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At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2020

Improved SIFTER v2 algorithm for long-term GOME-2A satellite retrievals of fluorescence with a correction for instrument degradation

Solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) data from satellites are increasingly used as a proxy for photosynthetic activity by vegetation, and as a constraint on gross primary production. Here we report on improvements in the algorithm to retrieve mid-morning (09:30 hrs local time) SIF estimates on the global scale from GOME-2 sensor on the Metop-A satellite (GOME-2A) for the period 2007-2019. Our new SIFTER (Sun-Induced Fluorescence of Terrestrial Ecosystems Retrieval) v2 algorithm improves over a previous version by using a narrower spectral window that avoids strong oxygen absorption and is less sensitive to water vapour absorption, by constructing stable reference spectra from a 6-year period (2007-2012) of atmospheric spectra over the Sahara, and by applying a latitude-dependent zero-level adjustment that accounts for biases in the data product. We generated stable, good-quality SIF retrievals between January 2007 and June 2013, when GOME-2A degradation in the near infrared was still limited. After the narrowing of the GOME-2A swath in July 2013, we characterized the throughput degradation of the level-1 data in order to derive reflectance corrections and apply these for the SIF retrievals between July 2013 and December 2018. SIFTER v2 data compares well with the independent NASA v2.8 data product. Especially in the evergreen tropics, SIFTER v2 no longer shows the underestimates against other satellite products that were seen in SIFTER v1. The new data product includes uncertainty estimates for individual observations, and is best used for mostly clear-sky scenes, and when spectral residuals remain below a certain spectral autocorrelation threshold. Our results support the use of SIFTER v2 data to be used as an independent constraint on photosynthetic activity on regional to global scales.

Solar-induced fluorescence (SIF)↗
NASA NTRS2017

Estimating Water Ice Abundance from Short-Wave Infrared Spectra of Drill Cuttings at Cryogenic Temperatures

NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) mission intends to visit a lunar polar region to characterize the volatile distribution. Part of the RP payload, the Near-infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) is a spectrometer operating from 1600-3400 nm that provides sensitivity to water ice, and other volatiles. For multiple years, the NIRVSS system has been incorporated into on-going RP payload testing in a cryogenic vacuum facility at Glenn Research Center. Soil tubes of lunar simulants, prepared with known amounts of water, are placed in the vacuum chamber and cooled to cryogenic temperatures (soil temperatures of 110-170 K) and placed under low vacuum (a few x 10(exp -6) Torr). During these tests NIRVSS continuously measures spectra of soil cuttings emplaced onto the surface by a drill. Real time processing of NIRVSS spectra produces two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm that can be used to inform decision making activities such as delivery of the soil to a sealable container. Post-test collection and analyses of the soils permit characterization the water content as a function of depth. These water content profiles exhibit the characteristics of a vacuum desiccation zone to depths of about 40 cm. Subsequent to completion of the tests, NIRVSS spectra are processed to produce two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm. These features can be evaluated as a function of time, and correlated with drill depth, and other measurements, throughout the drilling activities. Until now no effort was attempted to quantitatively relate these parameters to water abundance. This is the focus of our efforts to be presented.

NASA's Resource Prospector (RP)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Differential absorption lidar (DIAL) for water vapor and aerosol profiling from airborne and space-based platforms

Many current challenges in weather and climate prediction involve cloud and aerosol processes, which are intimately linked to processes that initiate or take place within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The current space-based observing system provides a wealth of information on the spatial distribution of key atmospheric variables such as profiles of water vapor (WV) and temperature, but lacks the sensitivity, accuracy, and vertical resolution in the PBL to overcome the observational gaps that inhibit the parametrization and advancement of current climate and weather models. To overcome some of these observational gaps and improve understanding and monitoring of these key processes, mature remote sensing techniques like Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) can be employed from various platforms to capture processes on a wide range of spatial scales. This presentation will provide an overview of NASA’s water vapor DIAL capabilities, present the strengths, weaknesses, and synergies of the DIAL technique relative to traditional methods, and provide representative data examples from the HALO airborne water vapor DIAL which was designed as a technology testbed for future space-based DIAL missions as well as a workhorse instrument in support of suborbital process studies. HALO is an airborne multifunction lidar system, simultaneously profiling WV with the DIAL technique and aerosol and cloud optical properties and PBL heights via the high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) technique. HALO has a compact design that allows it to fly on most research aircraft, enabling nadir profiling from the lower stratosphere down through the PBL, which is critical for studying processes such as convection and cloud formation that can link the PBL and free troposphere. We will end with an outlook on the benefits and challenges of transitioning the mature DIAL technique to space to compliment other active and passive sounders and enable new PBL observations for the future Earth Observing System. The Atmospheric Boundary layer Lidar pathfindEr (ABLE), a program aimed at advancing technologies to enable the first demonstration of DIAL from space with cross-cutting observables of PBL heights, aerosol and cloud profiling, and methane columns from space will also be presented.

Brian J. Carroll↗
NASA NTRS1989

Retrieval of total precipitable water using radiometric measurements near 92 and 183 GHz

This paper describes a method for the retrieval of total precipitable water (W) in dry atmospheres, which relies on the strong water vapor absorption line at 183 GHz (for W less than 0.6 g/sq cm) and on the absorption near 90 GHz (for W above 0.6 g/sq cm). The method is very sensitive to the variations of W less than 0.5 g/sq cm and is complementary to the established methods that use the weak 22 GHz water vapor absorption line to retrieve W in the 1-6 g/sq cm. The technique was demonstrated by the analysis of two Advanced Microwave Moisture Sounder observations of dry atmospheres following cold-air outbreaks on March 13, 1983, and February 23, 1986.

Wang, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Atmospheric Pre-Corrected Differential Absorption Techniques to Retrieve Columnar Water Vapor: Theory and Simulations

Two different approaches exist to retrieve columnar water vapor from imaging spectrometer data: (1) Differential absorption techniques based on: (a) Narrow-Wide (N/W) ratio between overlapping spectrally wide and narrow channels; (b) Continuum Interpolated Band Ratio (CIBR) between a measurement channel and the weighted sum of two reference channels. (2) Non-linear fitting techniques which are based on spectral radiative transfer calculations. The advantage of the first approach is computational speed and of the second, improved retrieval accuracy. Our goal was to improve the accuracy of the first technique using physics based on radiative transfer. Using a modified version of the Duntley equation, we derived an "Atmospheric Pre-corrected Differential Absorption" (APDA) technique and described an iterative scheme to retrieve water vapor on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Next we compared both, the CIBR and the APDA using the Duntley equation for MODTRAN3 computed irradiances, transmissions and path radiance (using the DISORT option). This simulation showed that the CIBR is very sensitive to reflectance effects and that the APDA performs much better. An extensive data set was created with the radiative transfer code 6S over 379 different ground reflectance spectra. The calculated relative water vapor error was reduced significantly for the APDA. The APDA technique had about 8% (vs. over 35% for the CIBR) of the 379 spectra with a relative water vapor error of greater than +5%. The APDA has been applied to 1991 and 1995 AVIRIS scenes which visually demonstrate the improvement over the CIBR technique.

Borel, Christoph C.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Atmospheric Pre-Corrected Differential Absorption Techniques to Retrieve Columnar Water Vapor: Application to AVIRIS 91/95 Data

Water vapor is one of the main forces for weather development as well as for mesoscale air transport processes. The monitoring of water vapor is therefore an important aim in remote sensing of the atmosphere. Current operational systems for water vapor detection use primarily the emission in the thermal infrared (AVHRR, GOES, ATSR, Meteosat) or in the microwave radiation bands (DMSP). The disadvantage of current satellite systems is either a coarse spatial (horizontal) resolution ranging from one to tens of kilometers or a limited insight into the lower atmosphere. Imaging spectrometry on the other hand measures total column water vapor contents at a high spatial horizontal resolution and has therefore the potential of filling these gaps. The sensors of the AVIRIS instrument are capable of acquiring hyperspectral data in 224 bands located in the visible and near infrared at 10 nm resolution. This data includes the information on constituents of the earth's surface as well as of the atmosphere. The optical measurement of water vapor can be performed using sensor channels located in bands or lines of the absorption spectrum. The AVIRIS sensor has been used to retrieve water vapor and with less accuracy carbon dioxide, oxygen and ozone. To retrieve the water vapor amount, the so called differential absorption technique has been applied. The goal of this technique is to eliminate background factors by taking a ratio between channels within the absorption band and others besides the band. Various ratioing methods on the basis of different channels and calculation techniques were developed. The influence of a trace gas of interest on the radiance at the sensor level is usually simulated by using radiative transfer codes. In this study, the spectral transmittance and radiance are calculated by MODTRAN3 simulations with the new DISORT option. The objective of this work is to test the best performing differential absorption techniques for imaging spectrometry of tropospheric water vapor.

Schlaepfer, Daniel↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fe‐Triazolate Metal–Organic Frameworks as Water Oxidation Catalysts with Dual Photoanode Functionality

Artificial photosynthesis is an emerging technology that achieves renewable fuels, such as hydrogen, from sunlight. Its realization depends on finding highly active and stable catalysts of water splitting and photoactive materials for light absorption. To be scalable, these should contain only abundant elements. Here, for the first time, Fe-triazolate (Fe(ta) 2 ) and its metal substituted derivatives (Fe-Metal(ta) 2 ) Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are characterized as new dual-function materials for photo-absorption and water oxidation catalysis in acidic media. The materials were studied by a range of structural, spectroscopic, and computational density functional theory (DFT) techniques. Fe(ta) 2 and Fe-Mn(ta) 2 were found to be highly active and stable in chemical and photochemical water oxidation, and in addition function as photoanodes, with photo-electrocatalytic currents (∼2.00 x 10 −3 Acm −2 at + 1.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl) at pH = 1. The possibility of a unique catalytic mechanism where O─O bond formation is possible from the coupling of two adjacent Fe IV = O fragments was demonstrated by DFT analysis. Thus, Fe-triazolate MOF has been established as a new, stable, scalable, versatile, and efficient platform for sustainable energy conversion in the realm of artificial photosynthesis.

Artificial photosynthesis↗
NASA NTRS2012

Solar Spectral Irradiance and Climate

Spectrally resolved solar irradiance is recognized as being increasingly important to improving our understanding of the manner in which the Sun influences climate. There is strong empirical evidence linking total solar irradiance to surface temperature trends - even though the Sun has likely made only a small contribution to the last half-century's global temperature anomaly - but the amplitudes cannot be explained by direct solar heating alone. The wavelength and height dependence of solar radiation deposition, for example, ozone absorption in the stratosphere, absorption in the ocean mixed layer, and water vapor absorption in the lower troposphere, contribute to the "top-down" and "bottom-up" mechanisms that have been proposed as possible amplifiers of the solar signal. New observations and models of solar spectral irradiance are needed to study these processes and to quantify their impacts on climate. Some of the most recent observations of solar spectral variability from the mid-ultraviolet to the near-infrared have revealed some unexpected behavior that was not anticipated prior to their measurement, based on an understanding from model reconstructions. The atmospheric response to the observed spectral variability, as quantified in climate model simulations, have revealed similarly surprising and in some cases, conflicting results. This talk will provide an overview on the state of our understanding of the spectrally resolved solar irradiance, its variability over many time scales, potential climate impacts, and finally, a discussion on what is required for improving our understanding of Sun-climate connections, including a look forward to future observations.

Pilewskie, P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Alexandrite laser transmitter development for airborne water vapor DIAL measurements

In the DIAL technique, the water vapor concentration profile is determined by analyzing the lidar backscatter signals for laser wavelengths tuned 'on' and 'off' a water vapor absorption line. Desired characteristics of the on-line transmitted laser beam include: pulse energy greater than or equal to 100 mJ, high-resolution tuning capability (uncertainty less than 0.25 pm), good spectral stability (jitter less than 0.5 pm about the mean), and high spectral purity (greater than 99 percent). The off-line laser is generally detuned less than 100 pm away from the water vapor line. Its spectral requirements are much less stringent. In our past research, we developed and demonstrated the airborne DIAL technique for water vapor measurements in the 720-nm spectral region using a system based on an alexandrite laser as the transmitter for the on-line wavelength and a Nd:YAG laser-pumped dye laser for the off-line wavelength. This off-line laser has been replaced by a second alexandrite laser. Diode lasers are used to injection seed both lasers for frequency and linewidth control. This eliminates the need for the two intracavity etalons utilized in our previous alexandrite laser and thereby greatly reduces the risk of optical damage. Consequently, the transmitted pulse energy can be substantially increased, resulting in greater measurement range, higher data density, and increased measurement precision. In this paper, we describe the diode injection seed source, the two alexandrite lasers, and the device used to line lock the on-line seed source to the water vapor absorption feature.

Chyba, Thomas H.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Intensities and N2 collision-broadening coefficients measured for selected H2O absorption lines between 715 and 732 nm

Intensities and N2 collision-broadening coefficients are measured for 62 water vapor absorption lines between 715 and 732 nm potentially applicable to laser remote sensing of atmospheric water vapor. Absolute line strengths and widths were determined from spectra corrected for instrument resolution, air-path absorption and Lorentz and Doppler broadening for pure water vapor and water vapor-nitrogen mixtures in a multipass absorption cell with a base path length of 25 m (White cell). Line strengths are observed to range from 4 x 10 to the -25th to 4 x 10 to the -23rd kayser/molecule per sq cm, and collision broadening coefficients are found to be approximately equal to 0.1 kayser/atm.

Wilkerson, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Differences in Water Vapor Radiative Transfer Among 1D Models Can Significantly Affect the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone

An accurate estimate of the inner edge of the habitable zone is critical for determining which exoplanets are potentially habitable and for designing future telescopes to observe them. Here, we explore differences in estimating the inner edge among seven one-dimensional radiative transfer models: two line-by-line codes (SMART and LBLRTM) as well as five band codes (CAM3, CAM4_Wolf, LMDG, SBDART, and AM2) that are currently being used in global climate models. We compare radiative fluxes and spectra in clear-sky conditions around G and M stars, with fixed moist adiabatic profiles for surface temperatures from 250 to 360 K. We find that divergences among the models arise mainly from large uncertainties in water vapor absorption in the window region (10 μm) and in the region between 0.2 and 1.5 μm. Differences in outgoing longwave radiation increase with surface temperature and reach 10–20Wm(exp −2); differences in shortwave reach up to 60 Wm(exp −2), especially at the surface and in the troposphere, and are larger for an M-dwarf spectrum than a solar spectrum. Differences between the two line-by-line models are significant, although smaller than among the band models. Our results imply that the uncertainty in estimating the insolation threshold of the inner edge (the runaway greenhouse limit) due only to clear-sky radiative transfer is ≈10% of modern Earth’s solar constant (i.e., ≈34 Wm(exp −2) in global mean) among band models and ≈3% between the two line-by-line models. These comparisons show that future work is needed that focuses on improving water vapor absorption coefficients in both shortwave and longwave, as well as on increasing the resolution of stellar spectra in broadband models.

Numerical methods↗
NASA NTRS1999

Experimental Study of Nonane and Nonane/Hexanol Fuel Droplet Combustion in Microgravity

In this presentation we review experiments carried out on nonane droplets, and a nonane/hexanol droplet, burning in microgravity to promote spherical symmetry. The nonane/hexanol combination was selected for the following reasons: 1) the spherically symmetric burning history of nonane and nonane/hexanol mixtures has not been previously studied; 2) measurements of the burning history of pure nonane droplets in air extend the existing data base of spherical droplet flames of soot-producing fuels which are useful for testing detailed chemical kinetic models of the spherically symmetric droplet burning process; 3) nonane and hexanol have almost identical boiling points so heterogeneous nucleation on a support fiber is unlikely; 4) hexanol does not have a strong propensity for water vapor absorption; 5) hexanol produces less soot than nonane so that mixtures of nonane and hexanol should show an effect of composition on soot formation. The far-field gas was atmospheric pressure air at room temperature. The evolution of droplet diameter was measured using high speed cine photography of spark-ignited droplets within a confined volume in a drop tower. The importance of soot formation during droplet combustion is derived from the fact that soot is the basic component of the particulate emission process that occurs in spray combustion. The complexity of soot formation motivates a one-dimensional transport condition which is advantageous for modeling. Recent numerical studies of droplet combustion have assumed spherical symmetry when incorporating such aspects as detailed chemistry and radiation, though soot formation itself has not yet been included in any droplet combustion modeling effort. If radiation is not important as would be the case for'small' droplets (i.e., droplets with initial diameters less than about ]mm), soot formation can lead to a nonlinear burning process and a time-varying burning rate, (non-linear burning of a non-sooting fuel like methanol is due to water vapor absorption on the droplet. The classical quasi-steady droplet burning theory predicts a linear evolution of droplet diameter in scaled coordinates for any fuel type.

Avedisian, C. T.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Development of the Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE): An Advanced Airborne DIAL Instrument

The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) Instrument is the first fully-engineered, autonomous Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) System for the measurement of water vapor in the troposphere (aerosol and cloud measurements are included). LASE uses a double-pulsed Ti:Sapphire laser for the transmitter with a 30 ns pulse length and 150 mJ/pulse. The laser beam is "seeded" to operate on a selected water vapor absorption line in the 815-nm region using a laser diode and an onboard absorption reference cell. A 40 cm diameter telescope collects the backscattered signals and directs them onto two detectors. LASE collects DIAL data at 5 Hz while onboard a NASA/Ames ER-2 aircraft flying at altitudes from 16-21 km. LASE was designed to operate autonomously within the environment and physical constraints of the ER-2 aircraft and to make water vapor profile measurements across the troposphere to better than 10% accuracy. LASE has flown 19 times during the development of the instrument and the validation of the science data. This paper describes the design, operation, and reliability of the LASE Instrument.

Moore, Alvah S., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Imaging spectrometer measurement of water vapor in the 400 to 2500 nm spectral region

The Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) measures the total upwelling spectral radiance from 400 to 2500 nm sampled at 10 nm intervals. The instrument acquires spectral data at an altitude of 20 km above sea level, as images of 11 by up to 100 km at 17x17 meter spatial sampling. We have developed a nonlinear spectral fitting algorithm coupled with a radiative transfer code to derive the total path water vapor from the spectrum, measured for each spatial element in an AVIRIS image. The algorithm compensates for variation in the surface spectral reflectance and atmospheric aerosols. It uses water vapor absorption bands centered at 940 nm, 1040 nm, and 1380 nm. We analyze data sets with water vapor abundances ranging from 1 to 40 perceptible millimeters. In one data set, the total path water vapor varies from 7 to 21 mm over a distance of less than 10 km. We have analyzed a time series of five images acquired at 12 minute intervals; these show spatially heterogeneous changes of advocated water vapor of 25 percent over 1 hour. The algorithm determines water vapor for images with a range of ground covers, including bare rock and soil, sparse to dense vegetation, snow and ice, open water, and clouds. The precision of the water vapor determination approaches one percent. However, the precision is sensitive to the absolute abundance and the absorption strength of the atmospheric water vapor band analyzed. We have evaluated the accuracy of the algorithm by comparing several surface-based determinations of water vapor at the time of the AVIRIS data acquisition. The agreement between the AVIRIS measured water vapor and the in situ surface radiometer and surface interferometer measured water vapor is 5 to 10 percent.

Green, Robert O.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Effect of water vapor on sound absorption in nitrogen at low frequency/pressure ratios

Sound absorption measurements were made in N2-H2O binary mixtures at 297 K over the frequency/pressure range f/P of 0.1-2500 Hz/atm to investigate the vibrational relaxation peak of N2 and its location on f/P axis as a function of humidity. At low humidities the best fit to a linear relationship between the f/P(max) and humidity yields an intercept of 0.013 Hz/atm and a slope of 20,000 Hz/atm-mole fraction. The reaction rate constants derived from this model are lower than those obtained from the extrapolation of previous high-temperature data.

Zuckerwar, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Comparison of Columnar Water-Vapor Measurements from Solar Transmittance Methods

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program studied water vapor abundance measurement at its southern Great Plains site in the fall of 1997. The program used a large number of instruments, including four solar radiometers. By measuring solar transmittance in the 0.94 micrometer water apor absorption band, they were able to measure columnar water vapor (CWV). In the second round of comparison we used the same radiative transfer model, and the same line-by-line code (which includes recently corrected H2O spectroscopy) to retrieve CWV from all four solar radiometers, thus decreasing the mean CWV by 8 - 13 %. The model was not responsible for the 8 % spread in CWV which remained.

Schmid, Beat↗
NASA NTRS2014

Multifunctional Cooling Garment for Space Suit Environmental Control

Future manned space exploration missions will require space suits with capabilities beyond the current state of the art. Portable Life Support Systems for these future space suits face daunting challenges, since they must maintain healthy and comfortable conditions inside the suit for longduration missions while minimizing weight and water venting. We have demonstrated the feasibility of an innovative, multipurpose garment for thermal and humidity control inside a space suit pressure garment that is simple, rugged, compact, and lightweight. The garment is a based on a conventional liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG) that has been modified to directly absorb latent heat as well as sensible heat. This hybrid garment will prevent buildup of condensation inside the pressure garment, prevent loss of water by absorption in regenerable CO2 removal beds, and conserve water through use of advanced lithium chloride absorber/radiator (LCAR) technology for nonventing heat rejection. We have shown the feasibility of this approach by sizing the critical components for the hybrid garment, developing fabrication methods, building and testing a proof-of-concept system, and demonstrating by test that its performance is suitable for use in space suit life support systems.

Izenson, Michael G.↗