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At least 145 records · Page 8

Summary of the High Ice Water Content (HIWC) RADAR Flight Campaigns

NASA and the FAA conducted two flight campaigns to quantify onboard weather radar measurements with in-situ measurements of high concentrations of ice crystals found in deep convective storms. The ultimate goal of this research was to improve the understanding and develop onboard weather radar processing to detect regions of high ice water content ahead of an aircraft and enable tactical avoidance of the potentially hazardous conditions. Both High Ice Water Content (HIWC) RADAR campaigns utilized the NASA DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory which was equipped with a Honeywell RDR-4000 weather radar and icing instruments to characterize the ice crystals clouds. The purpose of this paper is to summarize how these campaigns were conducted and highlight key results.

Aircraft icing↗

Summary of the High Ice Water Content (HIWC) RADAR Flight Campaigns

NASA and the FAA conducted two flight campaigns to quantify onboard weather radar measurements with in-situ measurements of high concentrations of ice crystals found in deep convective storms. The ultimate goal of this research was to improve the understanding and develop onboard weather radar processing to detect regions of high ice water content ahead of an aircraft and enable tactical avoidance of the potentially hazardous conditions. Both High Ice Water Content (HIWC) RADAR campaigns utilized the NASA DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory which was equipped with a Honeywell RDR-4000 weather radar and icing instruments to characterize the ice crystal clouds. The purpose of this paper is to summarize how these campaigns were conducted and highlight key results.

Airborne Radar↗

High Ice Water Content in Tropical Cyclones During NASA/FAA Radar Flight Campaigns with Comparison to Numerical Simulations

Results from two recent flight campaigns into High Ice Water Content (HIWC) are summarized. HIWC was detected with airborne radar and measured via microphysical probes mounted on NASA’s DC-8. Results from the campaign demonstrate detectability of HIWC using airborne radar. In the cases examined, tropical storms are more proficient at producing large areas of HIWC than hurricanes. Three-dimensional, numerical simulations of tropical cyclones encountered during the campaign are also presented and are compared to measurements in order to understand conditions associated with HIWC. Within Hurricane Lane (2018), the highest ice water contents were found in regenerating thermal plumes located in the eye wall and in feeder bands. Within Tropical Storm Danny (2015), large areas of ice water content greater than 1 g/cu. m were fed by broad-areas of convection occurring downshear from the center of circulation.

Fred H. Proctor↗

Airborne Weather Radar Observations & Analysis Results from the 2014/2015 HAIC Flight Campaigns

This document presents a summary of the airborne weather radar observations made during joint EU/US flight campaigns to study High Altitude Ice Crystal (HAIC) atmospheric conditions. These flight campaigns were conducted near Darwin, Australia and Cayenne, French Guiana in 2014 and 2015, respectively. A variety of analyses were conducted resulting in statistical descriptions of the radar reflectivities of HAIC encountered during storm penetrations. These results are presented along with a set of visualization tools that aided flight operations and post-flight assessments. A summary of HAIC radar reflectivities observed during these flight campaigns corroborates reports by commercial pilots during HAIC encounters.

Radar↗

High Ice Water Content in Tropical Cyclones during NASA/FAA Radar Flight Campaigns with Comparison to Numerical Simulations

Results from two recent flight campaigns into High Ice Water Content (HIWC) are summarized. HIWC was detected with airborne radar and measured via microphysical probes mounted on NASA’s DC-8. Results from the campaign demonstrate detectability of HIWC using airborne radar. In the cases examined, tropical storms are more proficient at producing large areas of HIWC than hurricanes. Three-dimensional, numerical simulations of tropical cyclones encountered during the campaign are also presented and are compared to measurements in order to understand conditions associated with HIWC. Within Hurricane Lane (2018), the highest ice water contents were found in regenerating thermal plumes located in the eye wall and in feeder bands. Within Tropical Storm Danny (2015), large areas of ice water content greater than 1 g m-3 were fed by broad-areas of convection occurring downwind from the center of circulation.

Aviation hazards↗

Mission analysis for a potential Mars Sample Return campaign in the 2020's

The Mars 2020 mission, currently under development by NASA, plans to acquire and cache carefully-selected rock and regolith samples from the surface of Mars for potential future return. NASA and ESA are jointly studying options for returning those samples to Earth with missions launching in the 2020s. This paper demonstrates a method for modeling the various campaign elements, synthesizing coordinated campaign timelines, and assuring trajectory feasibility in the presence of many constraints, and finally optimizing towards mission success. Options for complete sample return campaigns in multiple launch and arrival opportunities are explored and compared.

Huesing, Jakob↗

The Planetary Protection Strategy of the Earth Return Orbiter–Capture, Containment & Return System in the Context of the Mars Sample Return Campaign

The Mars Sample Return Campaign aims at bringing back to Earth the rock and atmospheric samples that the rover Perseverance has started to collect on the surface of Mars with the goal of analyzing them in a facility built specifically for this purpose to answer questions about the habitability of Mars. The Campaign consists of several missions, including the Earth Return Orbiter–Capture, Containment & Return System (ERO-CCRS), which will capture the samples previously put in Martian orbit, contain them in redundant containers to ensure that no unsterilized particles are released, and return them to Earth through a parachute-less entry vehicle. Both NASA and ESA policies address the United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty by addressing potential harm from material returned from solar system bodies beyond the Earth-Moon system. In the conduct of Mars Sample Return, the two agencies have agreed to apply approaches consistent with their own standards to campaign elements each provides. This work presents the overall strategy for both forward and backward planetary protection for the ERO-CCRS mission. Specifically, for forward planetary protection, CCRS is not required to meet specific bioburden requirements as a Category III mission provided the ERO (1) meets orbital lifetime requirements during orbiter operations and (2) any elements jettisoned at Mars meet orbital lifetime requirements. CCRS is required to be built in ISO-8 or better cleanrooms and, by agreement with ERO, be compatible with direct bioburden verification methods. For backward planetary protection, the overall approach includes building robust, highly reliable systems to prevent inadvertent release of unsterilized Mars material through redundant containment vessels and particle transport analyses. Ongoing work to define verification approaches and quantify containment assurance levels for specific sample return systems will also be discussed, along with how those data will inform launch approval for ERO-CCRS.

Giuseppe Cataldo↗

Exploring the Jezero Delta Front: Overview of Results From the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover’s Second Science Campaign

The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater on February 18, 2021, with the mission goals to explore the geology, astrobiological potential, and modern environment of the crater floor and delta, and to collect and cache well-documented samples for Mars Sample Return. After completion of the “Crater Floor” science campaign, the rover conducted a rapid traverse (sols 379-414) to the Three Forks region of the crater floor adjacent to the delta front. From here, Perseverance’s second “Delta Front” science campaign (DFC) began on Sol 415, April 20, 2022. The DFC has explored two lobes of the delta front, the neighboring crater floor, and their contact zone, focusing on the lowest geologic exposures composing the Jezero delta (largely mapped within the delta “thin layered unit”). As of January 1, 2023, Perseverance has covered 14325 km of traverse distance and collected 15 rock sample cores, 2 regolith samples, 1 atmospheric sample, and 3 witness tubes, employing a sample pair strategy where each unique sample is paired with a companion sample core from the same location, to enable the construction of two different caches. After sample depot construction at Three Forks, the DFC will conclude upon re-ascent of the delta front, and the next “Delta Top” science campaign will start.

Mars 2020 Mission↗

Multi-Campaign Ship and Aircraft Observations of Marine Cloud Condensation Nuclei and Droplet Concentrations

In-situ marine cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs), cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and CCN proxies, based on particle sizes and optical properties, are accumulated from seven field campaigns: ACTIVATE; NAAMES; CAMP2EX; ORACLES; SOCRATES; MARCUS; and CAPRICORN2. Each campaign involves aircraft measurements, ship-based measurements, or both. Measurements collected over the North and Central Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, and Southern Oceans, represent a range of clean to polluted conditions in various climate regimes. With the extensive range of environmental conditions sampled, this data collection is ideal for testing satellite remote detection methods of CDNC and CCN in marine environments. Remote measurement methods are vital to expanding the available data in these difficult-to-reach regions of the Earth and improving our understanding of aerosolcloud interactions. The data collection includes particle composition and continental tracers to identify potential contributing CCN sources. Several of these campaigns include High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and polarimetric imaging measurements and retrievals that will be the basis for the next generation of space-based remote sensors and, thus, can be utilized as satellite surrogates.

Atmospheric chemistry↗

Assessment of Oceanographic Conditions during the North Atlantic EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) Field Campaign

This manuscript presents an overview of NASA’s EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing 2021 Field Campaign in the North Atlantic (EXPORTS NA) and provides quantitative and dynamical descriptions of the physical processes modulating water transformations during the study. A major programmatic goal was to conduct the sampling in a Lagrangian mode so that ocean ecological and biogeochemical changes can be observed independent from physical advective processes. To accomplish this goal, EXPORTS NA conducted a multi-ship, multi-asset field sampling program within a retentive, anticyclonic mode water eddy. Beneath depths of ∼100 m, Lagrangian sampling assets remained within the eddy core waters (ECWs) throughout the experiment, demonstrating that the ECWs within the mode water eddy were retentive. However, strong westerly winds from four storm events deepened the mixed layer (ML) of the surface core waters (SCWs) above the eddy’s mode water core by 25-40 m and exchanged some of the SCWs with surface waters outside of the eddy via Ekman transport. Estimates of flushing times ranged from 5-8 days, with surface exchange fractions ranging from 20-75% and were consistent with particle tracking advected by combined geostrophic and Ekman velocities. The relative contributions of horizontal and vertical advection on changes in ECW tracers depended on the horizontal and vertical gradients of that tracer. For example, horizontal advection played a large role in ECW salinity fluxes, while vertical entrainment played a larger role in the fluxes of nutrients into SCW ML. Each storm injected nutrients and low oxygen waters into the ML, after which the surface ocean ecosystem responded by reducing nutrient concentrations and increasing %O2 saturation levels. Overall, ECW values of chlorophyll and POC were the largest at the onset of the field program and decreased throughout the campaign. The analysis presented provides a physical oceanographic context for the many measurements made during the EXPORTS NA field campaign while illustrating the many challenges of conducting a production-flux experiment, even in a Lagrangian frame, and the inherent uncertainties of interpreting biological carbon pump observations that were collected in a Eulerian frame of reference.

oceanography↗

Multi-Spectral Lidar Observations and Balloon Borne Validation of SO 2 -O 3 During the SOWLETS Campaign: An Examination of Local Incinerator Plume

The Langley Mobile O3 Lidar (LMOL) was stationed at NASA's Langley Research Center for the initiation of the SO 2 -O 3 Water Land Environment study (SOWLETS). The primary focus of the campaign was to examine the capabilities of a novel four-wavelength detection technique to measure the concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3). The exact location of the lidar, near the NASA/CAPABLE site, was optimized to intercept the plume emissions from a proximate incinerator facility using historical weather data for the month of the campaign. A novel four-wavelength lidar technique focused on the detection of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) was employed, and its capabilities were thoroughly examined. The technique is built upon the standard DIAL. While 3 wavelengths would be enough to retrieve both SO2 and O3, the 4 wavelengths allow to provide data on aerosol backscattering. In parallel, SO 2 -O 3 sondes were launched and installed in the nearby NASA Landing and Impact research facility, providing validation for the lidar's atmospheric measurements. In conclusion, this campaign offers an improved understanding of SO2 emissions in the local environment and a validation of a novel technique to facilitate pollution observations. It shows the promise of this new kind of lidar to better understand and validate the observations by NASA/TEMPO ("Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution").

G. Gronoff↗

Summary of Additional In-situ Cloud Data in High Ice Water Content Conditions from Three Recent Flight Campaigns

In-situ measurements of cloud Total Water Content and ice particle Median Mass Diameter have been previously collected during the High Altitude Ice Crystal – High Ice Water Content (HAIC-HIWC) and HIWC RADAR I flight campaigns. These measurements have been provided to an Ice Crystal Icing Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee to assess Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (14CFR) Part 33 Appendix D, and recommend possible changes to the envelopes contained therein. Since then, NASA and the FAA have completed three additional flight campaigns in similar clouds. This article examines these new measurements and any impact they might have on Appendix D assessment. The addition of the new flight campaign data had little effect on previous estimates of the properties of high total water content regions of clouds. Some new information on the occurrence of graupel particles may be important to some ice crystal icing applications.

Aircraft Icing, Aircraft Instrumentation, Airspeed↗

Developing Rationale for Experimental Designs Employed During Forthcoming NASA Quesst Mission Community Noise Campaigns

Since the publication of R.A. Fisher’s “The Arrangement of Field Experiments” in 1926, the enumerated principles that contributed to the improvement of agricultural field experiments in the early 20th century (randomization, replication, blocking, and appropriate variation of factors) remain hallmarks of all well-designed clinical trials and scientific endeavors in the 21st century. Beginning in 2026, NASA will conduct community noise campaigns with the first-of-kind X-59 experimental aircraft to 1) demonstrate the possibility of quiet supersonic flight over land and 2) to collect live data about annoyance (a categorical response) in relation to estimated noise levels (an experimental factor) produced by the new noise phenomenon, a low-noise “sonic thump”. The resulting predicted relationship between perceptual response and estimated noise level, e.g., mixed logistic regression or related models in the class of generalized linear (mixed) models, is believed to be a useful policy tool that domestic and international regulators can use when deciding whether existing prohibitions of supersonic flight over land can be replaced with a noise-based limit. The X-59 is engineered with the expectation that annoyance in the tested ranges should be a rare outcome, and, consequently, NASA convened an interdisciplinary team to examine and refine the rationale underlying the experimental design for future community campaigns. In this presentation, we review relevant literature on experiments with rare binary outcomes, relate the deliberations of the NASA team to tenets of good experimental design, and highlight several challenges and operational realities of this ambitious campaign.

Design of Experiments; blocking; randomization; co↗

A Field Campaign to Study Lightning that Ignites the Bush

The impact of recent wildland fires in the United States and Australia have received much attention in the past several years. As a result, NASA has developed a new Earth Science program to better understand, predict, and manage this phenomenon, as well as a future suborbital mission to studying pyro-cumulonimbus clouds and their effects on the Earth system. In Australia, government and philanthropic stakeholders are supporting a series of field campaigns over the next few years to inform science requirements and advance technology for a future satellite mission to monitor Bushfires. Lightning flashes are a major source of wildland fires, but uncertainties remain about the physical characteristics of lightning and their parent thunderstorms responsible for igniting wildfires. It was long believed that most lightning-ignited wildfires are largely caused by positive flashes to the ground (CGs) and multi-stroke CGs, but a recent study looking at 26-years of NLDN data indicate otherwise. Perhaps this finding is due to statistical chance—there are more negative CGs that occur globally—or perhaps there is some unknown electrical property of the thundercloud from which the igniting flashes emanate. Regardless, new observing strategies are needed. Additionally, long continuing current CGs, which are more likely to ignite a fire, can elude detection by operational ground-based lightning location systems, making it difficult to efficiently identify potential wildland fires and manage them before they have adverse impacts. To address these science and operational gaps, NASA’s Lightning Mapping Array along with electric and magnetic field change meters will be deployed for the Australian Bushfire campaign to document the electrical structure and properties of thunderstorms and lightning that occur in a wildland fire susceptible region. Another aspect of the campaign will be the use of NASA’s airborne lightning observatory, which includes a spectrometer and high-speed imager, to document the radiometric attributes of these flashes coincident with the ground-based RF observations. These observations will be used to better understand the properties of lightning that ignite wildland fires as well as inform design of a lightning detection system for the future Bushfire Monitoring satellite mission.

lightning↗

Refinement of Selection of a Campaign of Analog Subjects for NASA Human Exploration Research Analog

The NASA Research Operations and Integration (ROI) Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) is a 650-square foot habitat that supports isolation and confinement research topics including behavioral health and performance, team dynamics, and autonomy studies. Campaign 6 (C6), a complement of fifteen science experiments and operational tasks was a simulated mission to the Mars moon Phobos. For Campaign 7 (C7), the most recent HERA campaign, a complement of eighteen science experiments and operational tasks were completed by four crew members over a 45-day simulated mission to Mars. Prior to each mission, a crew of 4 primary crew members and 2 alternates are selected from a pool of candidates. Applicants must meet astronaut-like criteria and be composed of an equal gender ratio. After a comprehensive screening and interview process the crew and alternates are selected.

M J Maciejewski↗

The OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule re-entry: A coordinated seismo-acoustic observational campaign for the study of meteor phenomena

Objects entering Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic velocities may generate powerful acoustic waves. Depending on atmospheric conditions and acoustic propagation paths, they may be captured using ground or balloon-borne microbarometers and microphones. Impacts into the Earth’s atmosphere by asteroids in a meter-size range are sporadic and unannounced, and thus, well-documented scientific observations of asteroids are rare and generally happen by chance. Arriving from interplanetary space at hypervelocity, spacecraft are considered analogues for low velocity meteoroids and asteroids impacting the Earth’s atmosphere, and as such provide unprecedented and unique opportunity to carry out planned observational campaigns and perform detailed studies of meteor phenomena. However, since the end of the Apollo era, only four instances of a hypersonic re-entry of an artificial body from interplanetary space with an incident speed of 11-12 km/s have been observed and studied. These were the Sample Return Capsules (SRCs) that brought physical samples of extraterrestrial material back to Earth (Genesis, Stardust, Hayabusa 1, Hayabusa 2). These re-entries were also detected by infrasound and/or seismic sensors. The next opportunity to observe an artificial meteor will be on 24 September 2023 with the re-entry of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx SRC that will bring samples of the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The re-entry consists of several flight phases, including hypersonic and supersonic, providing a unique opportunity to observe these by infrasound and seismic sensors. We will discuss observational campaign efforts aimed to capture geophysical signals generated by the OSIRIS-REx SRC re-entry. This campaign utilizes an unparalleled number of instruments, both ground and airborne, strategically positioned in the immediate and extended region around the projected re-entry trajectory to maximize the scientific output.

47 - OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Intercomparison of Satellite Dust Retrieval Products over the West African Sahara During the Fennec Campaign in June 2011

Dust retrievals over the Sahara Desert during June 2011 from the IASI, MISR, MODIS, and SEVIRI satellite instruments are compared against each other in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each retrieval approach. Particular attention is paid to the effects of meteorological conditions, land surface properties, and the magnitude of the dust loading. The period of study corresponds to the time of the first Fennec intensive measurement campaign, which provides new ground-based and aircraft measurements of the dust characteristics and loading. Validation using ground-based AERONET sunphotometer data indicate that of the satellite instruments, SEVIRI is most able to retrieve dust during optically thick dust events, whereas IASI and MODIS perform better at low dust loadings. This may significantly affect observations of dust emission and the mean dust climatology. MISR and MODIS are least sensitive to variations in meteorological conditions, while SEVIRI tends to overestimate the aerosol optical depth (AOD) under moist conditions (with a bias against AERONET of 0.31), especially at low dust loadings where the AOD<1. Further comparisons are made with airborne LIDAR measurements taken during the Fennec campaign, which provide further evidence for the inferences made from the AERONET comparisons. The effect of surface properties on the retrievals is also investigated. Over elevated surfaces IASI retrieves AODs which are most consistent with AERONET observations, while the AODs retrieved by MODIS tend to be biased low. In contrast, over the least emissive surfaces IASI significantly underestimates the AOD (with a bias of -0.41), while MISR and SEVIRI show closest agreement.

Fennec Campaign↗

Evaluation of GEOS-5 Sulfur Dioxide Simulations During the Frostburg, MD 2010 Field Campaign.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a major atmospheric pollutant with a strong anthropogenic component mostly produced by the combustion of fossil fuel and other industrial activities. As a precursor of sulfate aerosols that affect climate, air quality, and human health, this gas needs to be monitored on a global scale. Global climate and chemistry models including aerosol processes along with their radiative effects are important tools for climate and air quality research. Validation of these models against in-situ and satellite measurements is essential to ascertain the credibility of these models and to guide model improvements. In this study the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) module running on-line inside the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model is used to simulate aerosol and SO2 concentrations. Data taken in November 2010 over Frostburg, Maryland during an SO2 field campaign involving ground instrumentation and aircraft are used to evaluate GEOS-5 simulated SO2 concentrations. Preliminary data analysis indicated the model overestimated surface SO2 concentration, which motivated the examination of mixing processes in the model and the specification of SO2 anthropogenic emission rates. As a result of this analysis, a revision of anthropogenic emission inventories in GEOS-5 was implemented, and the vertical placement of SO2 sources was updated. Results show that these revisions improve the model agreement with observations locally and in regions outside the area of this field campaign. In particular, we use the ground-based measurements collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) for the year 2010 to evaluate the revised model simulations over North America.

Air Quality Campaign↗