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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 649 records · Page 36
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

A global radiative-convective feedback

We have investigated the sensitivity of the intensity of convective activity and atmospheric radiative cooling to radiatively thick upper-tropospheric clouds using a new version of the Colorado State University General Circulation Model (CSU GCM). The model includes a bulk cloud microphysics scheme to predict the formation of cloud water, cloud ice, rain, and snow. The cloud optical properties are interactive and dependent upon the cloud water and cloud ice paths. We find that the formation of a persistent upper tropospheric cloud ice shield leads to decreased atmospheric radiative cooling and increased static stability. Convective activity is then strongly suppressed. In this way, upper-tropospheric clouds act as regulators of the global hydrologic cycle, and provide a negative feedback between atmospheric radiative cooling and convective activity.

Fowler, Laura D.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Aerosol Retrievals Using Channel 1 and 2 AVHRR Data

The effect of tropospheric aerosols on global climate via the direct and indirect radiative forcings is one of the largest remaining uncertainties in climate change studies. Current assessments of the direct aerosol radiative effect mainly focus on sulfate aerosols. It has become clear, however, that other aerosol types like soil dust and smoke from biomass burning are also likely to be important climate forcing factors. The magnitude and even the sign of the climate forcing caused by these aerosol types is still unknown. General circulation models (GCMs) can be used to estimate the climatic effect of the direct radiative forcing by tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols. Aerosol optical properties are already parameterized in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies GCM. Once the global distribution of aerosol properties (optical thickness, size distribution, and chemical composition) is available, the calculation of the direct aerosol forcing is rather straighfforward. However, estimates of the indirect aerosol effect require additional knowledge of the physics and chemistry of aerosol-cloud interactions which are still poorly understood. One of the main objectives of the Global Aerosol Climatology Project, established in 1998 as a joint initiative of NASA's Radiation Science Program and GEWEX, is to infer the global distribution of aerosols, their properties, and their seasonal and interannual variations for the full period of available satellite data. This will be accomplished primarily through a systematic application of multichannel aerosol retrieval algorithms to existing satellite data and advanced 3-dimensional aerosol chemistry/transport models. In this paper we outline the methodology of analyzing channel 1 and 2 AVHRR radiance data over the oceans and describe preliminary retrieval results.

Mishchenko, Michael I.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Characterization of Asian Dust Properties Near Source Region During ACE-Asia

Asian dust typically originates in desert areas far from polluted urban regions. During transport, dust layers can interact with anthropogenic sulfate and soot aerosols from heavily polluted urban areas. Added to the complex effects of clouds and natural marine aerosols, dust particles reaching the marine environment can have drastically different properties than those from the source. Thus, understanding the unique temporal and spatial variations of Asian aerosols is of special importance in regional-to-global climate issues such as radiative forcing, the hydrological cycle, and primary biological productivity in the mid-Pacific Ocean. During ACE-Asia campaign, we have acquired ground- based (temporal) and satellite (spatial) measurements to infer aerosol physical/optical/radiative properties, column precipitable water amount, and surface reflectivity over this region. The inclusion of flux measurements permits the determination of aerosol radiative flux in addition to measurements of loading and optical depth. At the time of the Terra/MODIS, SeaWiFS, TOMS and other satellite overpasses, these ground-based observations can provide valuable data to compare with satellite retrievals over land. In this paper, we will demonstrate new capability of the Deep Blue algorithm to track the evolution of the Asian dust storm from sources to sinks. Although there are large areas often covered by clouds in the dust season in East Asia, this algorithm is able to distinguish heavy dust from clouds over the entire regions. Examination of the retrieved daily maps of dust plumes over East Asia clearly identifies the sources contributing to the dust loading in the atmosphe~~. We have compared the satellite retrieved aerosol optical thickness to the ground-based measurements and obtained a reasonable agreement between these two. Our results also indicate that there is a large difference in the retrieved value of spectral single scattering albedo of windblown dust between different sources in East Asia.

Tsay, Si-Chee↗
NASA NTRS2010

Using Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar Data to Evaluate Combined Active Plus Passive Retrievals of Aerosol Extinction Profiles

We derive aerosol extinction profiles from airborne and space-based lidar backscatter signals by constraining the retrieval with column aerosol optical thickness (AOT), with no need to rely on assumptions about aerosol type or lidar ratio. The backscatter data were acquired by the NASA Langley Research Center airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite. The HSRL also simultaneously measures aerosol extinction coefficients independently using the high spectral resolution lidar technique, thereby providing an ideal data set for evaluating the retrieval. We retrieve aerosol extinction profiles from both HSRL and CALIOP attenuated backscatter data constrained with HSRL, Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer column AOT. The resulting profiles are compared with the aerosol extinction measured by HSRL. Retrievals are limited to cases where the column aerosol thickness is greater than 0.2 over land and 0.15 over water. In the case of large AOT, the results using the Aqua MODIS constraint over water are poorer than Aqua MODIS over land or Terra MODIS. The poorer results relate to an apparent bias in Aqua MODIS AOT over water observed in August 2007. This apparent bias is still under investigation. Finally, aerosol extinction coefficients are derived from CALIPSO backscatter data using AOT from Aqua MODIS for 28 profiles over land and 9 over water. They agree with coincident measurements by the airborne HSRL to within +/-0.016/km +/- 20% for at least two-thirds of land points and within +/-0.028/km +/- 20% for at least two-thirds of ocean points.

Burton, S. P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Joint Retrieval of Surface BRDF from Geostationary and Polar-Orbiting Satellite Sensors

The latest geostationary sensors like GOES 16/17 ABI and Himawari 8/9 AHI provide high frequent observations of the Earth surface with continuously changing solar illumination geometries, which allow us to retrieve the surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) with dedicated atmospheric correction algorithms like MAIAC (Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction). However, because the viewing geometry of a specific location from the geostationary satellites are fixed, the angular sampling of surface BRDF by GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) sensors is far from comprehensive. This study tries to address this issue by exploring a GEO-LEO (Low-Earth-Orbit) synergy, in particular, jointly retrieving surface BRDF parameters with concurrent ABI/AHI and VIIRS top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance for the near-infrared (NIR) band. The NIR band is chosen because the ABI, AHI, and VIIRS instruments have very similar spectral response functions in this band and therefore simplifies the requirements for cross-sensor radiometric calibration. We compile ABI/AHI and VIIRS TOA data with the best quality (cloud-free and low aerosol loading) at chosen AERONET sites. We then run the GeoNEX MAIAC algorithm to retrieve the Ross-Thick-Li-Sparse (RTLS) surface BRDF parameters with or without the AEORNET measured atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) as inputs. The joint retrieval results are considered the best estimate of surface BRDF. We compare the joint BRDF retrievals with the corresponding MAIAC BRDF products, retrieved with ABI/AHI or VIIRS separately, to evaluate their differences. We expect that the jointly retrieved BRDF data are more robust than the standard products and may help us reduce uncertainties in higher-level earth observation satellite products.

Remote Sensing↗
NASA NTRS1981

Numerical simulation of the magnetospheric gate model for X-ray bursters

A Lagrangian, fully implicit, one dimensional hydrodynamic computer code was used to investigate the evolution of a gas cloud impacting the surface of a 20 km, 1 Msub solar neutron star. This gas is initially at rest with respect to the surface of the neutron star, extends to 185 km above the surface, and is optically thick. The infall results in a burst which lasts about 0.1 seconds and reached a peak luminosity and effective temperature of 240,000 Lsub solar and 9 million; respectively. The burst was followed by a phase of oscillations with a period 0.2 seconds.

Starrfield, S. G.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Highlights from 4STAR Sky-Scanning Retrievals of Aerosol Intensive Optical Properties from Multiple Field Campaigns with Detailed Comparisons of SSA Reported During SEAC4RS

The 4STAR (Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research) instrument combines airborne sun tracking capabilities of the Ames Airborne Tracking Sun Photometer (AATS-14) with AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network)-like sky-scanning capability and adds state-of-the-art fiber-coupled grating spectrometry to yield hyperspectral measurements of direct solar irradiance and angularly resolved sky radiance. The combination of sun-tracking and sky-scanning capability enables retrievals of wavelength-dependent aerosol optical depth (AOD), mode-resolved aerosol size distribution (SD), asphericity, and complex refractive index, and thus also the scattering phase function, asymmetry parameter, single-scattering albedo (SSA), and absorption aerosol optical thickness (AAOT). From 2012 to 2014 4STAR participated in four major field campaigns: the U.S. Dept. of Energy's TCAP (Two-Column Aerosol Project) I & II campaigns, and NASA's SEAC4RS (Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys) and ARISE (Arctic Radiation - IceBridge Sea & Ice Experiment) campaigns. Establishing a strong performance record, 4STAR operated successfully on all flights conducted during each of these campaigns. Sky radiance spectra from scans in either constant azimuth (principal plane) or constant zenith angle (almucantar) were interspersed with direct beam measurements during level legs. During SEAC4RS and ARISE, 4STAR airborne measurements were augmented with flight-level albedo from the collocated Shortwave Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) providing improved specification of below-aircraft radiative conditions for the retrieval. Calibrated radiances and retrieved products will be presented with particular emphasis on detailed comparisons of ambient SSA retrievals and measurements during SEAC4RS from 4STAR, AERONET, HSRL2 (High Spectral Resolution Lidar), and from in situ measurements.

Radiance↗
NASA NTRS2006

Laboratory Measurements of Optical and Physical Properties of Individual Lunar Dust Grains

The lunar surface is covered with a thick layer of sub-micron/micron size dust grains formed by meteoritic impact over billions of years. The fine dust grains are levitated and transported on the lunar surface, and transient dust clouds over the lunar horizon were observed by experiments during the Apollo 17 mission. Theoretical models suggest that the dust grains on the lunar surface are charged by the solar UV radiation as well as the solar wind. Even without any physical activity, the dust grains are levitated by electrostatic fields and transported away from the surface in the near vacuum environment of the Moon. The current dust charging and levitation models, however, do not fully explain the observed phenomena. Since the abundance of dust on the Moon's surface with its observed adhesive characteristics has the potential of severe impact on human habitat and operations and lifetime of a variety of equipment, it is necessary to investigate the charging properties and the lunar dust phenomena in order to develop appropriate mitigating strategies. Photoelectric emission induced by the solar UV radiation with photon energies higher than the work function of the grain materials is recognized to be the dominant process for charging of the lunar dust, and requires measurements of the photoelectric yields to determine the charging and equilibrium potentials of individual dust grains. In this paper, we present the first laboratory measurements of the photoelectric yields of individual sub-micron/micron size dust grains selected from sample returns of Apollo 17, and Luna 24 missions, as well as similar size dust grains from the JSC-1 simulants. The experimental results were obtained on a laboratory facility based on an electrodynamic balance that permits a variety of experiments to be conducted on individual sub-micron/micron size dust grains in simulated space environments. The photoelectric emission measurements indicate grain size dependence with the yield increasing by an order of magnitude for grains of radii sub-micron size to several micron radii, at which it reaches asymptotic values. The yield for large size grains is found to be more than an order of magnitude higher than the bulk measurements on lunar fines reported in the literature.

Abbas, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The nature of AFGL 2591 and its associated molecular outflow: Infrared and millimeter-wave observations

The results of infrared photometry from 2 to 160 microns of AFGL and CO(12) observations of its associated molecular cloud and high velocity molecular outflow are presented and discussed. The observed solar luminosity is 6.7 x 10(4) at a distance of 2 kpc. The spectrum of AFGL 2591 is interpreted in the context of a model in which a single embedded object is the dominant source of the infrared luminosity. This object is determined to be surrounded by a compact, optically thick dust shell with a temperature in excess of several hundred degrees kelvin. The extinction to this source is estimated to be between 26 and 50 visual magnitudes. The absolute position of the infrared sources at 10 microns was determined to an accuracy of + or in. This indicates for the first time that the IR source and H2O source are not coincident. The CO(12) observations show the high-velocity molecular flow near AFGL 2591 to be extended, bipolar and roughly centered on the infrared emission. The observations suggest that the red-shifted flow component extends beyond the boundary of the ambient cloud within which AFGL 2591 is embedded. The CO(12) observations also show that AFGL 2591 is embedded in a molecular cloud with an LSR velocity of -5 km/s.

Lada, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The nature of AFGL 2591 and its associated molecular outflow Infrared and millimeter-wave observations

The results of infrared photometry from 2 to 160 microns of AFGL and CO(12) observations of its associated molecular cloud and high velocity molecular outflow are presented and discussed. The observed solar luminosity is 6.7 x 10(4) at a distance of 2 kpc. The spectrum of AFGL 2591 is interpreted in the context of a model in which a single embedded object is the dominant source of the infrared luminosity. This object is determined to be surrounded by a compact, optically thick dust shell with a temperature in excess of several hundred degrees kelvin. The extinction to this source is estimated to be between 26 and 50 visual magnitudes. The absolute position of the infrared sources at 10 microns was determined to an accuracy of + or - 1 in. This indicates for the first time that the IR source and H2O source are not coincident. The CO(12) observations show the high-velocity molecular flow near AFGL 2591 to be extended, bipolar and roughly centered on the infrared emission. The observations suggest that the red-shifted flow component extends beyond the boundary of the ambient cloud within which AFGL 2591 is embedded. The CO(12) observations also show that AFGL 2591 is embedded in a molecular cloud with an LSR velocity of -5 km/s.

Lada, C. J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating WRF-Solar EPS cloud mask forecast using the NSRDB

Improving the accuracy of day-ahead solar forecasts using numerical weather prediction models requires improving the forecasting of cloud occurrence and properties. Validating cloud forecasts is challenging because this requires evaluating different types of clouds over a wide variety of regions. This study analyzes the cloud occurrence (or cloud mask) over the contiguous United States (CONUS), predicted by the Weather Research and Forecasting-Solar Ensemble Prediction System (WRF-Solar EPS), to identify the strengths and limitations of the model in reproducing cloud fields. To enable the in-depth analysis of cloud mask forecasts covering CONUS, we use satellite observations from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). Two evaluation methods are implemented to consider all clouds and partially removed clouds from the 2-km NSRDB in evaluating the 9-km WRF-Solar EPS cloud mask. Cloud detection metrics as well as the frequency of cloud occurrence are used to quantify the monthly performance of WRF-Solar EPS. Mismatched cloud frequency (MCF) is used to assess the model's capability to predict different types of clouds, which are classified using three levels of cloud optical depth (COD) and cloud top height (CTH). The day-ahead forecasts covering the full year of 2018 demonstrate that WRF-Solar EPS produces MCFs ranging from 27%-46%, 13%-34%, and 8%-19% for thin, mid-thickness, and thick clouds, respectively. For three CTH levels, the model shows MCFs ranging from 19%-46%, 16%-33%, and 8%-27% for low-level, middle-level, and high-level clouds, respectively. This comprehensive characterization of model performance helps identify model weakness and will eventually lead to improvements in cloud and solar radiation forecasting.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2001

Shape and Structure

The convenient availability and simplicity of the Lorenz-Mie theory has resulted in a widespread practice of treating nonspherical particles (especially those in random orientation) as if they were spheres to which Lorenz-Mie results are applicable. However, the assumption of sphericity is rarely made after first having studied the effects of nonsphericity and having concluded that they are negligible. On the contrary, overwhelming evidence suggests that scattering properties of nonspherical particles, including those in random orientation, can significantly differ from those of volume- or surface-equivalent spheres. Hence, the last few decades have demonstrated major research efforts aimed at a significantly better understanding of the effects of particle shape and morphology on electromagnetic scattering. The goal of this presentation is to provide a concise summary of these efforts. The recent availability of theoretical techniques for computing single and multiple scattering of light by realistic polydispersions of spherical and nonspherical particles and the strong dependence of the Stokes scattering matrix on particle size, shape, and refractive index make polarization and depolarization measurements a powerful particle characterization tool. This presentation will focus on recent applications of photopolarimetric and lidar depolarization measurements to remote sensing characterization of tropospheric aerosols, polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and contrails. The talk will include (1) a short theoretical overview of the effects of particle microphysics on particle single-scattering characteristics; (2) the use of multi-angle multi-spectral photopolarimetry to retrieve the optical thickness, size distribution, refractive index, and number concentration of tropospheric aerosols over the ocean surface; and (3) the application of the T-matrix method to constraining the PSC and contrail particle microphysics using multi-spectral measurements of lidar backscatter and depolarization

Mishchenko, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2001

Retrievals of Aerosol and Cloud Particle Microphysics Using Polarization and Depolarization Techniques

The recent availability of theoretical techniques for computing single and multiple scattering of light by realistic polydispersions of spherical and nonspherical particles and the strong dependence of the Stokes scattering matrix on particle size, shape, and refractive index make polarization and depolarization measurements a powerful particle characterization tool. In this presentation I will describe recent applications of photopolarimetric and lidar depolarization measurements to remote sensing characterization of tropospheric aerosols, polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), and contrails. The talk will include (1) a short theoretical overview of the effects of particle microphysics on particle single-scattering characteristics; (2) the use of multi-angle multi-spectral photopolarimetry to retrieve the optical thickness, size distribution, refractive index, and number concentration of tropospheric aerosols over the ocean surface; and (3) the application of the T-matrix method to constraining the PSC and contrail particle microphysics using multi-spectral measurements of lidar backscatter and depolarization.

Mishchenko, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1973

Titan - Polarimetric evidence for an optically thick atmosphere.

The disk-integrated polarization of Titan has been measured at phase angles ranging from 0.4 to 6.1 deg. The observed polarization is positive throughout this interval. This fact, when combined with published photometric data, suggests a model in which an optically thin Rayleigh atmosphere overlies an opaque cloud deck.

Veverka, J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Features of stratospheric aerosol lidar observations at Mauna Loa, 1974 - 1985

Lidar observations of the stratospheric aerosol over Mauna Loa were begun in the fall of 1974 and have continued to the present. An analysis of these observations has yielded interesting features of the stratospheric aerosol profile that change according to perturbed (from volcanic activity) and quiescent conditions. In the Mauna Loa lidar record there are two major perturbations that are contrasted, Fuego and El Chichon. The variations in relative aerosol cloud thickness, altitude of the maximum concentration and nonsymmetry are compared for the quiescent and perturbed time periods. Also, a climatology of annual average aerosol profiles is descrbied. A brief description will be given of procedures used to validate the lidar optical thickness information.

Delusi, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

WFPC2 Studies of the Disk and Jet of HH 30

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of HH 30 has revealed this object to be a prototype young stellar object (YSO) accretion disk system. An optically thick circumstellar absorption disk, 450 AU in diameter, is seen extending perpendicular to highly collimated bipolar jets.

Hubble Space Telescope young stellar object Taurus↗
NASA NTRS2011

Current Status of Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Algorithm

A new Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm has been developed for MODIS. MAIAC uses a time series and an image based rather than pixel-based processing to perform simultaneous retrievals of aerosol properties and surface bidirectional reflectance. It is a generic algorithm which works over all land surface types with the exception of snow. MAIAC has an internal Cloud Mask, a dynamic land-water-snow classification and a surface change mask which allows it to flexibly choose processing path over different surfaces. A distinct feature of MAIAC is a high 1 km resolution of aerosol retrievals including optical thickness and fine mode fraction, which is required in different applications including the air quality analysis. An overview of the algorithm, results of AERONET validation, and examples of comparison with MODIS Collection 5 aerosol product, including Deep Blue algorithm, will be presented for different parts of the world including continental USA, Persian Gulf region and India.

Lyapustin, A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Saturn - UBV photoelectric pinhole scans of the disk

UBV photoelectric pinhole scans of Saturn's disk are reported. The data are interpreted by using elementary radiative-transfer models to describe scattering in the atmosphere above the visible haze layer. Limits are placed on the optical thickness of the region above the haze, and the results are discussed in terms of the probable structure of Saturn's upper atmosphere. It is shown that a model involving conservative Rayleigh scattering by hydrogen molecules above an opaque haze or cloud deck provides a satisfactory quantitative description of the scattering properties of Saturn's upper atmosphere.

Franz, O. G.↗