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At least 91 records · Page 5

Coastal Zone Color Scanner atmospheric correction algorithm - Multiple scattering effects

Errors due to multiple scattering which are expected to be encountered in application of the current Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) atmospheric correction algorithm are analyzed. The analysis is based on radiative transfer computations in model atmospheres, in which the aerosols and molecules are distributed vertically in an exponential manner, with most of the aerosol scattering located below the molecular scattering. A unique feature of the analysis is that it is carried out in scan coordinates rather than typical earth-sun coordinates, making it possible to determine the errors along typical CZCS scan lines. Information provided by the analysis makes it possible to judge the efficacy of the current algorithm with the current sensor and to estimate the impact of the algorithm-induced errors on a variety of applications.

Gordon, Howard R.↗

Thermodynamic measurements in a high pressure hydrogen-oxygen flame using Raman scattering from a broadband excimer laser

Raman scattering is an inelastic molecular scattering process in which incident radiation is reemitted at a fixed change in frequency. Raman spectroscopy can be used to measure the number density and temperature of the irradiated species. The strength of the Raman signal is inversely proportional to the wavelength raised to the fourth power. Consequently, high signal to noise ratios are obtained by using ultraviolet (UV) excitation sources. Using UV sources for Raman Spectroscopy in flames is complicated by the fact that some of the primary constituents in hydrogen-oxygen combustion absorb and reemit light in the UV and these fluorescence processes interfere with the Raman signals. This problem has been handled in atmospheric pressure flames in some instances by using a narrowband tunable excimer laser as a source. This allows for detuning from absorption transitions and the elimination of interfering fluorescence signals at the Raman wavelengths. This approach works well in the atmospheric pressure flame; however, it has two important disadvantages. First, injection-locked narrowband tunable excimer lasers are very expensive. More importantly, however, is the fact that at the high pressures characteristic of rocket engine combustion chambers, the absorption transitions are broadened making it difficult to tune to a spectral location at which substantial absorption would not occur. The approach taken in this work is to separate the Raman signal from the fluorescence background by taking advantage of the fact that Raman signal has nonisotropic polarization characteristics while the fluorescence signals are unpolarized. Specifically, for scattering at right angles to the excitation beam path, the Raman signal is completely polarized. The Raman signal is separated from the fluorescence background by collecting both horizontally and vertically polarized signals separately. One of the polarizations has both the Raman signal and the fluorescence background while the other has only the fluorescence signal. The Raman scatter is the difference between the signals. By choosing an appropriate optical setup, both signals can be obtained simultaneously with the same monochromator; hence, time resolved measurements are possible using this approach.

Hartfield, Roy, Jr.↗

Multivariate Analysis of Solar Spectral Irradiance Measurements

Principal component analysis is used to characterize approximately 7000 downwelling solar irradiance spectra retrieved at the Southern Great Plains site during an Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) shortwave intensive operating period. This analysis technique has proven to be very effective in reducing a large set of variables into a much smaller set of independent variables while retaining the information content. It is used to determine the minimum number of parameters necessary to characterize atmospheric spectral irradiance or the dimensionality of atmospheric variability. It was found that well over 99% of the spectral information was contained in the first six mutually orthogonal linear combinations of the observed variables (flux at various wavelengths). Rotation of the principal components was effective in separating various components by their independent physical influences. The majority of the variability in the downwelling solar irradiance (380-1000 nm) was explained by the following fundamental atmospheric parameters (in order of their importance): cloud scattering, water vapor absorption, molecular scattering, and ozone absorption. In contrast to what has been proposed as a resolution to a clear-sky absorption anomaly, no unexpected gaseous absorption signature was found in any of the significant components.

Pilewskie, P.↗

Dynamic Measurement of Temperature, Velocity, and Density in Hot Jets Using Rayleigh Scattering

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique was utilized to measure time-resolved gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz. A high power continuous-wave (cw) laser beam was focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light was collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a Fabry-Perot interferometer for spectral analysis. Photomultipler tubes operated in the photon counting mode allowed high frequency sampling of the total signal level and the circular interference pattern to provide time-resolved density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Mean and rms velocity and temperature, as well as power spectral density calculations, are presented for measurements in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The Rayleigh measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry data and CFD predictions. This technique is aimed at aeronautics research related to identifying noise sources in free jets, as well as applications in supersonic and hypersonic flows where measurement of flow properties, including mass flux, is required in the presence of shocks and ionization occurrence.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

Dynamic Measurement of Temperature, Velocity, and Density in Hot Jets Using Rayleigh Scattering

A molecular Rayleigh scattering technique is utilized to measure gas temperature, velocity, and density in unseeded gas flows at sampling rates up to 10 kHz, providing fluctuation information up to 5 kHz based on the Nyquist theorem. A high-power continuous-wave laser beam is focused at a point in an air flow field and Rayleigh scattered light is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a Fabry-Perot interferometer for spectral analysis. Photomultiplier tubes operated in the photon counting mode allow high-frequency sampling of the total signal level and the circular interference pattern to provide dynamic density, temperature, and velocity measurements. Mean and root mean square velocity, temperature, and density, as well as power spectral density calculations, are presented for measurements in a hydrogen-combustor heated jet facility with a 50.8-mm diameter nozzle at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The Rayleigh measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry data and computational fluid dynamics predictions. This technique is aimed at aeronautics research related to identifying noise sources in free jets, as well as applications in supersonic and hypersonic flows where measurement of flow properties, including mass flux, is required in the presence of shocks and ionization occurrence.

Mielke, Amy F.↗

The correction of Landsat data for the effects of haze, sun angle, and background reflectance

A technique has been developed for simulating the effects of haze, sun angle, and background reflectance in Landsat data and correcting for them. The atmospheric model assumes a two-layer atmosphere: a Rayleigh scattering molecular layer and a Mie scattering haze layer next to the earth's surface. Reflection and transmission matrices describe the reflection and transmission properties of the plane parallel scattering layers. The multispectral scanner response is computed for various values of the parameters under evaluation. This yields expressions for Landsat gray-scale levels used for determining the effect of changes in any parameter. The Atmospheric Correction computer program is used to determine the haze level from the data, to compute the reflectance, and to interpolate in order to find the correction coefficients necessary to make the desired correction.

Potter, J. F.↗

Calculation of multiple scattered radiation in clean atmospheres

Calculations of the multiple-scattered solar radiation in the earth's atmosphere are compared with telephotometer measurements of the sky intensity obtained during the EPA-sponsored Visibility Impairment by Sulfate Transport and Transformation in the Atmosphere experiment. The doubling and adding calculation technique, in which the reflection and transmission properties of the atmosphere are computed by initially calculating such properties for the case of very thin layers and then adding adjacent layers together, is described and compared with data for two cloudless sky conditions. The first is typical of clean tropospheric conditions, and the second represents an ultraclean atmosphere in which surface aerosol scattering is much lower than molecular scattering. Good agreement is found between the computations and the measurement data.

Bergstrom, R. W.↗

Two Point Space-Time Correlation of Density Fluctuations Measured in High Velocity Free Jets

Two-point space-time correlations of air density fluctuations in unheated, fully-expanded free jets at Mach numbers M(sub j) = 0.95, 1.4, and 1.8 were measured using a Rayleigh scattering based diagnostic technique. The molecular scattered light from two small probe volumes of 1.03 mm length was measured for a completely non-intrusive means of determining the turbulent density fluctuations. The time series of density fluctuations were analyzed to estimate the integral length scale L in a moving frame of reference and the convective Mach number M(sub c) at different narrow Strouhal frequency (St) bands. It was observed that M(sub c) and the normalized moving frame length scale L*St/D, where D is the jet diameter, increased with Strouhal frequency before leveling off at the highest resolved frequency. Significant differences were observed between data obtained from the lip shear layer and the centerline of the jet. The wave number frequency transform of the correlation data demonstrated progressive increase in the radiative part of turbulence fluctuations with increasing jet Mach number.

Panda, Jayanta↗

Remote-Sensing Reflectance and Inherent Optical Properties for Optically Deep Waters: A Revisit

Remote-sensing reflectance (r(rs)) is defined as the ratio of upwelling radiance to downwelling irradiance. Relationships between remote-sensing reflectance and inherent optical properties serve as the basis for ocean-color modeling, as well as for spectral deduction of oceanic constituents through analytical/semi-analytical models of ocean color. A decade ago, a simple and concise formula based on Monte Carlo simulations was developed by relating rrs to a property u, the ratio of backscattering (b(b)) to the sum of absorption (a) and backscattering (u = b(b)/(a+b(b))). This relationship generally ignored the shape differences in phase functions between molecular scattering and particle scattering. In this study, the relationship is updated with separate parameters for molecular and particle scattering, based on the Radiative Transfer Equation through use of Hydrolight numerical solutions. The new approach fits r(rs) better than an earlier traditional formula, for both clear and turbid waters.

Lee, Zhong-Ping↗

High-Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) Instrument Handbook

High-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) systems provide vertical profiles of optical depth, backscatter cross-section, depolarization, and backscatter phase function. All HSRL measurements are calibrated by reference to molecular scattering, which is measured at each point in the lidar profile. Like the Raman lidar (RL), but unlike simple backscatter lidars such as the micropulse lidar (MPL), this enables the HSRL to measure backscatter cross-sections and optical depths without prior assumptions about the scattering properties of the atmosphere. The depolarization observations allow robust discrimination between ice and water clouds. Rigorous error estimates can be computed for all measurements. A very narrow angular field of view reduces multiple scattering contributions. The small field of view, coupled with a narrow optical bandwidth, nearly eliminates noise due to scattered sunlight. The laser transmitter is a diode-pumped, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser. Narrow-band, single-frequency operation is provided by injection seeding with a single-frequency, cw-diode-pumped diode laser. The main laser cavity is maintained in resonance with the seed laser by adjusting the cavity length to minimize the time between the Q-switch trigger and the emission of the laser pulse. The emission wavelength is tuned via temperature control of the seed laser crystal and is locked to line #1109 of the iodine absorption spectra. Locking is accomplished by minimizing the transmission through a 2-cm-long iodine absorption cell. Use of a high-repetition-rate laser and expansion of the transmitted beam through a 400-mm telescope reduces the transmitted energy density to eye-safe levels. It is possible to look directly into the output beam without hazard. The receiver and transmitter use the same afocal telescope, simplifying the maintenance of stable alignment of the transmitter and receiver although the angular FOV is only 100 μrad. The small FOV and the 4-kHz repetition rate also limit the near-field signal strength, making it possible to record continuous profiles that start at an altitude of ~100 m and extend to 30 km using photon counting detectors. The small FOV also suppresses multiple scattering contributions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Condensation effects on Rayleigh scattering measurements in a supersonic wind tunnel

Rayleigh and Raman scattering measurements have been performed in the 20-in., Mach 6 wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. Rayleigh results show signal levels much higher than expected for molecular scattering in the tunnel, whereas densities deduced from spontaneous Raman scattering of molecular nitrogen are in good agreement with the expected nitrogen densities in the facility. The apparent discrepancy in the Rayleigh result is attributed to cluster formation as a result of expansion in the tunnel. The dependence of the Rayleigh signal on the stagnation pressure and temperature is also discussed.

Shirinzadeh, B.↗

Condensation Effects on Rayleigh Scattering Measurements in a Supersonic Wind Tunnel

Rayleigh and Raman scattering measurements have been performed in the 20-inch, Mach 6 wind tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. Rayleigh results show signal levels which are much higher than expected for molecular scattering in the tunnel, while densities deduced from spontaneous Raman scattering of molecular nitrogen are in good agreement with the expected nitrogen densities in the facility. The apparent discrepancy in the Rayleigh result is attributed to cluster formation as a result of expansion in the tunnel. The dependence of the Rayleigh signal on the stagnation pressure and temperature is also discussed.

Shirinzadeh, B.↗

Efficient Third Harmonic Generation for Wind Lidar Applications

The characterization of atmospheric winds on a global basis is a key parameter required for accurate weather prediction. The use of a space based lidar system for remote measurement of wind speed would provide detailed and highly accurate data for future weather prediction models. This paper reports the demonstration of efficient third harmonic conversion of a 1 micrometer laser to provide an ultraviolet (UV) source suitable for a wind lidar system based on atmospheric molecular scattering. Although infrared based lidars using aerosol scattering have been demonstrated to provide accurate wind measurement, a UV based system using molecular or Rayleigh scattering will provide accurate global wind measurements, even in those areas of the atmosphere where the aerosol density is too low to yield good infrared backscatter signals. The overall objective of this work is to demonstrate the maturity of the laser technology and its suitability for a near term flight aboard the space shuttle. The laser source is based on diode-pumped solid-state laser technology which has been extensively demonstrated at TRW in a variety of programs and internal development efforts. The pump laser used for the third harmonic demonstration is a breadboard system, designated the Laser for Risk Reduction Experiments (LARRE), which has been operating regularly for over 5 years. The laser technology has been further refined in an engineering model designated as the Compact Advanced Pulsed Solid-State Laser (CAPSSL), in which the laser head was packaged into an 8 x 8 x 18 inch volume with a weight of approximately 61 pounds. The CAPSSL system is a ruggedized configuration suitable for typical military applications. The LARRE and CAPSSL systems are based on Nd:YAG with an output wavelength of 1064 nm. The current work proves the viability of converting the Nd:YAG fundamental to the third harmonic wavelength at 355 nm for use in a direct detection wind lidar based on atmospheric Rayleigh scattering.

Mordaunt, David W.↗

Molecular structure retrieval directly from laboratory-frame photoelectron spectra in laser-induced electron diffraction

Ubiquitous to most molecular scattering methods is the challenge to retrieve bond distance and angle from the scattering signals since this requires convergence of pattern matching algorithms or fitting methods. This problem is typically exacerbated when imaging larger molecules or for dynamic systems with little a priori knowledge. Here, we employ laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) which is a powerful means to determine the precise atomic configuration of an isolated gas-phase molecule with picometre spatial and attosecond temporal precision. We introduce a simple molecular retrieval method, which is based only on the identification of critical points in the oscillating molecular interference scattering signal that is extracted directly from the laboratory-frame photoelectron spectrum. The method is compared with a Fourier-based retrieval method, and we show that both methods correctly retrieve the asymmetrically stretched and bent field-dressed configuration of the asymmetric top molecule carbonyl sulfide (OCS), which is confirmed by our quantum-classical calculations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

2D velocity and temperature measurements in high speed flows based on spectrally resolved Rayleigh scattering

The use of molecular Rayleigh scattering for measurements of gas velocity and temperature is evaluated. Molecular scattering avoids problems associated with the seeding required by conventional laser anemometry and particle image velocimetry. The technique considered herein is based on the measurement of the spectrum of the scattered light. Planar imaging of Rayleigh scattering using a laser light sheet is evaluated for conditions at 30 km altitude (typical hypersonic flow conditions). The Cramer-Rao lower bounds for velocity and temperature measurement uncertainties are calculated for an ideal optical spectrum analyzer and for a planar mirror Fabry-Perot interferometer used in a static, imaging mode. With this technique, a single image of the Rayleigh scattered light from clean flows can be analyzed to obtain temperature and one component of velocity. Experimental results are presented for planar velocity measurements in a Mach 1.3 air jet.

Seasholtz, Richard G.↗

Tip-Enhanced Raman Scattering on Both Sides of the Schrödinger Equation

We report historically, molecular spectroscopists have focused their attention to the right-hand side of the Schrödinger equation. Our major goal had and still has to do with determining a (bio)molecular system’s Hamiltonian operator. From a theoretical spectroscopist’s perspective, this entails varying the parameters of a model Hamiltonian until the predicted observables agree with their experimental analogues. In this context, less emphasis has been put on the left-hand side of the equation, where the interplay between a system and its immediate local environment is described. The latter is particularly meaningful and informative in modern applications of optical microscopy and spectroscopy that take advantage of surface plasmons to enhance molecular scattering cross-sections and to increase the attainable spatial resolution that is classically limited by diffraction. Indeed, the manipulation of light near the apex of a metallic nanotip has enabled single molecule detection, identification, and imaging. The distinct advantages of the so-called tip-enhanced optical nanospectroscopy/nanoimaging approaches are self-evident: ultrahigh spatial resolution (nanometer or better) and ultimate sensitivity (down to yoctomolar) are both attainable, all while retaining the ability to chemically fingerprint one molecule at a time (e.g., through Raman scattering). An equally interesting aspect of the same approach stems from using the properties of a single molecule to characterize the local environment in which it resides. This concept of single molecule spectroscopy on the left-hand side of the Schrödinger equation is certainly not novel and has been discussed in pioneering single molecule studies that ultimately led to a Nobel prize in chemistry. That said, local environment mapping through ultrasensitive optical spectroscopy acquires a unique flavor when executed using tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS). This is the subject of this Account.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗