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At least 343 records · Page 19

A system for recording physical properties of clouds

Characterization of the physical properties of clouds is an important objective of the FIRE Project intensive field operations (IFO) planned for 1990 thru 1992. Physical properties observed from satellites will be directly compared to ground based observations during this period. The technical information is provided which is required to record local cloud parameters such as type of clouds, direction of travel, layering, and cloud fraction data. Such information should be very useful in analyzing other cloud and meteorological data. A system of the type described was deployed as part of the First Global Surface Radiation Budget Experiment in April 1989.

Purgold, G. C.↗

Final shuttle-derived atmospheric database: Development and results from thirty-two flights

The final Shuttle-derived atmospheric data base is presented. The relational data base is comprised of data from 32 Space Transportation System (STS) descent flights, to include available meteorology data taken in support of each flight. For the most part, the available data are restricted to the middle atmosphere. In situ accelerations, sensed by the tri-redundant Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to an accuracy better than 1 mg, are combined with post-flight Best Estimate Trajectory (BET) information and predicted, flight-substantiated Orbiter aerodynamics to provide determinations up to altitudes of 95 km. In some instances, alternate accelerometry data with micro-g resolution were utilized to extend the data base well into the thermosphere. Though somewhat limited, the ensemble of flights permit a reasonable sampling of monthly, seasonal, and latitudinal variations which can be utilized for atmospheric science investigations and model evaluations and upgrades as appropriate. More significantly, the unparallel vertical resolution in the Shuttle-derived results indicate density shears normally associated with internal gravity waves or local atmospheric instabilities. Consequently, these atmospheres can also be used as stress-atmospheres for Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN and C) system development and analysis as part of any advanced space vehicle design activities.

Findlay, John T.↗

2022 Power Global Community (Gloco) Summit Summary Report

The Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project 25th year of providing global solar and meteorology data products to the world. The goals of this event were to inform users of new, enhanced features, gather feedback on services, identify new requests and requirements, and capture more thorough user stories while identifying new user communities and partnership opportunities. The event was “virtual” and had over 580 registrants. Over the two-day event, the Summit was attended by 162 unique attendees representing 24 countries.

NASA↗

Predicting Airport Runway Configurations for Decision-Support Using Supervised Learning

One of the most challenging tasks for air traffic controllers is runway configuration management (RCM). It deals with the optimal selection of runways to operate on (for arrivals and departures) based on traffic, surface wind speed, wind direction, other environmental variables, noise constraints, and several other airport-specific factors. It affects the efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS) and both surface and airspace operations can benefit from better understanding future runway configurations. In this paper, we present a comprehensive implementation of predictive models for runway configuration estimation from large volumes of historical data. Specifically, operational data from two full years (2018 and 2019) is collected, analyzed, and fused together to build the data product used in this work. The data set differs from prior work in the field in terms of its scope, resolution, and variety of factors collected and considered. Meteorological data is collected from two different sources – current weather conditions from METAR (Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine Weather Report) and forecast weather conditions from Localized Aviation MOS Program (LAMP). Operational data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) related to scheduled and actual number of arrivals and departures, average taxi times, etc. are collected. NASA’s Sherlock Data Warehouse is used to identify critical information such as go-arounds, and other events that might impact RCM decision-making. All data is collected and aggregated over 15-minute intervals throughout the two years. This provides a resolution like the timescales that might be necessary for runway configuration management decision-making. A variety of supervised learning algorithms are tested including Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, etc. including tuning of the model hyperparameters. The modeling process is applied and presented on two representative U.S. airports – Charlotte Douglas International Airport (KCLT) and Denver International Airport (KDEN). The two airports present different levels of complexity in terms of the total number of configurations used and provide a balanced perspective on the generalizability of the developed approach to other airports in the NAS. Initial results are promising (F1 score of 0.91 at KCLT and 0.83 at KDEN) for data in the test set. The final paper will contain a comprehensive comparison between different models and model building strategies as well as further refined results. Most important predictors for each airport will be identified along with a discussion and recommendations on adapting the framework to other scenarios.

Tejas G Puranik↗

Comparing Global Atmospheric CO2 Flux and Transport Models with Remote Sensing (and Other) Observations

We report recent progress derived from comparison of global CO2 flux and transport models with new remote sensing and other sources of CO2 data including those from satellite. The overall objective of this activity is to improve the process models that represent our understanding of the workings of the atmospheric carbon cycle. Model estimates of CO2 surface flux and atmospheric transport processes are required for initial constraints on inverse analyses, to connect atmospheric observations to the location of surface sources and sinks, to provide the basic framework for carbon data assimilation, and ultimately for future projections of carbon-climate interactions. Models can also be used to test consistency within and between CO2 data sets under varying geophysical states. Here we focus on simulated CO2 fluxes from terrestrial vegetation and atmospheric transport mutually constrained by analyzed meteorological fields from the Goddard Modeling and Assimilation Office for the period 2000 through 2009. Use of assimilated meteorological data enables direct model comparison to observations across a wide range of scales of variability. The biospheric fluxes are produced by the CASA model at 1x1 degrees on a monthly mean basis, modulated hourly with analyzed temperature and sunlight. Both physiological and biomass burning fluxes are derived using satellite observations of vegetation, burned area (as in GFED-3), and analyzed meteorology. For the purposes of comparison to CO2 data, fossil fuel and ocean fluxes are also included in the transport simulations. In this presentation we evaluate the model's ability to simulate CO2 flux and mixing ratio variability in comparison to remote sensing observations from TCCON, GOSAT, and AIRS as well as relevant in situ observations. Examples of the influence of key process representations are shown from both forward and inverse model comparisons. We find that the model can resolve much of the synoptic, seasonal, and interannual variability in the observations, although reasons for persistent discrepancies in northern hemisphere vegetation uptake are examined. At this time, we do not find any serious shortcomings in the model transport representation, but this is still the subject of close scrutiny. In general, the fidelity of these simulations leads us to anticipate incorporation of real-time, highly resolved remote sensing and other observations into quantitative analyses that will reduce uncertainty in CO2 fluxes and revolutionize our understanding of the key processes controlling atmospheric CO2 and its evolution with time.

Kawa, S. R.↗

Some economic benefits of a synchronous earth observatory satellite

An analysis was made of the economic benefits which might be derived from reduced forecasting errors made possible by data obtained from a synchronous satellite system which can collect earth observation and meteorological data continuously and on demand. User costs directly associated with achieving benefits are included. In the analysis, benefits were evaluated which might be obtained as a result of improved thunderstorm forecasting, frost warning, and grain harvest forecasting capabilities. The anticipated system capabilities were used to arrive at realistic estimates of system performance on which to base the benefit analysis. Emphasis was placed on the benefits which result from system forecasting accuracies. Benefits from improved thunderstorm forecasts are indicated for the construction, air transportation, and agricultural industries. The effects of improved frost warning capability on the citrus crop are determined. The benefits from improved grain forecasting capability are evaluated in terms of both U.S. benefits resulting from domestic grain distribution and U.S. benefits from international grain distribution.

Battacharyya, R. K.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tapes VL0010 and VL0012

The GASP atmospheric trace constituent data currently available are considered. Included on tapes are in-situ measurements of atmospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, water vapor, and clouds, data from laboratory analysis of filters exposed in flight, and related flight and meteorological data. Measurements of ozone levels within the first class cabin of these aircraft are also reported. In addition to the GASP data, tropopause pressures obtained from time and space interpolation of NMC archived data for the dates of the flights are included. Reported herein are the flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, data tape specifications, and analyses of the cabin ozone measurements.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) data report for tapes VL0007 and VL0008

The Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) is obtaining measurements of atmospheric trace constituents in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere using fully automated air sampling systems on board the NASA CV-990 research aircraft and four commerical B-747 aircraft in routine airline service. In-situ measurements of atmospheric ozone and water vapor, data from laboratory analysis of filters exposed in flight, and related flight and meteorological data obtained from September 1976 through January 1977 are reported. These data are now available on GASP tapes VL0007 & VL0008 from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to the GASP data, tropopause pressure fields obtained from NMC archives for the dates of the GASP flights are included on the data tape. Flight routes and dates, instrumentation, data processing procedures, and data tape specifications are described.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

EOS MLS Level 2 Data Processing Software Version 3

This software accepts the EOS MLS calibrated measurements of microwave radiances products and operational meteorological data, and produces a set of estimates of atmospheric temperature and composition. This version has been designed to be as flexible as possible. The software is controlled by a Level 2 Configuration File that controls all aspects of the software: defining the contents of state and measurement vectors, defining the configurations of the various forward models available, reading appropriate a priori spectroscopic and calibration data, performing retrievals, post-processing results, computing diagnostics, and outputting results in appropriate files. In production mode, the software operates in a parallel form, with one instance of the program acting as a master, coordinating the work of multiple slave instances on a cluster of computers, each computing the results for individual chunks of data. In addition, to do conventional retrieval calculations and producing geophysical products, the Level 2 Configuration File can instruct the software to produce files of simulated radiances based on a state vector formed from a set of geophysical product files taken as input. Combining both the retrieval and simulation tasks in a single piece of software makes it far easier to ensure that identical forward model algorithms and parameters are used in both tasks. This also dramatically reduces the complexity of the code maintenance effort.

Livesey, Nathaniel J.↗

Detection and identification of benthic communities and shoreline features in Biscayne Bay

Progress made in the development of a technique for identifying and delinating benthic and shoreline communities using multispectral imagery is described. Images were collected with a multispectral scanner system mounted in a C-47 aircraft. Concurrent with the overflight, ecological ground- and sea-truth information was collected at 19 sites in the bay and on the shore. Preliminary processing of the scanner imagery with a CDC 1604 digital computer provided the optimum channels for discernment among different underwater and coastal objects. Automatic mapping of the benthic plants by multiband imagery and the mapping of isotherms and hydrodynamic parameters by digital model can become an effective predictive ecological tool when coupled together. Using the two systems, it appears possible to predict conditions that could adversely affect the benthic communities. With the advent of the ERTS satellites and space platforms, imagery data could be obtained which, when used in conjunction with water-level and meteorological data, would provide for continuous ecological monitoring.

Kolipinski, M. C.↗

Interactive image processing for meteorological applications at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

The meteorological data processing program at the space center is centered on the analysis of geostationary satellite data. Its objectives are to detect and predict severe storms, to improve short range and long range global numerical weather forecasting models, and to develop improved satellite systems. The Image Display and Manipulation System (IDAMS) for earth resources satellite data processing is described, as is the special purpose software package, METPAK, for performing meteorology operations on IDAMS. The Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS), a dual terminal multiprocessor is also described.

Billingsley, J. B.↗

Jet stream winds - Enhanced aircraft data acquisition and analysis over Southwest Asia

A project is described for providing the accurate initial and verification analyses for the jet stream in regions where general circulation models are known to have large systematic errors, either due to the extreme sparsity of data or to incorrect physical parameterizations. For this purpose, finely spaced aircraft-based meteorological data for the Southwest Asian regions collected for three 10-day periods in the winter of 1988-1989 will be used, together with corresponding data for the North American regions used as a control, to rerun the assimilation cycles and forecast models of the NMC and the NASA Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres. Data for Southeast Asia will be collected by three carriers with extensive wide-body routes crossing the total region, while data for the North American region will be obtained from the archives of ACARS and GTS.

Tenenbaum, J.↗

Seasonal variation of surface and atmospheric cloud radiative forcing over the globe derived from satellite data

Global distributions of surface and atmospheric cloud radiative forcing parameters have been derived using parameterized radiation models with satellite meteorological data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, and directly measured top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment. Specifically, shortwave, longwave, and total cloud forcing at the surface, and column-averaged values of longwave cloud forcing of the atmosphere were derived for the midseasonal months of April, July, and October 1985 and January 1986, covering a complete annual cycle. Seasonal variability is illustrated by comparing the results for July 1985 and January 1986, which represent the seasonal extremes. Surface shortwave cloud forcing is always negative, representing a cooling of the surface, with strongest cooling (-120 to -180 W/sq m) occurring over midlatitude storm tracks of the summer hemisphere. Surface longwave cloud forcing is always positive, representing a warming of the surface, with strongest warming (60 to 75 W/sq m) occurring over storm tracks of the winter hemisphere. Zonal averages show the entire summer hemisphere dominated by shortwave cooling, the middle and high latitudes of the winter hemisphere dominated by longwave warming, and a broad zone of transition in between. The globally averaged total cloud forcing amounts to a cooling throughout the year, ranging from a low of about -12 W/sq m for July 1985 to a high of about -25 W/sq m for January 1986. The longwave cloud forcing of the atmosphere shows a strong warming over deep convective regions in the tropics and a moderate cooling outside the tropics, amounting to a weak cooling (-2 to -5 W/sq m) in the global average. Comparisons of the results with general circulation model simulations show broad qualitative agreement regarding the locations of prominent warming and cooling regions. Quantitative comparisons, on the other hand, show significant differences between the magnitudes of warming and cooling in these regions. Most of the larger differences can be attributed to known deficiences of the general circulation model simulations. Comparisons with satellite-derived results of other investigators show much better agreement.

Gupta, Shashi K.↗

ERTS-1 data collection systems used to predict wheat disease severities

The feasibility of using the data collection system on Earth Technology Satellite-1 to predict wheat leaf rust severity and resulting yield loss was tested. Ground-based data-collection platforms (DCPs), placed in two commercial wheat fields, transmitted to the satellite such meteorological information as maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, and hours of free moisture. Meteorological data received from the two DCPs from April 23 to 29 were used to estimate the disease progress curve. Values from the curve were used to predict the percentage decrease in wheat yields resulting from leaf rust. Actual decrease in yield obtained by applying a zinc and maneb spray to control leaf rust, and then comparing yields of the controlled (healthy) and the noncontrolled (rusted) areas. In each field, a 9% decrease in yield was predicted by the DCP-derived data; actual decreases were 12% and 9%.

Kanemasu, E. T.↗

Baseline meteorological soundings for parametric environmental investigations at Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base

Meteorological soundings representative of the atmospheric environment at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, are presented. Synthetic meteorological soundings at Kennedy Space Center, including fall, spring, and a sea breeze, and at Vandenberg Air Force Base (sea breeze with low and high level inversion and stationary upper level troughs) are shown. Soundings of frontal passages are listed. The Titan launch soundings at Kennedy Space Center present a wide range of meteorological conditions, both seasonal and time of day variations. The meteorological data input of altitude, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and pressure may be used as meteorological inputs for the NASA/MSFC Multilayer Diffusion Model or other models to obtain quantitative estimates of effluent concentrations associated with the potential emission of major combustion products in the lower atmosphere to simulate actual launches of space vehicles. The Titan launch soundings are also of value in terms of rocket effluent measurements for analysis purposes.

Susko, M.↗

The seasonal variation of the D region as inferred from propagation characteristics of LF radio waves

The propagation data of JG2AS 40 kHz (Japanese Standard Frequency), Loran C 100 kHz radio waves, and meteorological data were analyzed to study the association of propagation characteristics of LF radio waves with the atmospheric circulation in the mesosphere. The monthly averaged electric fields were depicted on the complex plane for typical summer and winter months, June and November. The locus traced out by the electric field vector during daytime is nearly circular. This is because during daytime the amplitude of the sky wave remains nearly constant while its phase changes in accord with the height change of the reflection layer, and thus the electric field vector traces out a circular locus with its center at the tip of the supposed ground wave vector. The locus has a loop during the sunrise or sunset period, which seems to arise from interference of two waves reflected by two different layers. In June the amplitude of the sky wave decreases rapidly before the dawn or increases after the dusk. In November such rapid change is not observed. During nighttime, the sky wave phase changes in such a way as to suggest that the reflection height moves upwards with time before midnight or lowers after midnight in November. In June it changes similarly before midnight, but after midnight it varies erratically. These characteristics are closely related to the structure of the D region, which is clearly shown by simulating the loci traced out by electric fields.

Ishimine, T.↗