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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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1978

System considerations for an earth radiation budget scanning radiometer

Error sources that might affect the earth radiation budget (ERBSI) scanner radiometer are discussed. Effects of sensor time response, spatial averaging by the field of view, onboard processing, and level III averaging are examined, coverage of grid regions is considered, and an analysis procedure for a scanning radiometer is derived. ERBSI consists of a scanning radiometer, sensors, and a solar radiometer, and it is suggested that ERBSI be included in the instrument complement of NOAA operational spacecraft.

Smith, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Deconvolution and analysis of wide-angle longwave radiation data from Nimbus 6 Earth radiation budget experiment for the first year

One year of longwave radiation data from July 1975 through June 1976 from the Nimbus 6 satellite Earth radiation budget experiment is analyzed by representing the radiation field by a spherical harmonic expansion. The data are from the wide field of view instrument. Contour maps of the longwave radiation field and spherical harmonic coefficients to degree 12 and order 12 are presented for a 12 month data period.

Bess, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Deconvolution of wide field-of-view radiometer measurements of earth-emitted radiation. II - Analysis of first year of Nimbus 6 ERB data

The theory of deconvolution considered by Smith and Green (1981) is applied to Nimbus 6 data in order to interpret the data with the maximum obtainable resolution. Attention is given to the data sample, sun-contaminated measurements, the measurement model, the deconvolution, the degree variance, the spherical harmonic coefficients, the geographical distribution of longwave radiation, time histories of zonal coefficients, and the effect of a grid system. Degree variance plots for 12 months of longwave radiation data show that the limit for a spherical harmonic representation of the Nimbus 6 wide field-of-view longwave data is 12th degree. The degree variance plots also reveal that most of the power is in the lower degree terms. Contour maps of the radiation field show the geographical distribution of earth emitted radiant exitance for each month.

Bess, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Civil (French/US) certification of the Coast Guard's HH-65A Dauphin

Certification programs with particular emphasis on handling qualities requirements are described. A dynamic simulator was designed and constructed to support and verify the dynamic aspects of the avionics system, particularly the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS). The role of the Dynamic Simulator is discussed.

Hart, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Annual cycle and spatial spectra of earth emitted radiation at large scales

Monthly averaged, resolution enhanced global distributions of the earth's emitted radiation, as measured by the Nimbus-6 Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) wide field of view radiometers, have been analyzed for 1 year of data from July 1975 to June 1976. These distributions are expressed in terms of spherical harmonic coefficients, and time and space variability of the emitted radiation field is studied in terms of these coefficients. The average annual distribution accounts for 78 percent of the space-time power, and the annual cycle accounts for 17 percent of the power. Spatial variations over the globe are described in terms of degree variance, and longitudinal variations are described in terms of spectral power as a function of latitude. The longitudinal spectra were found to vary strongly with time.

Smith, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Statistical theory for estimating sampling errors of regional radiation averages based on satellite measurements

The processes which determine the weather and climate are driven by the radiation received by the earth and the radiation subsequently emitted. A knowledge of the absorbed and emitted components of radiation is thus fundamental for the study of these processes. In connection with the desire to improve the quality of long-range forecasting, NASA is developing the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), consisting of a three-channel scanning radiometer and a package of nonscanning radiometers. A set of these instruments is to be flown on both the NOAA-F and NOAA-G spacecraft, in sun-synchronous orbits, and on an Earth Radiation Budget Satellite. The purpose of the scanning radiometer is to obtain measurements from which the average reflected solar radiant exitance and the average earth-emitted radiant exitance at a reference level can be established. The estimate of regional average exitance obtained will not exactly equal the true value of the regional average exitance, but will differ due to spatial sampling. A method is presented for evaluating this spatial sampling error.

Smith, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Manmade orbital debris studies at NASA Langley

In the past, flight experiments to define the meteoroid environment near the Earth and in interplanetary space were undertaken. The effectiveness of meteoroid bumpers was investigated. These flight experiments were aboard Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and Explorer 46. Hypervelocity impact tests were conducted in the laboratory to study protective structures and the composition of meteoroids from the hundreds of meteor spectra obtained. It was also found that manmade debris presented a similar hazard to spacecraft near the Earth. An assessment of that hazard is made in this paper. An analysis of the collision probability problem with much attention given to the population of small untrackable fragments created during explosions is presented.

Humes, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Charging of DMSP/F6 spacecraft in aurora on 10 January 1983

Spacecraft charging has been widely observed in geosynchronous orbit on the ATS-5 and ATS-6 pair and on the SCATHA spacecraft. An adequate theory for explaining the observations exist. Neither the data or theory can be exported to low polar orbit and its drastically different environment. Evidence of charging on the DMSP F6 spacecraft is presented. A simple model is set up explaining the observations. Two independent instruments on the spacecraft showed charging to a moderate (44 volts) negative potential. The selection spectrometer showed a flux of 2 billion electrons per sq. cm. sec. ster. peaked at 9.5 keV. This was marginally sufficient to overcome the flux of cold ambient ions. Charging calculations are presented showing where simplications are justified and where serious uncertainties exist. More serious charging is predicted for the Shuttle in polar orbit.

Besse, A. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Infrared parameterization and simple climate models

The geographical distribution of the annual mean and the annual cycle in surface temperature and satellite-observed IR is examined, and the spherical harmonic representation of the data fields is exploited to demonstrate how variances and covariances are dominated by the largest space and time scales. The geographical distribution of the annual cycle in the T and IR fields is explored; the strong imprint of the continents in both is clearly evident. The influence of the cloudiness of seasonal precipitation regimes on the IR annual cycle is also quite striking, especially over the subtropics. Analysis of the data shows that the simple form IR = A+BT (with A = 204 W/sq m and B = 1.93 W/sq m/K) explains 90 percent of the area-weighted variance in the annual mean and annual cycle of the zonally averaged IR field.

Short, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Zonal and hemispheric variability of Nimbus 6 ERB longwave radiation

Radiation variability on a global and zonal scale is studied using outgoing longwave radiation data from the Nimbus 6 satellite for a period of 12 months. The analysis-of-variance technique, which permits the variance to be separated into spatial variance and time variance, is applied to latitudinal zones and to the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. For latitudinal zones, most of the variability of longwave radiation is in the tropics and subtropics and is due to spatial variance between regions within zones. Spatial variance in the Southern Hemisphere is much greater than in the Northern Hemisphere; daytime spatial variance is higher than nighttime spatial variance for both hemispheres.

Bess, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Atlas of wide-field-of-view outgoing longwave radiation derived from Nimbus 6 Earth radiation budget data set, July 1975 to June 1978

An atlas of monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation global contour maps and associated spherical harmonic coefficients is presented. The atlas contains 36 months of continuous data from July 1975 to June 1978. The data were derived from the first Earth radiation budget experiment, which was flown on the Nimbus-6 Sun-synchronous satellite in 1975. Only the wide-field-of-view longwave measurements are cataloged in this atlas. The contour maps along with the associated sets of spherical harmonic coefficients form a valuable data set for studying different aspects of our changing climate over monthly, annual, and interannual scales in the time domain, and over regional, zonal, and global scales in the spatial domain.

Bess, T. Dale↗
NASA NTRS1986

Variability of earth-emitted radiation from one year of Nimbus-6 ERB data

Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) measurements from the Nimbus-6 ERB wide field-of-view instrument are used to study daytime and nighttime radiation variability on a 15 deg regional, zonal, and global scale. An analysis of components of variance is used to determine how much of the total variability is due to between-region and within-region variance. Most of the analysis is on July and January data from one year of Nimbus-6 ERB. Different geographical scales are considered: regions within latitude zones and latitude zones within hemispheres. Results show that much of the variability is spatial, peaks in the tropics and subtropics, and is concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere. Daytime variability is generally larger than nighttime variability for July but not for January. Variance in OLR in the tropics and subtropics is largely a function of cloud variability.

Bess, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Atlas of wide-field-of-view outgoing longwave radiation derived from Nimbus 7 Earth radiation budget data set - November 1978 to October 1985

An atlas of monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation global contour maps and associated spherical harmonic coefficients is presented. The atlas contains 84 months of continuous data from November 1978 to October 1985. The data were derived from the second Earth radiation budget experiment, which was flown on the Nimbus 7 Sun-synchronous satellite in 1978. This data set is a companion set and extension to a similar report of the Nimbus 6 satellite. Together these two reports give a data set covering a 10 year time period and will be very valuable in studying different aspects of our changing climate over monthly, annual, and interannual scales in the time domain and over regional, zonal, and global scales in the spatial domain.

Bess, T. Dale↗
NASA NTRS1988

Deccan volcanism at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

The accuracy with which one can claim that Deccan trap volcanism occurred at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (KTB) over a very short time interval is of key importance in deciding whether a volcanic origin of the KTB events should be taken seriously. In the two years since paleomagnetic, paleontological and geodynamic evidence was published, further data have become available and the case now appears to be well constrained. The Ar-40/Ar-39 results from six labs have yielded some 24 reliable plateau ages that narrow the age range to 65 to 69 Ma. Moreover, it appears that a significant part of this range results from inter-lab spread and possible minor alteration. Paleontology demonstrates that volcanism started in the Maestrichtian, more precisely in the A. mayaroensis zone. Paleomagnetism shows that volcanism spanned only 3 chrons and only one correlation remains possible, that of the main central reversed chron with 29R. Therefore, whereas Ar-40/Ar-39 is able only to restrict the duration of volcanism to some 4 Ma, paleomagnetism restricts it to 0.5 Ma. Using some geochemical indicators such as C-13 as proxy, it is suggested that volcanism actually consists of a few shorter events of unequal magnitude. Extrusion rates may be as high as 100 cu km/yr and fissure lengths as long as several 100 km. Such a scenario appears to be at least as successful as others in accounting for most anomalies observed at the KTB. Particularly important are Iridium and other platinum group elements (PGE) profiles, Sr-87/Sr-86, C-13, 0-18, other exotic geochemical signatures, spherules, soot, shocked minerals, selective and stepwise extinctions. The environmental impact of CO2 possibly released during explosive phases of volcanism, and SO2 released during effusive phases, and the ability of volcanism to ensure worldwide distribution of KTB products are now all addressed. In conclusion, the case for a causal link between internal hotspot activity, birth of the Reunion hotspot itself as the Deccan and KTB events appears to rest on an increasingly stronger basis.

Courtillot, V.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A ten-year monthly data set of outgoing longwave radiation from Nimbus-6 and Nimbus-7 satellites

Monthly mean outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) measurements in the form of global contour maps and coefficients of spherical-harmonic functions for each month of the 10-year period, July 1975 through October 1985, have recently been completed. One data set contains three years (July 1975 to June 1978) of 'continuous' data from the wide field-of-view sensor of the Earth Radiation Budget experiment (ERB) aboard the Nimbus-6 satellite. The other data set contains seven years (November 1978 to October 1985) of 'continuous' data from the ERB experiment aboard the Nimbus-7 satellite. The OLR broadband time series could be used, for example, to study the interannual variability of OLR. An example is given of two El Ninos that occurred in the 10-year timeframe.

Bess, T. Dale↗
NASA NTRS1989

Annual and interannual variations of Earth-emitted radiation based on a 10-year data set

The method of empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) was applied to a 10-year data set of outgoing longwave radiation. Spherical harmonic functions are used as a basis set for producing equal area map results. The following findings are noted. The first EOF accounts for 66 percent of the variance. After that, each EOF accounts for only a small variance, forming a slowly converging series. The first two EOF's describe mainly the annual cycle. The third EOF is primarily the semiannual cycle although many other EOF's also contain significant semiannual parts. These results reaffirm those based on a shorter data set. In addition, a much stronger spring/fall mode was found in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean for the second EOF than was found earlier. This difference is attributed to the use of broadband radiometer data which were available for the present study. The earlier study used data from a window channel instrument which is not as sensitive to water vapor variations. The fourth EOF describes much of the 1976 to 1977 and 1982 to 1983 ENSO phenomena. There is typically a gap in the spectrum between a semiannual peak and the annual cycle for all but the first EOF. A semiannual OLR dipole straddles the Asian-Australian monsoon track.

Bess, T. Dale↗
NASA NTRS1990

Annual and interannual variations of absorbed solar radiation based on a 10-year data set

Annual and interannual variations of absorbed solar radiation (ASR) are studied using the 10-year earth radiation budget data set from the Nimbus-6 and Nimbus-7 earth radiation budget instruments in the form of monthly averaged maps of ASR. Empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) are computed for the global distribution of ASR. Six EOFs are found which have physical significance and which account for 97.8 percent of the spatial variance of the data set. The first EOF describes the annual cycle and is primarily a latitudinal variation which is driven by the incident solar radiation. The second and fourth EOFs are semiannual cycles. EOFs 3 through 6 are strongly longitudinally dependent. EOF 3 describes the spring/fall part of the annual cycle, and EOF 4 describes the part of the semiannual cycle which is out of phase with EOF 2. EOF 5 is the response of the ASR to El Nino. The annual cycle and its harmonics account for 97.6 percent of the variance with time. When the data set is deseasonalized, the first two EOFs of the resulting set are found to correspond closely to EOFs 5 and 6 of the data set with season included. As with outgoing longwave radiation, most of the interannual variation is found over the tropical oceans.

Smith, G. Louis↗
NASA NTRS1991

Atlas of wide-field-of-view outgoing longwave radiation derived from Nimbus 7 Earth radiation budget data set, November 1985 to October 1987

An atlas of monthly outgoing longwave radiation global contour maps and associated spherical harmonic coefficients is presented. The atlas contains 23 months of data from November 1985 to October 1987 . The data were derived from the second Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) package, which was flown on the Nimbus 7 Sun-synchronous satellite in 1987. This data set is a companion set and extension to similar atlases that documented 10 years of outgoing longwave radiation results from Nimbus 6 and Nimbus 7 satellites. This atlas and the companion atlases give a data set covering a 12-year time period and will be very useful in studying different aspects of our changing climate. The data set also provides a 3-year overlap with the current Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE).

Bess, T. Dale↗