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NASA NTRS1989

The 3.4 micron emission in comets

Emission features near 3.4 microns were detected in comet Bradfield (1987s) on 17 Nov. 1987 UT, and, marginally, on two earlier dates, with the Cooled Grating Array Spectrometer at the NASA Infrared Radio Telescope Facility (IRTF) (Brooke et al., 1988b). The central wavelength (3.36 microns) and width (approx. 0.15 microns) of the strongest feature coincide with those observed in comet Halley. A weaker emission feature at 3.52 microns and a strong feature extending shortward of 2.9 microns were also detected. This brings the number of comets in which these three features have been seen to three, two new (Bradfield, Wilson) and one old (Halley). It seems almost certain that the 3.4 micron features are emissions by C-H groups in complex molecules. Based on the similarity of the 3.4 micron features in comets Halley and Wilson, the authors suggest that a particular set of organic compounds may be common to all comets (Brooke et al. 1988a). The absence of the feature in some comets could then be due to photodestruction or evaporation of the organics when the comet approaches the sun, in combination with a predominance of thermal emission from non C-H emitting grains. Detection of the 3.4 micron emission feature in comet Bradfield at 4 = 0.9 AU provides support for this argument. Complex organics in comets could have been formed by particle irradiation of parent ices in the nucleus or been incorporated as grains at the time the comets formed. Since the most heavily irradiated layers of Halley would have been lost in its hundreds of perihelion passages, the authors believe the more likely explanation is that the 3.4 micron emitting material was incorporated in comet nuclei at the time of formation. The 3.4 micron comet feature resembles, but is not identical to, the interstellar 3.29 micron (and longer wavelength) emission features and the broad 3.4 micron feature seen in absorption toward the Galactic center. Detailed comparisons of cometary and interstellar organics will require comet spectra with signal-to-noise and spectral resolution comparable to that available in spectra of the interstellar medium. Such observations are currently being planned.

Brooke, Tim Y.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Global mapping of minor atmospheric constituents with AIRS on EOS

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating-array spectrometer on EOS. It covers the region from 650 to 3000/cm with spectral resolution of 1200. The prime objective of AIRS is the global retrieval of temperature and water vapor profiles and of surface temperatures. The wide spectral coverage of AIRS permits the measurement of a number of additional atmospheric and surface parameters. Of particular interest is the potential to produce daily global maps of the spatial distribution of the more abundant of the minor gases, e.g. ozone, CO, CH4, and N2O. This potential capability for CH4 and N2O is strongly affected by cloud residual. Using the CH4 band at 1306/cm as example, spatial averaging of AIRS data is required to measure a 10 percent change in the nominal CH4 column abundance. At 1300/cm, this requires cloud clearing at the 0.3 percent level. The mapping capability for ozone and CO in terms of rural/urban abundance patterns is not likely to be impacted with cloud-clearing residuals as high as 5 percent.

Aumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

New spectral observations of Callisto and leading/trailing hemisphere distinctions

In December 1989 and January 1990, new observations of the leading and trailing edges of Callisto were made from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Using the Cool Grating Array Spectrometer, spectral coverage was obtained from 1.89 to 2.46 microns and from 2.8 to 4.2 microns for both the leading and trailing hemispheres. In addition, spectral coverage of the leading hemisphere was obtained from 1.30 to 2.55 microns and from 4.2 to 4.8 microns. Interpretations of the data are given.

Calvin, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Analysis of Martian atmospheric and surface optical properties between 4.4 and 5.1 microns

Spectra of several regions of Mars were taken by Blaney and McCord in Aug. of 1988 with the Cooled Grating Array Spectrometer (CGAS) at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). The resulting spectra show several distinct absorption features at wavelengths between 4.4 and 5.1 microns. Many of these features can be attributed to gases in the Martian atmosphere, but others are more difficult to identify. To analyze these spectra more completely, we used a line-by-line multiple scattering model that was developed for studies of Venus night-side emission. This model includes all atmospheric and surface radiative processes that are known to be important on Mars, including absorption, emission, and multiple scattering by CO2, H2O, CO, and airborne dust, and a spectrally-dependent surface albedo. A Mie-scattering algorithm was used to derive dust optical properties from the optical constants of palagonic and basalt. Results from our preliminary efforts to simulate the spectra taken near Tharsis and Solis Planum are shown.

Crisp, Dave↗

NASA NTRS1992

A space-based microwave radar concept

A space-based microwave radar (SBR) concept is defined using a tether trans-receive antenna supported between two gravity gradient low earth-orbiting satellites. A cluster of four tether antennas each of 6 km maximum length and 1.5 km separation between tethers constitutes a radar. A system of eight to eleven such clusters constitutes the overall radar scheme which will cover approximately one third of the earth surface for detecting sea-based targets. Issues identified are the array structure, coherence of tethered arrays, grating lobe energy clamping, clutter effects, communications, system requirements and the overall radar system concept including stability considerations. This paper presents the base-line definition of an alternate space-based radar scheme.

Chakraborty, D.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Imaging spectroscopy of Mars during 1990

Preliminary results are presented of observations of Mars using three telescopes and a CCD camera, grating-array spectrometers, and a near-IR array camera. Martian albedo features are shown to be similar in the visible and 1.3-3.5-micron range, and reflectances of nearly zero are noted in the image at 3.02 microns. The results demonstrate that these techniques provide effective maps of spatial variations in spectral absorption features caused by Martian atmospheric volatiles and by surface minerals.

Bell, James F., III↗

NASA NTRS1993

High-resolution mid-infrared spectra of Co II, Ni I, and Fe II in SN 1987A

Ground-based infrared observations of SN 1987A on day 612 after the explosion have yielded resolved line profiles of Co II, Ni I, Fe II at 10.52, 11.31, and 17.94 micron, respectively. The spectra were taken at a resolving power of about 1000 with an array grating spectrometer on the 4 m telescope of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Based on the observed line intensities we have estimated the minimum mass of each ion: M(Co II) = (6.0 +/- 1.8) x 10 exp -5 solar mass; M(Ni I) = (1.1 +/- 0.1) x 10 exp -3 solar mass; and M(Fe II) = (8.0 +/- 1.5) x 10 exp -3 solar mass. From these we infer total masses for cobalt, nickel, and iron in the ejecta. The nickel and iron line profiles are markedly asymmetric. We interpret these as arising from two components, one centered on the stellar rest velocity with an approximately 3250 km/s full width, and the second at about +1200 km/s with an approximately 1100 km/s full width. The asymmetry may represent a large-scale fracturing of the ejecta by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities.

Jennings, D. E.↗

NASA NTRS2005

AIRS radiometric calibration validation for climate research

Climate research using data from satellite based radiometers makes extreme demands on the traceability and stability of the radiometric calibration. The selection of a cooled grating array spectrometer for the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, AIRS, is key, but does not ensured that AIRS data will be of climate quality. Additional design features, plus additional pre-launch testing, and extensive on-orbit calibration subsystem monitoring beyond what would suffice for application of the data to weather forecasting were required to ensure the radiometric data quality required for climate research. Validation that climate data quality are being generated makes use of the sea surface skin temperatures (SST and (obs-calc).

calibration↗

NASA NTRS2006

Three Years of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Radiometric Calibration Validation using Sea Surface Temperatures

This paper evaluates the absolute accuracy and stability of the radiometric calibration of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) by analyzing the difference between the brightness temperatures measured at 2616 cm(exp -1) and those calculated at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), using the Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature (RTGSST) for cloud-free night tropical oceans between +/- 30 degrees latitude. The TOA correction is based on radiative transfer. The analysis of the first 3 years of AIRS radiances verifies the absolute calibration at 2616 cm(exp -1) to better than 200 mK, with better than 16 mK/yr stability. The AIRS radiometric calibration uses an internal full aperture wedge blackbody with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable prelaunch calibration coefficients. The calibration coefficients have been unchanged since launch. The analysis uses very tight cloud filtering, which selects about 7000 cloud-free tropical ocean spectra per day, about 0.5% of the data. The absolute accuracy and stability of the radiometry demonstrated at 2616 cm(sup -1) are direct consequences of the implementation of AIRS as a thermally controlled, cooled grating-array spectrometer and meticulous attention to details. Comparable radiometric performance is inferred from the AIRS design for all 2378 channels. AIRS performance sets the benchmark for what can be achieved with a state-of-the-art hyperspectral radiometer from polar orbit and what is expected from future hyperspectral sounders. AIRS was launched into a 705 km altitude polar orbit on NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS) Aqua spacecraft on 4 May 2002. AIRS covers the 3.7-15.4 micron region of the thermal infrared spectrum with a spectral resolution of nu/Delta nu = 1200 and has returned 3.7 million spectra of the upwelling radiance each day since the start of routine data gathering in September 2002.

climate↗

NASA NTRS2006

AIRS Science Accomplishments Version 4.0/Plans for Version 5

This talk is about accomplishments with AIRS data and what we have learned from almost three years of data what part of this is emerging in Version 4.0 what part we would like to see filtering into Version 5.0 and what part constitute limitations in the AIRS requirements, such as spectral and spatial resolution, which have to be deferred to the wish list for the next generation hyperspectral sounder. The AIRS calibration accuracy at the 1OOmK and stability at the 6 mK/year level are amazing. It establishes the unique capability of a cooled grating array spectrometer in Earth orbit for climate research. Data which are sufficiently clear to match the radiometric accuracy of the instrument, have a yield of less than 1%. This is OK for calibration. The 2616/cm window channel combined with the RTG.SST for tropical ocean allow excellent assessment radiometric calibration accuracy and stability. For absolute calibration verification 100mK is the limit due to cloud contamination. The 10 micron window channels can be used for stability assessment, but accuracy is limited at 300mK due to water continuum absorption uncertainties.

lessons learned↗

NASA NTRS2004

Application of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) Data to Climate Research

The application of hyper spectral radiometric data to climate research requires very high absolute radiometric accuracy and stability. We use cloud-free tropical ocean data from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIR) Calibration Data Subset (ADCS) to show that the radiometric precision and stability required climate applications has been achieved. The sea surface skin temperatures derived from the AIRS 2616cm-1 super window channel are stable relative to the RTG.SST at the better than 8 mK/year level, and the spectral calibration is stable at the 1 ppm/year level. The excellent stability and accuracy are the result of the implementation of AIRS as a grating array spectrometer, which is cooled and stabilized within 10 mK at 155 K. Analysis of daily measurements of the temperature gradient between the surface and 7 km altitude show that the AIRS Calibration Data Subset has applications which extend its original intent for calibration support to climate research. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS Aqua satellite was launched into polar orbit in May 2002. AIRS covers the spectral region from 640 to 2700 cm-1 with 2378 independent channels and represents the first of a new generation of hyper spectral resolution sounders in support of global sounding data for weather forecasting and climate research.

infrared↗

NASA NTRS2010

NASA's Advancements in Space-Based Spectrometry Lead to Improvements in Weather Prediction and Understanding of Climate Processes

AIRS is a precision state of the art High Spectral Resolution Multi-detector IR grating array spectrometer that was launched into a polar orbit on EOS Aqua in 2002. AIRS measures most of the infra-red spectrum with very low noise from 650/cm to 2660/cm with a resolving power of 2400 at a spatial resolution of 13 km. The objectives of AIRS were to perform accurate determination of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles in up to 90% partial cloud cover conditions for the purpose of improving numerical weather prediction and understanding climate processes. AIRS data has also been used to determine accurate trace gas profiles. A brief overview of the retrieval methodology used to analyze AIRS observations under partial cloud cover will be presented and sample results will be shown from the weather and climate perspectives.

Susskind, Joel↗

NASA NTRS2010

NASA's Advancements in Space-Based Spectrometry Lead to Improvements in Weather Prediction and Understanding of Climate Processes

AIRS (Atmospheric Infra-Red Sounder), was launched, in conjunction with AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) on the NASA polar orbiting research satellite EOS (Earth Observing System) Aqua satellite in May 2002 as a next generation atmospheric sounding system. Atmospheric sounders provide information primarily about the vertical distribution of atmospheric temperature and water vapor distribution. This is achieved by measuring outgoing radiation in discrete channels (spectral intervals) which are sensitive primarily to variations of these geophysical parameters. The primary objectives of AIRS/AMSU were to utilize such information in order to improve the skill of numerical weather prediction as well as to measure climate variability and trends. AIRS is a multi-detector array grating spectrometer with 2378 channels covering the spectral range 650/cm (15 microns) to 2660/cm (3.6 microns) with a resolving power (i/a i) of roughly 1200 where a i is the spectral channel bandpass. Atmospheric temperature profile can be determined from channel observations taken within the 15 micron (the long-wave CO2 absorption band) and within the 4.2 micron (the short-wave CO2 absorption band). Radiances in these (and all other) spectral intervals in the infrared are also sensitive to the presence of clouds in the instrument?s field of view (FOV), which are present about 95% of the time. AIRS was designed so as to allow for the ability to produce accurate Quality Controlled atmospheric soundings under most cloud conditions. This was achieved by having 1) extremely low channel noise values in the shortwave portion of the spectrum and 2) a very flat spatial response function within a channel?s FOV. IASI, the high spectral resolution IR interferometer flying on the European METOP satellite, does not contain either of these important characteristics. The AIRS instrument was also designed to be extremely stabile with regard to its spectral radiometric characteristics, which is critical with regard to the ability to measure accurate long term trends.

Susskind, Joel↗

NASA NTRS2004

Spectral Cloud-Filtering of AIRS Data: Non-Polar Ocean

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a grating array spectrometer which covers the thermal infrared spectral range between 640 and 1700/cm. In order to retain the maximum radiometric accuracy of the AIRS data, the effects of cloud contamination have to be minimized. We discuss cloud filtering which uses the high spectral resolution of AIRS to identify about 100,000 of 500,000 non-polar ocean spectra per day as relatively "cloud-free". Based on the comparison of surface channels with the NCEP provided global real time sst (rtg.sst), AIRS surface sensitive channels have a cold bias ranging from O.5K during the day to 0.8K during the night. Day and night spatial coherence tests show that the cold bias is due to cloud contamination. During the day the cloud contamination is due to a 2-3% broken cloud cover at the 1-2 km altitude, characteristic of low stratus clouds. The cloud-contamination effects surface sensitive channels only. Cloud contamination can be reduced to 0.2K by combining the spectral filter with a spatial coherence threshold, but the yield drops to 16,000 spectra per day. AIRS was launched in May 2002 on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua satellite. Since September 2002 it has returned 4 million spectra of the globe each day.

infrared↗

NASA NTRS2014

Merging of OMI and AIRS Ozone Data

The OMI Instrument measures ozone using the backscattered light in the UV part of the spectrum. In polar night there are no OMI measurements so we hope to incorporate the AIRS ozone data to fill in these missing regions. AIRS is on the Aqua platform and has been operating since May 2002. AIRS is a multi-detector array grating spectrometer containing 2378 IR channels between 650 per centimeter and 2760 per centimeter which measures atmospheric temperature, precipitable water, water vapor, CO, CH4, CO2 and ozone profiles and column amount. It can also measure effective cloud fraction and cloud top pressure for up to two cloud layers and sea-land skin temperature. Since 2008, OMI has had part of its aperture occulted with a piece of the thermal blanket resulting in several scan positions being unusable. We hope to use the AIRS data to fill in the missing ozone values for those missing scan positions.

OMI↗

NASA NTRS2012

Structural Health Monitoring with Fiber Bragg Grating and Piezo Arrays

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is one of the most important tools available for the maintenance, safety, and integrity of aerospace structural systems. Lightweight, electromagnetic-interference- immune, fiber-optic sensor-based SHM will play an increasing role in more secure air transportation systems. Manufacturers and maintenance personnel have pressing needs for significantly improving safety and reliability while providing for lower inspection and maintenance costs. Undetected or untreated damage may grow and lead to catastrophic structural failure. Damage can originate from the strain/stress history of the material, imperfections of domain boundaries in metals, delamination in multi-layer materials, or the impact of machine tools in the manufacturing process. Damage can likewise develop during service life from wear and tear, or under extraordinary circumstances such as with unusual forces, temperature cycling, or impact of flying objects. Monitoring and early detection are key to preventing a catastrophic failure of structures, especially when these are expected to perform near their limit conditions.

Black, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A spectrometer to measure the diffuse, astronomical extreme ultraviolet background

The present grazing incidence spectrometer for measuring the diffuse astronomical background between 80 and 650 A uses a wire grid collimator to define a 40-arcmin by 15-deg field of view. After passing through the collimator, radiation impinges on an array of plane reflection gratings. An array of mirrors then focuses the diffracted light through a thin filter onto a microchannel plate detector. The resulting system focuses to a few arcmin and produces spectra with 10 to 20 A resolution. Performance characteristics of the spectrometer are discussed.

Labov, Simon↗

NASA NTRS1992

The AXAF CCD imaging spectrometer

The current status of the instrument design and the status of the CCDs being fabricated for the AXAF CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) are summarized. The instrument consists of an image recording array of CCDs and a linear arrangement of CCDs to record the spectra formed by the objective grating spectrometer. Both arrays employ CCDs with pixel dimensions which correspond to about 0.5 arcsec samples of the image. The CCDs provide moderate spectral resolution and good detection efficiency over the energy range 0.5 to 10 keV. Spectral resolution of 200 or more is achievable using the objective grating with the grating array. Radiation damage effects are shown to degrade the energy resolution of CCDs. Specially designed CCD pixel architecture is employed together with shielding and low temperature operation to slow the effects of radiation damage.

Garmire, G. P.↗