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At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2009

Pulsed Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption and Line Shapes from 3-13 km Altitudes

We have developed a lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric C02 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's planned ASCENDS mission. Our technique uses two pulsed laser transmitters allowing simultaneous measurement of a C02 absorption line in the 1570 nm band, 02 extinction in the Oxygen A-band and surface height and backscatter. The lidar measures the energy and time of flight of the laser echoes reflected from the atmosphere and surface. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the C02 line and an 02 line region during the measurement. The receiver uses a telescope and photon counting detectors, and measures the background light and energies of the laser echoes from the surface along with scattering from any aerosols in the path. The gas extinction and column densities for the C02 and 02 gases are estimated from the ratio of the on- and off- line signals via the DIAL technique. Time gating is used to isolate the laser echo signals from the surface, and to reject laser photons scattered in the atmosphere. We have developed an airborne lidar to demonstrate the C02 measurement from the NASA Glenn Lear 25 aircraft. The airborne lidar steps the pulsed laser's wavelength across a selected C02 line with 20 steps per scan. The line scan rate is 450 Hz and laser pulse widths are I usec. The time resolved laser backscatter is collected by a 20 cm telescope, detected by a photomultiplier and is recorded by a photon counting system. We made initial airborne measurements on flights during October and December 2008. Laser backscatter and absorption measurements were made over a variety of land and water surfaces and through thin and broken clouds. Atmospheric C02 column measurements using the 1571.4, 1572.02 and 1572.33 nm C02 lines. Two flights were made above the DOE SGP ARM site at altitudes from 3-8 km. These nights were coordinated with DOE investigators who Hew an in-situ C02 sensor on a Cessna aircraft under the path. The increasing C02 line absorptions with altitudes were evident and comparison with in-situ measurements showed agreements to 6 ppm. This spring we improved the aircraft's nadir window. During July and August 2009 we made 9 additional 2 hour long flights and measured the atmospheric C02 absorption and line shapes using the 1572.33 nm C02 line. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3-13 km over a variety of surface types in Nebraska, Illinois, the SGP ARM site, and near and over the Chesapeake Bay in North Carolina and Virginia. Strong laser signals and clear line shapes were observed at all altitudes, and some measurements were made through thin clouds. The flights over the ARM site were underflown with in-situ measurements made from the DOE Cessna. The Oklahoma and east coast t1ights were coordinated with a LaRC/ITT C02 lidar on the LaRC UC-12 aircraft, a LaRC in~situ C02 sensor, and the Oklahoma flights also included a JPL C02 lidar on a Twin Otter aircraft. Ed Browell and Gary Spiers led the LaRC and JPL teams. More details of the t1ights, measurements and analysis will be described in the presentation.

Abshire, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Pulsed Airborne Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption and Line Shapes from 3-13 km Altitudes

We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's planned ASCENDS space mission. Our technique uses two pulsed laser transmitters allowing simultaneous measurement of a CO2 absorption line in the 1570 nm band, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band and surface height and backscatter. The lidar measures the energy and time of flight of the laser echoes reflected from the atmosphere and surface. The lasers are rapidly and precisely stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line region during the measurement. The direct detection receiver uses a telescope and photon counting detectors, and measures the background light and energies of the laser echoes from the surface along with scattering from any aerosols in the path. The gas extinction and column densities for the CO2 and O2 gases are estimated from the ratio of the on- and off- line signals via the DIAL technique. Time gating is used to isolate the laser echo signals from the surface, and to reject laser photons scattered in the atmosphere. The time of flight of the laser pulses are also used to estimate the height of the scattering surface and to identify cases of mixed cloud and ground scattering. We have developed an airborne lidar to demonstrate the CO2 measurement from the NASA Glenn Lear-25 aircraft. The airborne lidar steps the pulsed laser's wavelength across the selected CO2 line with 20 steps per scan. The line scan rate is 450 Hz, the laser pulse widths are 1 usec, and laser pulse energy is 24 uJ. The time resolved laser backscatter is collected by a 20 cm telescope, detected by a photomultiplier and is recorded by a photon counting system. We made initial airborne measurements on flights during fall 2008. Laser backscatter and absorption measurements were made over a variety of land and water surfaces and through thin clouds. The atmospheric CO2 column measurements using the 1572.33 nm CO2 lines. Two flights were made above the US Department of Energy's (DOE) SGP ARM site at altitudes from 3-8 km. These flights were coordinated with DOE investigators who flew an in-situ CO2 sensor on a Cessna aircraft under the path. The increasing CO2 line absorptions with altitudes were evident and comparison with in-situ measurements showed agreements to 6 ppm. In spring 2009 we improved the aircraft's nadir window and during July and August we made 9 additional 2 hour long flights and measured the atmospheric CO2 absorption and line shapes using the 1572.33 nm CO2 line. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3-13 km over a variety of surface types in Nebraska, Illinois, the SGP ARM site, and near and over the Chesapeake Bay in North Carolina and eastern Virginia. Strong laser signals and clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes, and some measurements were made through thin clouds. The flights over the ARM site were underflown with in-situ measurements made from the DOE Cessna. Analysis shows that the average signal levels follow predicted values, the altimetry measurements had an uncertainty of about 4 m, and that the average optical line depths follow the number density calculated from in-situ sensor readings. The Oklahoma and east coast flights were coordinated with a LaRC/ITT CO2 lidar on the LaRC UC-12 aircraft, a LaRC in-situ CO2 sensor, and the Oklahoma flights also included a JPL CO2 lidar on a Twin Otter aircraft. More details of the flights, measurements, analysis and scaling to space will be described in the presentation.

Abshire, James↗
NASA NTRS2012

Pulsed Lidar Measurements of Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption in the ASCENDS 2011 Airborne Campaign

We have previously demonstrated an efficient pulsed, wavelength-resolved IPDA lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission. Our team participated in the 2010 ASCENDS airborne campaigns we flew airborne version of the CO2 and O2 lidar on the NASA DC-8. The CO2 lidar measures the atmospheric backscatter profiles and shape of the 1572.33 nm absorption line using 250 mW average laser power, 30 wavelength samples per scan and 300 scans per second. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps to greater than 12 km, and clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Our post-flight analysis estimated the Iidar range and pulse energies at each wavelength every second. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the Differential Optical Depth (DOD) at the line peak. We compared these to CO2 DODs calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the conditions from airborne in-situ readings. Analysis of the 2010 measurements over the Pacific Ocean and Lamont OK shows the expected -linear change of the peak DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes greater than 6 km the random errors were approximately 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. After the 2010 flights we improved the airborne lidar's scan uniformity, calibration and receiver sensitivity. Our team participated in the seven ASCENDS science flights during late July and August 2011. These flights were made over a wide variety of surface and cloud conditions near the US, including over the central valley of California, over several mountain ranges, over both broken and solid stratus cloud deck over the Pacific Ocean, snow patches on mountain tops, over thin and broken clouds above the US Southwest and Iowa, and over forests near the WLEF tower in Wisconsin. Analyses show the retrievals of lidar range and CO2 column absorption, as wen as estimates of CO2 mixing ratio worked well when measuring over topography with rapidly changing height and reflectivity, through thin clouds and to stratus cloud tops. For regions where the CO2 concentration was relatively constant, the measured CO2 absorption profile (averaged for 50 sec) matched the predicted profile to better than 1% RMS error for all flight altitudes. For 1 & 10 second averaging, the scatter in the retrievals was limited by signal shot noise (i.e. the sigual photon count). Analysis to date shows the decrease in CO2 due to vegetation when flying easterward over the Great Plains as well as the increase in CO2 concentration in the vicinity ofthe coal-fired power plant in New Mexico. Examples of these and other results will be presented.

Abshire, James B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Differential Absorption Measurements of Atmospheric Water Vapor with a Coherent Lidar at 2050.532 nm

Wind and water vapor are two major factors driving the Earth's atmospheric circulation, and direct measurement of these factors is needed for better understanding of basic atmospheric science, weather forecasting, and climate studies. Coherent lidar has proved to be a valuable tool for Doppler profiling of wind fields, and differential absorption lidar (DIAL) has shown its effectiveness in profiling water vapor. These two lidar techniques are generally considered distinctly different, but this paper explores an experimental combination of the Doppler and DIAL techniques for measuring both wind and water vapor with an eye-safe wavelength based on a solid-state laser material. Researchers have analyzed and demonstrated coherent DIAL water vapor measurements at 10 micrometers wavelength based on CO2 lasers. The hope of the research presented here is that the 2 gm wavelength in a holmium or thulium-based laser may offer smaller packaging and more rugged operation that the CO2-based approach. Researchers have extensively modeled 2 um coherent lasers for water vapor profiling, but no published demonstration is known. Studies have also been made, and results published on the Doppler portion, of a Nd:YAG-based coherent DIAL operating at 1.12 micrometers. Eye-safety of the 1.12 micrometer wavelength may be a concern, whereas the longer 2 micrometer and 10 micrometer systems allow a high level of eyesafety.

Koch, Grady J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Infrared heterodyne spectroscopy of atmospheric ozone

The absorption spectrum of atmospheric ozone is measured within a 1/cm region at 1100/cm, using an IR heterodyne detector (spectrometer with CO2 local oscillator) developed for astronomical work. Absorption spectra obtained by passing radiation from the tunable diode laser through an absorption cell, heterodyne spectra of atmospheric ozone, and a predicted atmospheric spectrum are compared. Water vapor absorbing in the region of interest (1100/cm) is also considered. Preliminary results encourage the use of diode laser local oscillators in tunable heterodyne detector systems for spectroscopy of atmospheric ozone and remote high-resolution spectroscopy of atmospheric constituents and pollutants.

Frerking, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Search for infrared absorption lines of atmospheric chlorine monoxide (ClO)

A search for features of the ClO (1-0) vibration-rotation band has been conducted based on a 5000 signal-to-rms noise ratio IR spectrum derived by coadding 39 high-quality 0.0053/cm resolution solar spectra recorded with the McMath Fourier transform spectrometer on Kitt Peak. Evidence for absorption has been found at the locations of several of the stronger ClO P-branch lines with minimal interference. Detailed results are presented for the P(8.5) and P(7.5) 2Pi3/2-2Pi3/2 lines of Cl-35O at 833.2974 and 834.6249/cm, respectively. If ClO is present in the stratosphere at the concentrations indicated by other methods, our analysis indicates that modest improvements in signal-to-noise ratio and spectral resolution would permit a definitive detection of ClO in IR ground-based spectra.

Rinsland, Curtis P.↗
NASA NTRS2010

UV Absorption Cross Sections of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Carbon Tetrachloride (CCl4) Between 210 and 350 K and the Atmospheric Implications

Absorption cross sections of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) are reported at five atomic UV lines (184.95, 202.548, 206.200, 213.857, and 228.8 nm) at 27 temperatures in the range 210-350 K. In addition, UV absorption spectra of CCl4 are reported between 200-235 nm as a function of temperature (225-350 K). The results from this work are critically compared with results from earlier studies. For N2O, the present results are in good agreement with the current JPL recommendation enabling a reduction in the estimated uncertainty in the N2O atmospheric photolysis rate. For CCl4, the present cross section results are systematically greater than the current recommendation at the reduced temperatures most relevant to stratospheric photolysis. The new cross sections result in a 5-7% increase in the modeled CCl4 photolysis loss, and a slight decrease in the stratospheric lifetime, from 51 to 50 years, for present day conditions. The corresponding changes in modeled inorganic chlorine and ozone in the stratosphere are quite small. A CCl4 cross section parameterization for use in 37 atmospheric model calculations is presented.

Carlon, Nabilah Rontu↗
NASA NTRS1977

Atmospheric thermal structure during a winter anomaly absorption event

Temperature and wind profiles between 60 and 90 km were obtained during an anomalous wintertime absorption event. Data were collected by passive inflatable falling spheres deployed from meteorological rockets. The enhanced radio wave absorption is apparently associated with a well-defined mesopause near 84 km and a large inversion near 68 km; these readings suggest that both phenomena have been displaced to a level about 5 km lower than normal. In addition, colder than normal temperatures are recorded in the 55 to 72 km range during the anomalous conditions. The possible relationship between this change in the mesospheric temperature structure and the anomalous absorption and atmospheric radiative characteristics is discussed.

Olsen, R. O.↗
NASA NTRS2010

A Broad Bank Lidar for Precise Atmospheric CO2 Column Absorption Measurement from Space

Accurate global measurement of carbon dioxide column with the aim of discovering and quantifying unknown sources and sinks has been a high priority for the last decade. In order to uncover the "missing sink" that is responsible for the large discrepancies in the budget the critical precision for a measurement from space needs to be on the order of 1 ppm. To better understand the CO2 budget and to evaluate its impact on global warming the National Research Council (NRC) in its recent decadal survey report (NACP) to NASA recommended a laser based total CO2 mapping mission in the near future. That's the goal of Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission - to significantly enhance the understanding of the role of CO2 in the global carbon cycle. Our current goal is to develop an ultra precise, inexpensive new lidar system for column measurements of CO2 changes in the lower atmosphere that uses a Fabry-Perot interferometer based system as the detector portion of the instrument and replaces the narrow band laser commonly used in lidars with a high power broadband source. This approach reduces the number of individual lasers used in the system and considerably reduces the risk of failure. It also tremendously reduces the requirement for wavelength stability in the source putting this responsibility instead on the Fabry- Perot subsystem.

Georgieva, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Molecular absorption parameters in atmospheric modelling

Molecular spectroscopic parameters are compiled for a number of infrared-active molecules occurring naturally in the terrestrial atmosphere. The following molecules are included in this compilation: water vapor; carbon dioxide; ozone; nitrous oxide; carbon monoxide; methane; and oxygen. The spectral region covered extends from less than 1 micron to the far infrared, and data are presented on more than 100,000 spectral lines. The parameters included in the compilation for each line are: frequency, intensity, half-width, energy of the lower state of the transition, vibrational and rotational identifications of the upper and lower energy states, an isotopic identification, and a molecular identification. Using this data compilation, band model parameters are presented for water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone averaged over 20 wavenumber intervals. Using these parameters in a random model formulation, transmittance spectra are provided and compared with both degraded monochromatic calculations and laboratory data.

Mcclatchey, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Distribution and source of the UV absorption in Venus' atmosphere

The model predictions were compared with the Pioneer Venus probes and orbiter to determine the composition of the UV absorbing materials. The simulations were carried out with radiative transfer codes which included spacecraft constraints on the aerosol and gas characteristics in the Venus atmosphere; gaseous SO2 (a source of opacity at the wavelengths below 0.32 microns), and a second absorber (which dominates above 0.32 microns) were required. The UV contrast variations are due to the optical depth changes in the upper haze layer producing brightness variations between equatorial and polar areas, and to differences in the depth over which the second UV absorber is depleted in the highest portion of the main clouds.

Pollack, J. B.↗