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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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NASA NTRS2002

Data from TRMM Field Experiments at the Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) DISC DAAC Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Field Experiments (TRMM FEs)

The basic objectives of TRMM Field Experiments (FEs) are to evaluate the physical assumptions made by TRMM. rainfall algorithms, initialize and validate the cloud resolving models, test latent heating retrievals from TRMM mea- surements, and evaluate methods to estimate rainfall and latent heating from ground-based radars. The field experiments were designed as a group, so that specific measure ments could be compared between experiments in order to gain insight into the regional dependence of any findings. The TExas FLorida UNderflight Experiments (TEFLUN) were designed to provide validation measurements for TRMM and for the enhancement of TRMM precipitation algorithms. TEFLUN-A focused on east Texas. TEFLUN-B was conducted in close coordination with the Third Convection And Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3) in Florida. The TRMM-LBA was conducted in coordination with the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). The LBA objectives are to further our understanding of the climatological, ecological, bie geochemical, and hydrological processes in Amazonia and the impact of land use/land change on these processes. Specifically, TRMM-LBA addressed issues related to land precipitation algorithms. The Kwa jalein Experiment (KWAJEX), conducted on the Kwajalein Island in the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), was designed to address issues of TRMM products over the ocean. The purpose of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) was to study the water and energy cycle of the Asian monsoon in order to provide better understanding and improve prediction. and instruments of the TRMM FEs. The platforms and instruments of the TRMM FEs are given.

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NASA NTRS2004

Contribution of TOMS to Earth Science- An Overview

The TOMS instrument was launched on the Nimbus-7 satellite in Oct 1978 with the goal of understanding the meteorological influences on the ozone column. The nominal lifetime of the instrument was 1 year. However, in response to the concern over possible man-made influences on the ozone layer NASA continued to nurse the instrument for 13.5 years and launched a major program to produce accurate trend quality dataset of ozone. Despite severe optical degradation and other significant anomalies that developed in the instrument over its lifetime, the effort turned out to be a tremendous success. In 1984, TOMS took center stage as the primary provider of Antarctic ozone hole maps to the world community; it continues to play that role until today. An unexpected benefit of the close attention paid to improving the TOMS data quality was that several atmospheric constituents that interfere with ozone measurement were also identified and meticulously converted into long-term datasets of their own. These constituents include clouds, volcanic S02, aerosols, and ocean phytoplankton. In addition, the high quality of the basic datasets made it possible to produce global maps of surface UV and tropospheric ozone. In most cases there are no other sources of these data sets. Advanced UV instruments currently under development in the US and Europe will continue to exploit the TOMS-developed techniques for several decades.

Bhartia, P. K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Advancing Solid Earth Science through Improved Atmosphere Modeling

We proposed to investigate and develop better models for the effect of the hydrostatic and water vapor components of the neutral atmosphere on delay for VLBI and GPS by using a Numerical Weather Model to better simulate realistic atmosphere conditions. By using a raytrace calculation through the model atmosphere at the times of actual VLBI observations, the potential improvement in geodetic results can be evaluated. Also, by calculating the actual variation of delays with elevation and azimuth, the errors in current mapping function models can be assessed. The VLBI data to be initially analyzed are the fifteen days of the CONT02 sessions of 2002 October which included eight stations. There are three segments to the research. 1) The PSU/NCAR fifth generation mesoscale numerical weather model (MM5) will be used to provide the state of the atmosphere with highest horizontal resolution of 3 km. 2) A three-dimensional raytrace program will be developed to determine the delays through the model atmosphere at the times and in the directions of the VLBI observations for each of the sites. 3) The VLBI data will be analyzed using both standard models for the atmosphere mapping functions and the mapping functions derived from the NWM raytracing.

Niell, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS2004

[Earth Sciences Research]

contents include the following: 1. Argentina Field Expedition (2004). NASA funds supported joint fieldwork by Peter Makovicky (Dept. of Geology, TFM) and Sebastian Apesteguia (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires) in a fossil-rich locality in the Cenomanian Candeleros Formation of northern Rio Negro Province, Argentina. The goal of this fieldwork was to collect small fossil vertebrates, which are abundant in this formation, with a special emphasis on small theropod (casmivorous) dinosaurs. 2. East Greenland Field Expedition (2004). During July-August 2004 the Field Museum led a month long expedition to Jameson Land in East Greenland to collect Triassic-Jurassic aged fossil plants from one of the most productive sites of this age in the world. The project aims include the study of events leading up to catastrophic changes in the biota and atmosphere that occurred about 200 million years ago. 3. Chile Field Expedition (March, 2004). Paleontological reconnaisance of the central Andean main range by helicopter: additional new Cenozoic mammal faunas from Chile. A several thousand sq km swath of the central Andean Cordillera was prospected by helicopter during 2004, permitting rapid survey of large areas in remote or difficult to access regions. This led to the recovery of fossils from several parts of the range, and the identification of sites worthy of future attention. 4. Wyoming Field Expedition (2004). NASA funds supported a three-week field program by Curator of Dinosaurs Peter Makovicky and a crew of Field Museum staff and volunteers at several sites in the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of north-central Wyoming. The nine-member team excavated a number of sites that had been discovered over the preceding two summers.

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NASA NTRS2004

AIRS Data Subsetting Service at the Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) DISC/DAAC

The AIRS mission, as a combination of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), brings climate research and weather prediction into 21st century. From NASA' Aqua spacecraft, the AIRS/AMSU/HSB instruments measure humidity, temperature, cloud properties and the amounts of greenhouse gases. The AIRS also reveals land and sea- surface temperatures. Measurements from these three instruments are analyzed . jointly to filter out the effects of clouds from the IR data in order to derive clear-column air-temperature profiles and surface temperatures with high vertical resolution and accuracy. Together, they constitute an advanced operational sounding data system that have contributed to improve global modeling efforts and numerical weather prediction; enhance studies of the global energy and water cycles, the effects of greenhouse gases, and atmosphere-surface interactions; and facilitate monitoring of climate variations and trends. The high data volume generated by the AIRS/AMSU/HSB instruments and the complexity of its data format (Hierarchical Data Format, HDF) are barriers to AIRS data use. Although many researchers are interested in only a fraction of the data they receive or request, they are forced to run their algorithms on a much larger data set to extract the information of interest. In order to better server its users, the GES DISC/DAAC, provider of long-term archives and distribution services as well science support for the AIRS/AMSU/HSB data products, has developed various tools for performing channels, variables, parameter, spatial and derived products subsetting, resampling and reformatting operations. This presentation mainly describes the web-enabled subsetting services currently available at the GES DISC/DAAC that provide subsetting functions for all the Level 1B and Level 2 data products from the AIRS/AMSU/HSB instruments.

Vicente, Gilberto A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

The CICT Earth Science Systems Analysis Model

Contents include the following: Computing Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Systems Analysis. Our modeling approach: a 3-part schematic investment model of technology change, impact assessment and prioritization. A whirlwind tour of our model. Lessons learned.

Pell, Barney↗
NASA NTRS2006

Future NASA Earth Science Missions

Following on the successful launch of Aura in July 2004, NASA will continue to add to the A-train with the spring 2006 launch of the CALIPSO and Cloudsat missions, followed by the fall 2008 launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO). The CALIPSO mission has three nadir-viewing instruments: a cloud-aerosol lidar for measuring aerosol and cloud height and properties, a 3-channel thermal infrared imaging radiometer, and a wide field cloud camera. The Cloudsat mission has a 94 GHz cloud profiling radar, returning cloud structure vs. height profiles. Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is a mission focused on precision measurements of total column CO2 using reflected sunlight. These missions and how they relate to the other parts of the A-train will be presented. A brief report from a NASA workshop on future atmospheric science missions will also be presented.

Gleason, James↗