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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 505 records · Page 28

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the Earth Observing System

AIRS, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on the EOS-Aqua, produces global high precision spectra from 3.7 - 15.4 micron with spectral resolving power mu/delta mu = 1200 twice each day from 708 km orbital altitude. AIRS is the first hyperspectral infrared spectrometer designed to support NOAA/NCEP's operational requirements for medium range weather forecasting during its nominal 7 year lifetime. AIRS, together with the AMSU and HSB microwave radiometers, will achieve global retrieval accuracy of better then 1K rms in the lower troposphere under clear and partly cloudy condition. Based on the excellent radiometric and spectral performance demonstrated during the pre-launch testing, the assimilation of AIRS data into the forecast model is expected to result in major forecast improvements. Launch of AIRS on the EOS AQUA is scheduled for May 2001.

Aumann, Hartmut H.↗

North American Observing Systems: An Interagency Group Runs Tests at the NCCS

Some 250,000 weather reports are collected by the National Weather Service (NWS) every day. Important measurements are taken by satellites, weather balloons, ground weather stations, airplanes, oceangoing ships, and tethered ocean buoys. Local or global weather models rely on these reports to provide the raw data used as initial conditions for the models to produce a weather prediction.

Source record↗

Performance of Goddard Earth Observing System GCM Column Radiation Models under Heterogeneous Cloud Conditions

We test the performance of the shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Column Radiation Models (CORAMs) of Chou and collaborators with heterogeneous cloud fields from a global single-day dataset produced by NCAR's Community Atmospheric Model with a 2-D CRM installed in each gridbox. The original SW version of the CORAM performs quite well compared to reference Independent Column Approximation (ICA) calculations for boundary fluxes, largely due to the success of a combined overlap and cloud scaling parameterization scheme. The absolute magnitude of errors relative to ICA are even smaller for the LW CORAM which applies similar overlap. The vertical distribution of heating and cooling within the atmosphere is also simulated quite well with daily-averaged zonal errors always below 0.3 K/d for SW heating rates and 0.6 K/d for LW cooling rates. The SW CORAM's performance improves by introducing a scheme that accounts for cloud inhomogeneity. These results suggest that previous studies demonstrating the inaccuracy of plane-parallel models may have unfairly focused on worst scenario cases, and that current radiative transfer algorithms of General Circulation Models (GCMs) may be more capable than previously thought in estimating realistic spatial and temporal averages of radiative fluxes, as long as they are provided with correct mean cloud profiles. However, even if the errors of the particular CORAMs are small, they seem to be systematic, and the impact of the biases can be fully assessed only with GCM climate simulations.

Oreopoulos, L.↗

Making NASA Earth Observing System Satellite Data Accessible to the K-12 and Citizen Scientist Communities

The Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) at NASA s Langley Research Center houses over 700 data sets related to Earth s radiation budget, clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. These data sets are produced to increase academic understanding of the natural and anthropogenic perturbations that influence global climate change. The Mentoring and inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and earth science for Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA) project has been established to systematically support educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education by reducing these large data holdings to microsets that will be easily explored and understood by the K-12 and the amateur scientist communities

Moore, Susan W.↗

Towards Designing an Integrated Earth Observation System for the Provision of Solar Energy Resource and Assessment

The GEOSS strategic plan specifically targets the area of improved energy resource management due to the importance of these to the economic and social viability of every nation of the world. With the world s increasing demand for energy resources, the need for new alternative energy resources grows. This paper overviews a new initiative within the International Energy Agency that addresses needs to better manage and develop solar energy resources worldwide. The goal is to provide the solar energy industry, the electricity sector, governments, and renewable energy organizations and institutions with the most suitable and accurate information of the solar radiation resources at the Earth's surface in easily-accessible formats and understandable quality metrics. The scope of solar resource assessment information includes historic data sets and currently derived data products using satellite imagery and other means. Thus, this new task will address the needs of the solar energy sector while at the same time will serve as a model that satisfies GEOSS objectives and goals.

Stackouse, Paul W., Jr.↗

DORIS as a potential part of a global geodetic observing system

We have processed all available DORIS data from all available satellites, except JASON over the past 10 years. Weekly solutions have been produced for stations positions coordinates, geocenter motion and scale factor stability. We present here the current accuracy presently achievable for all types of potential geodetic products.

DORIS Fairbanks Terrestrial Reference Frame GPS↗

A New Approach to Isolating External Magnetic Field Components in Spacecraft Measurements of the Earth's Magnetic Field Using Global Positioning System observables

We review the problem of separating components of the magnetic field arising from sources in the Earth's core and lithosphere, from those contributions arising external to the Earth, namely ionospheric and magnetospheric fields, in spacecraft measurements of the Earth's magnetic field.

magnetic field components ionospheric and magnetos↗