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At least 991 records · Page 55

High Spectral Resolution Lidar and MPLNET Micro Pulse Lidar Aerosol Optical Property Retrieval Intercomparison During the 2012 7-SEAS Field Campaign at Singapore

From August 2012 to February 2013 a High Resolution Spectral Lidar (HSRL; 532 nm) was deployed at that National University of Singapore near a NASA Micro Pulse Lidar NETwork (MPLNET; 527 nm) site. A primary objective of the MPLNET lidar project is the production and dissemination of reliable Level 1 measurements and Level 2 retrieval products. This paper characterizes and quantifies error in Level 2 aerosol optical property retrievals conducted through inversion techniques that derive backscattering and extinction coefficients from MPLNET elastic single-wavelength datasets. MPLNET Level 2 retrievals for aerosol optical depth and extinction/backscatter coefficient profiles are compared with corresponding HSRL datasets, for which the instrument collects direct measurements of each using a unique optical configuration that segregates aerosol and cloud backscattered signal from molecular signal. The intercomparison is performed, and error matrices reported, for lower (0-5km) and the upper (>5km) troposphere, respectively, to distinguish uncertainties observed within and above the MPLNET instrument optical overlap regime.

MPL↗

NuSTAR AND Swift Observations of the Very High State in GX 339-4: Weighing the Black Hole With X-Rays

We present results from spectral fitting of the very high state of GX339-4 with Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Swift. We use relativistic reflection modeling to measure the spin of the black hole and inclination of the inner disk and find a spin of a = 0.95+0.08/-0.02 and inclination of 30deg +/- 1deg (statistical errors). These values agree well with previous results from reflection modeling. With the exceptional sensitivity of NuSTAR at the high-energy side of the disk spectrum, we are able to constrain multiple physical parameters simultaneously using continuum fitting. By using the constraints from reflection as input for the continuum fitting method, we invert the conventional fitting procedure to estimate the mass and distance of GX 339-4 using just the X-ray spectrum, finding a mass of 9.0+1.6/-1.2 Stellar Mass and distance of 8.4 +/- 0.9 kpc (statistical errors).

accretion↗

Monitoring the Calibration of the DSCOVR EPIC Instrument’s Visible Cchannels Using MODIS and VIIRS as a Reference

The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) instrument aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite has a constant unique view of the sunlit disk of the Earth from the Lagrange-1 (L1) point nearly a million miles away from the Earth. Due to EPIC not having any on-board calibration systems, the ten spectral channels of EPIC must be inter-calibrated using vicarious on-orbit methods, such as ray-matching with well-calibrated low Earth orbiting satellites like the Aqua-MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS radiometers. The recently released EPIC version 3 L1B data has greatly enhanced the residual navigation errors found in prior versions, thereby decreasing the calibration uncertainty in the aforementioned ray-matching calibration techniques. The automated navigation correction used by these ray-matching methods for further improving the EPIC geolocation will be compared with a new navigation correction method utilizing optical flow between the EPIC and MODIS/VIIRS images. The DSCOVR satellite went into safe mode on June 27, 2019 due to an anomaly with the satellite’s attitude control system, but operations recommenced on March 2, 2020. The calibration of the EPIC instrument before it went into safe mode and after it resumed will be analyzed in order to investigate any potential calibration shifts or discontinuities caused by the spacecraft anomaly.

Conor Haney↗

RST CGI: Final Verification and Calibration of Prism and Polarizer Flight Units

As part of its technology demonstration, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) will demonstrate point source spectroscopy and polarization measurements of disks. The spectroscopy mode is a zero-deviation Amici prism and slit which is deployed to the planet position after an imaging detection. The Wollaston prism polarization optics allow for imaging two orthogonal polarization states simultaneously. The CGI spectral characterization modes, designed and built at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), have a spectral resolution of R50 in two 15% bandpass centered at 660nm and 730nm. There are duplicate Wollaston prism channels, clocked 45 degrees with respect to one another to completely characterize the instrument polarization effects and recover the Stokes parameters of the targeted disk. The Wollaston design and optical elements are a contribution by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, with final alignment and testing being done at GSFC. The spectroscopy mode is optimized to target Methane absorption features around 730nm, keeping the spectral resolution as low as possible to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and hence reduce detection time. We highlight the requirements for these modes, the ground-to-orbit calibration process, and the operations required to use a deployable slit on a CGI point source in the presence of pointing error. We also provide further detail on the optomechanical design, testing results from the final as-built flight units, verification process, and performance of the as-built flight assemblies.

high contrast imaging↗

Comparing field data using Alpert multi-wavelets

In this paper we introduce a method to compare sets of full-field data using Alpert tree-wavelet transforms. The Alpert tree-wavelet methods transform the data into a spectral space allowing the comparison of all points in the fields by comparing spectral amplitudes. The methods are insensitive to translation, scale and discretization and can be applied to arbitrary geometries. This makes them especially well suited for comparison of field data sets coming from two different sources such as when comparing simulation field data to experimental field data. We have developed both global and local error metrics to quantify the error between two fields. Additionally, we verify the methods on two-dimensional and three-dimensional discretizations of analytical functions. Furthermore, we then deploy the methods to compare full-field strain data from a simulation of elastomeric syntactic foam.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Improving Time Step Convergence in an Atmosphere Model With Simplified Physics: The Impacts of Closure Assumption and Process Coupling

Convergence testing is a common practice in the development of dynamical cores of atmospheric models but is not as often exercised for the parameterization of sub-grid physics. An earlier study revealed that the stratiform cloud parameterizations in several predecessors of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) showed strong time-step sensitivity and slower-than-expected convergence when the model's time step was systematically refined. In this work, a simplified atmosphere model is configured that consists of the spectral-element dynamical core of the E3SM atmosphere model coupled with a large-scale condensation parameterization based on commonly used assumptions. This simplified model also resembles E3SM and its predecessors in the numerical implementation of process coupling and shows poor time-step convergence in short ensemble tests. We present a formal error analysis to reveal the expected time-step convergence rate and the conditions for obtaining such convergence. Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate the root causes of convergence problems. We show that revisions in the process coupling and closure assumption help to improve convergence in short simulations using the simplified model; the same revisions applied to a full atmosphere model lead to significant changes in the simulated long-term climate. This work demonstrates that causes of convergence issues in atmospheric simulations can be understood by combining analyses from physical and mathematical perspectives. Addressing convergence issues can help to obtain a discrete model that is more consistent with the intended representation of the physical phenomena.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Remote sensing of Pu in uranyl nitrate crystals using reflectance spectroscopy and chemometrics

Remote quantification of Pu(VI) (0–5 mol%) co-crystallized with U in uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH) crystals was achieved in a glove box using reflectance spectroscopy coupled with chemometric modeling. Reflectance spectra were also acquired for Pu(IV) and Np(VI) (0–5 mol%) crystallized with UNH; revealing spectral features consistent with their solution-phase analogs. Principal component analysis revealed Pu(IV/VI) and Np(VI) concentrations as the primary source of variation in the data, informing the development of a supervised partial least squares regression model for Pu(VI). The resulting calibration demonstrated robust performance, with replicate root mean square errors near 10% and quantifiable limits near 0.2 mol% Pu(VI) relative to U. The Pu(VI) remained stable in the crystalline UNH matrix for at least one week with minimal reduction to Pu(IV). Notably, Pu(VI) and Np(VI) incorporation in UNH quenched U(VI) fluorescence while Pu(IV) did not. This study presents a noninvasive, spectroscopic approach for solid-state Pu quantification, with direct implications for material accountability and nuclear nonproliferation monitoring.

Sadergaski, Luke R. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory↗

Variational AutoEncoders Reveal Intensifying GPP Extremes in Continental United States based on CESM2 Simulations

Climate extremes significantly impact terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics, necessitating robust methods for detecting and analyzing anomalous behavior in plant productivity. This study presents a novel application of variational autoencoders (VAE) for identifying extreme events in gross primary productivity (GPP) from Community Earth System Model version 2 simulations across four AR6 regions in the Continental United States. We compare VAE-based anomaly detection with traditional singular spectral analysis (SSA) methods across three time periods: 1850-80, 1950-80, and 2050-80 under SSP5-8.5 scenario. The VAE architecture employs three dense layers and a latent space with input sequence length of 12 months, training on normalized GPP time series to reconstruct the GPP and identify anomalies based on reconstruction errors. Extreme events are defined using 5th percentile thresholds applied to both VAE and SSA anomalies. Results demonstrate strong regional agreement between VAE and SSA methods in spatial patterns of extreme event frequencies, despite VAE consistently producing higher threshold values (179-756 GgC for VAE vs. 100-784 GgC for SSA across regions and periods). Both methods reveal increasing magnitudes and frequencies of negative carbon cycle extremes toward 2050-80, particularly in Western and Central North America. The VAE approach shows comparable performance to established SSA techniques while offering computational advantages and enhanced capability for capturing non-linear temporal dependencies in carbon cycle variability. This research demonstrates the potential of deep learning approaches for extremes detection and provides a foundation for improved understanding of future carbon cycle risks under future conditions.

Sharma, Bharat [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000266982487)↗

Completely Positive, Simple, and Possibly Highly Accurate Approximation of the Redfield Equation

Here we present a Lindblad master equation that approximates the Redfield equation, a well known master equation derived from first principles, without significantly compromising the range of applicability of the Redfield equation. Instead of full-scale coarse-graining, this approximation only truncates terms in the Redfield equation that average out over a time-scale typical of the quantum system. The first step in this approximation is to properly renormalize the system Hamiltonian, to symmetrize the gains and losses of the state due to the environmental coupling. In the second step, we swap out an arithmetic mean of the spectral density with a geometric one, in these gains and losses, thereby restoring complete positivity. This completely positive approximation, GAME (geometric-arithmetic master equation), is adaptable between its time-independent, time-dependent, and Floquet form. In the exactly solvable, three-level, Jaynes-Cummings model, we find that the error of the approximate state is almost an order of magnitude lower than that obtained by solving the coarse-grained stochastic master equation. As a test-bed, we use a ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-chain with long-range dipole-dipole coupling between up to 25-spins, and study the differences between various master equations. We find that GAME has the highest accuracy per computational resource.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Vibrational spectra and structure of biphosphine and biphosphine-d4

Infrared and Raman spectra have been obtained for biphosphine and biphosphine-d4 in both solid and vapor phases. From the spectral data, it is concluded that only one conformer exists in both solid and fluid phases and that this is the gauche conformer. A normal-coordinate analysis has also been performed, in which the 24 vibrational frequencies of the two isotopes have been fitted by 10 force constants to an overall average error of 1.0%. The PED indicates that there is practically no mixing of the normal modes in the P2H4 molecule but the P-P stretch and the PD2 wagging modes are extensively mixed for the P2D4 molecule.

Odom, J. D.↗

Statistical separability and classification of land use classes using image-100

The author has identified the following significant results. The statistical separability of land use classes in the subsets of one to four spectral channels was investigated. Using ground observations and aerial photography, the MSS data of LANDSAT were analyzed with the Image-100. In the subsets of one to three spectral channels, channel 4, channel 4 & 7, and channels 4, 5, & 7 were found to be the best choices (ch.4 - 0.5 to 0.6 microns, ch. 5 - 0.6 to 0.7 microns, ch. 6 - 0.7 to 0.8 microns, and ch. 7 - 0.8 to 1.1 microns). For the single cell option of the Image-100, the errors of omission varied from 5% for the industrial class to 46% for the institutional class. The errors of commission varied from 11% for the commercial class to 39% for the industrial class. On the whole, the sample classifier gave considerably more accurate results compared to the single cell or multicell option.

Dejesusparada, N.↗

Global Aerosol Climatology Project: An Update

This paper outlines the methodology of interpreting channe1 1 and 2 AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) radiance data over the oceans and describes a detailed analysis of the sensitivity of monthly averages of retrieved aerosol parameters to the assumptions made in different retrieval algorithms. The analysis is based on using real AVHRR data and exploiting accurate numerical techniques for computing single and multiple scattering and spectral absorption of light in the vertically inhomogeneous atmospheric-ocean system. We show that two-channel algorithms can be expected tp provide significantly more biased retrievals of the aerosol optical thickness than one-channel algorithms and that imperfect cloud screening and calibration uncertainties are by far the largest sources of errors in the retrieved aerosol parameters. Both underestimating and overestimating aerosol absorption as well as the potentially strong variability of the real part of the aerosol refractive index may lead to regional and/or seasonal biases in optical thickness retrievals. The Angstrom exponent appears to be the most invariant aerosol size characteristic and should be retrieved along with optical thickness as the second aerosol parameter.

Mishchenko, Michael I.↗

Assessing the Usefulness of AIRS Radiance Observations in a 4D-Var Assimilation Scheme Using the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5) and a Stand Alone Radiative Transfer Algorithm (SARTA)

Short-term precipitation forecast skill remains poor despite further advances in numerical modeling and data analysis. Utilizing indirect observations, such as the radiance observations obtained from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), in a 4D-Var assimilation scheme may lead to a rapid improvement in the skill of 12-h QPF. In order to investigate the usefulness of AIRS observations, the adjoint code of a radiative transfer model (SARTA) is developed and linked to MM5 4D-Var system. A statistical comparison of the AIRS radiances with those calculated using the linked MMS-SARTA model is carried out to assess errors in the radiative transfer model, MM5 and AIRS data, and to develop a quality control scheme. Outliers and any bias that may exist in radiative transfer model, MM5 and AIRS data are identified. An adjoint sensitivity study, utilizing the SARTA adjoint model, is then done to identify the relative sensitivities of each spectral channel to such parameters as atmospheric temperature, pressure, and mixing ratio. Another sensitivity study is done using the MM5 alone to determine the sensitivity of the 12-h QPF to model parameters such as atmospheric temperature, pressure, and mixing ratio under various weather regimes (i.e. summertime convection, winter snowfall). Results from these two types of adjoint sensitivity studies are used to determine which AIRS channels contribute most to 12-h QPF under differing weather regimes. This information is useful when conducting 4D-Var experiments using a subset of the 2378 AIRS spectral channels. Finally, 4D-Var experiments are done to analyze the impact of the AIRS observations on the quality of the 12-h QPF results. This project falls under the data assimilation general session topic as specified by the conference organizers.

Carrier, M.↗

Ambient-Light-Canceling Camera Using Subtraction of Frames

The ambient-light-canceling camera (ALCC) is a proposed near-infrared electronic camera that would utilize a combination of (1) synchronized illumination during alternate frame periods and (2) subtraction of readouts from consecutive frames to obtain images without a background component of ambient light. The ALCC is intended especially for use in tracking the motion of an eye by the pupil center corneal reflection (PCCR) method. Eye tracking by the PCCR method has shown potential for application in human-computer interaction for people with and without disabilities, and for noninvasive monitoring, detection, and even diagnosis of physiological and neurological deficiencies. In the PCCR method, an eye is illuminated by near-infrared light from a lightemitting diode (LED). Some of the infrared light is reflected from the surface of the cornea. Some of the infrared light enters the eye through the pupil and is reflected from back of the eye out through the pupil a phenomenon commonly observed as the red-eye effect in flash photography. An electronic camera is oriented to image the user's eye. The output of the camera is digitized and processed by algorithms that locate the two reflections. Then from the locations of the centers of the two reflections, the direction of gaze is computed. As described thus far, the PCCR method is susceptible to errors caused by reflections of ambient light. Although a near-infrared band-pass optical filter can be used to discriminate against ambient light, some sources of ambient light have enough in-band power to compete with the LED signal. The mode of operation of the ALCC would complement or supplant spectral filtering by providing more nearly complete cancellation of the effect of ambient light. In the operation of the ALCC, a near-infrared LED would be pulsed on during one camera frame period and off during the next frame period. Thus, the scene would be illuminated by both the LED (signal) light and the ambient (background) light during one frame period, and would be illuminated with only ambient (background) light during the next frame period. The camera output would be digitized and sent to a computer, wherein the pixel values of the background-only frame would be subtracted from the pixel values of the signal-plus-background frame to obtain signal-only pixel values (see figure). To prevent artifacts of motion from entering the images, it would be necessary to acquire image data at a rate greater than the standard video rate of 30 frames per second. For this purpose, the ALCC would exploit a novel control technique developed at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for advanced charge-coupled-device (CCD) cameras. This technique provides for readout from a subwindow [region of interest (ROI)] within the image frame. Because the desired reflections from the eye would typically occupy a small fraction of the area within the image frame, the ROI capability would make it possible to acquire and subtract pixel values at rates of several hundred frames per second considerably greater than the standard video rate and sufficient to both (1) suppress motion artifacts and (2) track the motion of the eye between consecutive subtractive frame pairs.

Morookian, John Michael↗

Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder Intercalibration Data Analysis Strategy

One of the prime science objectives of NASA’s Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder (CPF) mission is to acquire unprecedentedly accurate Système Internationale (SI)-traceable Earth-view measurements that can be used as reference for intercalibrating the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments onboard NOAA-20 satellite. The hyperspectral nature of CPF measurements will significantly reduce spectrally induced biases when intercalibrating multiband or broadband satellite instruments with CPF. This advancement eliminates the requirement for spectral band adjustment factors, representing a substantial improvement in sensor intercalibration studies. The CPF intercalibration team is aiming to achieve a maximum intercalibration methodology uncertainty of 0.3 % (k=1). Our studies have revealed that the most significant contribution to the targeted uncertainty budget originates from the combined effects of spatial and temporal matching errors. Spatial matching error arises from discrepancies in CPF and target instrument pixel resolution and geolocation uncertainty, while temporal matching error is caused by changes in scene radiances over time, occurring between when the target and reference instruments observe the same scenes. To estimate the maximum expected uncertainty contribution from these sources, spatial and temporal matching noise analyses were conducted using algorithmically filtered Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 ABI CONUS scan data as proxies for CPF and target instruments. In the upcoming conference presentation, we will elaborate on the methodology employed in these experiments, provide details of the data filtering algorithms, and present results of the spatial and temporal matching uncertainty analyses.

Intercalibration↗

Sources of error in thematic classification of remotely sensed imagery

From a statistician's point of view, the input datasets are rarely examined to determine their underlying frequency distribution; it is just assumed that the data are normal enough, and that the deviations from normality are unimportant. It is not clear how deviations from a hypothetical multivariate normal might affect the power of the classification process, and there is ample evidence in the literature that, at a minimum, the spectral channels are correlated. From a practioner's point of view, in a supervised classification the number of training fields for developing a statistical description of a given class is usually arbitrary. It is unclear how small changes in the details of the training field selection process affect the quality of the derived thematic information. The start of an examination of this latter problem is discussed.

Star, Jeffrey L.↗

Distance preserving machine learning for uncertainty aware accelerator capacitance predictions

Abstract Accurate uncertainty estimations are essential for producing reliable machine learning models, especially in safety-critical applications such as accelerator systems. Gaussian process models are generally regarded as the gold standard for this task; however, they can struggle with large, high-dimensional datasets. Combining deep neural networks with Gaussian process approximation techniques has shown promising results, but dimensionality reduction through standard deep neural network layers is not guaranteed to maintain the distance information necessary for Gaussian process models. We build on previous work by comparing the use of the singular value decomposition against a spectral-normalized dense layer as a feature extractor for a deep neural Gaussian process approximation model and apply it to a capacitance prediction problem for the High Voltage Converter Modulators in the Oak Ridge Spallation Neutron Source. Our model shows improved distance preservation and predicts in-distribution capacitance values with less than 1% error.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Determination of the total outgoing radiance of the earth-atmosphere system

Utilizing eighty atmospheric models, the equivalent black body temperatures for the 6-7, 10-11, 15-16 and the 20-24 micron spectral regions, corresponding to the Nimbus 3 medium resolution infrared radiometer were computed. The black body temperatures for the 5-30 micron channel and the total outgoing radiances for these atmospheres were also computed. It was found that the total radiation can be estimated from the 10-11 micron channel alone with a standard error of 2.2 watts/sq m sr.

Pasternak, M.↗