

Goals, philosophy, and objectives of NASA's Oceanic Processes Program are presented as well as detailed information on flight projects, sensor developments, future prospects, individual investigator tasks, and recent publications. A special feature is a group of brief descriptions prepared by leaders in the oceanographic community of how remote sensing might impact various areas of oceanography during the coming decade.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1980

Seasat altimeter sensor file algorithms

The Seasat altimeter is designed to measure three parameters important to oceanography: height of the spacecraft above the ocean surface, significant wave height, and ocean backscatter coefficient from which surface winds may be inferred. Since the measurement process is indirect, and the measurement environment is complicated by many factors affecting the instrument readings, corrections to the raw data are needed before they are used to compute geophysical parameters. These corrections are accomplished by the Seasat altimeter sensor file algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to describe these algorithms, why they are needed, how they are implemented, and the evaluation using in-flight data.

Hancock, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Life from a plantary perspective: Fundamental issues in global ecology

Twenty-three scientists from diverse disciplines met for one week at the University of California, Santa Barbara to discuss life from a planetary perspective. The scientists represented the major disciplines concerned with the Earth's biota, oceans, atmosphere and sediments, including geochemistry, atmospheric chemistry, chemical oceanography, limnology, forestry, terrestrial ecology, microbiology, biophysics, geography and remote sensing as well as mathematics. These twenty-three scientists met to discuss whether there was, at this time, a set of scientific issues concerning life and the entire Earth as a single unit, to set down the major tractable issues, and to suggest a set of activities that would promote the study of the issues identified. Their conclusions are summarized.

Botkin, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Oceanographic influences on the sea ice cover in the Sea of Okhotsk

Sea ice conditions in the Sea of Okhotsk, as determined by satellite images from the electrically scanning microwave radiometer on board Nimbus 5, were analyzed in conjunction with the known oceanography. In particular, the sea ice coverage was compared with the bottom bathymetry and the surface currents, water temperatures, and salinity. It is found that ice forms first in cold, shallow, low salinity waters. Once formed, the ice seems to drift in a direction approximating the Okhotsk-Kuril current system. Two basic patterns of ice edge positioning which persist for significant periods were identified as a rectangular structure and a wedge structure. Each of these is strongly correlated with the bathymetry of the region and with the known current system, suggesting that convective depth and ocean currents play an important role in determining ice patterns.

Gratz, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Research and technology developments in aeronautics, atmospheric and oceanographic measurements, radar applications, and remote sensing of insects using radar

Highlights of the year's activities and accomplishments are reported in the areas of aircraft safety, scientific ballooning, mid-air payload retrieval, and the design of a microwave power reception and conversion system for on use on a high altitude powered platform. The development and application of an agro-environmental system to provide crop management advisory information to Virginia farmers, and the radar tracking of insects are described. Aircraft systems, developed for measuring atmospheric ozone and nitric acid were used to sample emissions from Mount St. Helens. Investigations of the reliability and precision of the U.S. standard meteorological rocketsonde, applications of the microwave altimeter and airborne lidar system in oceanography, and the development of a multibeam altimeter concept are also summarized.

Oberholtzer, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Current research activities at the Texas Center for Orbital Mechanics

The development of new techniques and their applications to problems in satellite geodesy, oceanography, orbit determination, long-time prediction, regularization, potential determination, stability of natural and artificial satellites and planets, etc. are described. Applications to polar motion, earth rotation and to tectonic plate motion are discussed as related to the Lageos, Starlette and Seasat missions. Numerical averaging techniques are described for the determination of the long term motion of near-resonant gravitational systems with application to Jupiter's Galilean satellites. Regions of long-time stability and ergodicity are established in the restricted problem.

Szebehely, V. G.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Introduction to ocean optics

The fundamental inherent and apparent optical properties of natural waves are reviewed and relationships between these properties, as related through the radiative transfer equation, are examined. Applications of ocean optics to geophysics, biological oceanography, and ocean remote sensing are discussed.

Gordon, H. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The damping of ocean surface waves by a monomolecular film measured by wave staffs and microwave radars

Open ocean and wave tank experiments were carried out with the aim of studying the damping of capillary and gravity waves by a monomolecular film. These films of biogenic origin influence air-sea interaction processes and thereby affect the use of remote sensing techniques in oceanography. Measurement was carried out by wave staffs, by a coherent X band microwave scatterometer mounted on a sea-based platform, and by an incoherent K band microwave scatterometer carried by an aircraft under moderate wind conditions. A wave attenuation of about 40-60% is observed in the frequency range between 3.2 and 16 Hz. Tank experiments show that a direct influence of oleyl alcohol surface films on wave damping is confined to frequencies equal to or greater than 2 Hz; a further indirect effect of films on the damping of ocean waves in the frequency range between 0.12 and 0.7 Hz (by modifying the wind input and wave-wave interaction mechanisms) is also indicated

Huehnerfuss, H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Oceanic Satellite Data Distribution System

The Satellite Data Distribution System (SDDS) serves to process satellite-derived ocean observations, generate ocean analysis and forecast products, and distribute the products to a limited set of commercial users. The SDDS functions in series with the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (FNOC) to provide products on a near-real-time basis to commercial marine industries. Conventional meteorological and oceanographic observations provided to FNOC serve as the input set to the numerical analysis and forecast models. Large main-frame computers are used to analyze and forecast products on a routine, operational basis (at 6-hour and 12-hour synoptic times). The products, reformatted to meet commercial users needs, are transferred to a NASA-owned computer for storage and distribution. Access to the information is possible either by a commercial dial-up packet-switching network or by a direct computer-computer connection.

Montgomery, D. R.↗