Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “statistical selection”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,513 records · Page 84

Statistic analysis of annual total ozone extremes for the period 1964-1988

Annual extremes of total column amount of ozone (in the period 1964-1988) from a network of 29 Dobson stations have been examined using the extreme value analysis. The extremes have been calculated as the highest deviation of daily mean total ozone from its long-term monthly mean, normalized by the monthly standard deviations. The extremes have been selected from the direct-Sun total ozone observations only. The extremes resulting from abrupt changes in ozone (day to day changes greater than 20 percent) have not been considered. The ordered extremes (maxima in ascending way, minima in descending way) have been fitted to one of three forms of the Fisher-Tippet extreme value distribution by the nonlinear least square method (Levenberg-Marguard method). We have found that the ordered extremes from a majority of Dobson stations lie close to Fisher-Tippet type III. The extreme value analysis of the composite annual extremes (combined from averages of the annual extremes selected at individual stations) has shown that the composite maxima are fitted by the Fisher-Tippet type III and the composite minima by the Fisher-Tippet type I. The difference between the Fisher-Tippet types of the composite extremes seems to be related to the ozone downward trend. Extreme value prognoses for the period 1964-2014 (derived from the data taken at: all analyzed stations, the North American, and the European stations) have revealed that the prognostic extremes are close to the largest annual extremes in the period 1964-1988 and there are only small regional differences in the prognoses.

Krzyscin, Janusz W.↗

Does Collection Time Bias the Ecology of Cleanroom Air Samples?

Microbial monitoring of astromaterials collections has taken on increased importance with the return of biologically sensitive samples from the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu and the initiation of the Mars Sample Return Program. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi can alter the mineralogy and organic composition of our collections causing irreversible contamination of pristine samples and increasing the risk of false positives for life detection measurements. NASA has conducted routine microbial monitoring of its existing collections since 20181. Initial monitoring focused on surface samples collected with foam swabs. Although, airborne microbiology is often decoupled from surface microbiology in the built environment2 culture-based air sampling techniques like impactors were not compliant with existing contamination control requirements. Bringing organic rich media, gelatin or liquids into curation cleanrooms presents an unacceptable risk to pristine samples. In 2022 NASA purchased a materials complaint air sampler and began collecting air samples from the cleanrooms in addition to surface samples3. The new instrument uses an electret filter to collect samples that are suitable for cultivating organisms or for direct DNA sequencing. Preliminary DNA sequencing results appeared to indicate that longer sampling times biased the microbial community in favor of hearty, spore-forming bacteria3. We present the results of a study comparing overnight sampling (17 hours) to short (1 hour) sampling of unoccupied curation cleanrooms. The results will help us optimize our monitoring protocols and develop a more detailed inventory of the ecology of astromaterials curation cleanrooms. Methods: We analyzed 72 paired air samples from six different cleanrooms including the meteorite processing lab (ISO 7 equivalent, 16 samples), the lunar lab (ISO 6 equivalent, 10 samples), the stardust lab (ISO 5 equivalent 14 samples), the OSIRIS-REx lab (ISO 5 equivalent, 12 samples), the Hayabusa2 lab (ISO 5 equivalent, 14 samples), and the Genesis lab (ISO 4 equivalent, 6 samples). All the samples were collected with an InnovaPrep Bobcat air sampler operating at a sampling rate of 200 L/min. The sampler operates for 5 minutes out of every 20 minute period. Half of the samples were collected by filtering 3,000L (15 min. of active sampling) of air across an electret filter for one hour. The rest of the samples were collected by filtering approximately 51,000 L air across the filter overnight (~17 hours, 255 min. of active sampling). Cells were eluted from the filter using 6-7 ml of pressurized 0.15% tween 20 in PBS (phosphate buffered saline). This liquid was used to cultivate bacteria according to previously published methods1,4,5 and for DNA extraction and next generation sequencing. DNA was extracted with a Qiagen MagAttract PowerMicrobiome kit6. To identify bacteria and archaea, the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using Earth Microbiome primers for the V4 region 7. The amplified DNA was sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq using a V3 reagent kit. The resulting sequences were processed using DADA2 and QIIME2 as implemented on the EDGE bioinformatics platform8–10. Results: Only two of the 72 samples had no amplifiable DNA. Amplified DNA concentrations ranged from 2.67 – 0.272 ng/µl. The median concentration of amplified DNA for the 1 hour samples was 0.770 ± 0.368 ng/µl. The median concentration of amplified DNA for the overnight samples was 0.877 ± 0.434 ng/µl. On average the overnight samples had slightly more sequences (58,960 vs. 59,456) and ASV’s (amplicon sequence variants) (60 vs 64.5) than the one hour samples, but these differences are not statistically significant. The most abundant ASV in every sample mapped to the genus Cupravidus. ASV’s mapping to the genuses Bacillus, Schlegelella, Thermus, and Staphylococcus were also common. Discussion and Future Work: Alpha diversity statistics like Shannon Entropy and Faith Phylogenetic Diversity are used to describe the diversity of organisms in a single sample. If a longer sampling time was biasing the data, we would expect to see a change in these diversity statistics vs. sample time. However, we did not observe this in our data. The median Shannon entropy was slightly higher for the overnight samples (3.773 vs 3.611) as was the Faith Phylogenetic Diversity (4.042 vs 3.596), but both values were within a standard deviation of each other for the two sampling times (Fig. 1). It is unlikely, that the longer sampling time is introducing bias into our data. We do observe a significant decrease in diversity when comparing the air samples by lab. The Genesis lab (ISO 4 equivalent) has a lower median number of ASV’s (45.5) than the other labs (62). Median values for Shannon Entropy (3.717 vs. 3.430) and Faith Phylogenetic Diversity (3.796 vs. 3.548) are also lower for Genesis, but those values are with one standard deviation of each other for the different sampling times. This is consistent with previous culture-based results suggesting that the environment in cleanrooms tends to select for a core group of organisms capable of surviving under dry, low nutrient, conditions. The presence of the ASV’s mapping to Cupravidus and Thermus in our sequencing blanks and controls suggests that several of the most common organisms in our samples represent contaminants from the reagents used to perform the DNA extractions and sequencing. Further work is needed to identify these contaminants, remove them from our data and recalculate the diversity statistics. This is a systematic error. Therefore, we do not expect removing the sequencing contaminants to change our conclusions. Longer air sample collection times appear to result in slightly higher diversity and do not bias the results towards “hardy” bacteria like spore-formers. Based on these preliminary results we conclude that sampling at least 3,000 liters of air is sufficient to capture the microbial diversity of cleanrooms, and that air samples can also be collected overnight without negatively impacting diversity. These results allow us to be flexible when designing microbial monitoring plans so that they do not interfere with routine lab activity. References: 1. Regberg, A. B. et al. 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2018). 2. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention. USP General Chapter <1116> (2013). 3. Regberg, A. B., et al. 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2023). 4. Regberg, A. B. et al. 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference ( 2022). 5. Davis, R. E.,et al. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2019). 6. Qiagen. MagAttract® PowerMicrobiome® DNA/RNA EP Kit Handbook. (2018). 7. Walters, W. et al. mSystems 1, (2015). 8. Callahan, B. J. et al. Nat. Methods 13, 581–583 (2016). 9. Hall, M. & Beiko, R. G. Microbiome Analysis: Methods and Protocols113–129 (Springer, 2018). 10. Philipson, C. et al. Bio-Protoc. 7, e2622 (2017).

A. B. Regberg↗

Nomograms for Prediction of Outcome With or Without Adjuvant Radiation Therapy for Patients With Endometrial Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of PORTEC-1 and PORTEC-2 Trials

Background: Postoperative radiation therapy for stage I endometrial cancer improves locoregional control but is without survival benefit. To facilitate treatment decision support for individual patients, accurate statistical models to predict locoregional relapse (LRR), distant relapse (DR), overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) are required. Methods and Materials: Clinical trial data from the randomized Post Operative Radiation Therapy for Endometrial Cancer (PORTEC-1; N=714 patients) and PORTEC-2 (N=427 patients) trials and registered group (grade 3 and deep invasion, n=99) were pooled for analysis (N=1240). For most patients (86%) pathology review data were available; otherwise original pathology data were used. Trial variables which were clinically relevant and eligible according to data constraints were age, stage, given treatment (pelvic external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), vaginal brachytherapy (VBT), or no adjuvant treatment, FIGO histological grade, depth of invasion, and lymph-vascular invasion (LVSI). Multivariate analyses were based on Cox proportional hazards regression model. Predictors were selected based on a backward elimination scheme. Model results were expressed by the c-index (0.5-1.0; random to perfect prediction). Two validation sets (n=244 and 291 patients) were used. Results: Accuracy of the developed models was good, with training accuracies between 0.71 and 0.78. The nomograms validated well for DR (0.73), DFS (0.69), and OS (0.70), but validation was only fair for LRR (0.59). Ranking of variables as to their predictive power showed that age, tumor grade, and LVSI were highly predictive for all outcomes, and given treatment for LRR and DFS. The nomograms were able to significantly distinguish low- from high-probability patients for these outcomes. Conclusions: The nomograms are internally validated and able to accurately predict long-term outcome for endometrial cancer patients with observation, pelvic EBRT, or VBT after surgery. These models facilitate decision support in daily clinical practice and can be used for patient counseling and shared decision making, selecting patients who benefit most from adjuvant treatment, and generating new hypotheses.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

A Model for Atomic Precision p-Type Doping with Diborane on Si(100)-2×1

Diborane (B 2 H 6 ) is a promising molecular precursor for atomic precision p-type doping of silicon that has recently been experimentally demonstrated. In this study, we use density functional theory (DFT) calculations to determine the reaction pathway for diborane dissociating into a species that will incorporate as electrically active substitutional boron after adsorbing onto the Si(100)-2×1 surface. Our calculations indicate that diborane must overcome an energy barrier to adsorb, explaining the experimentally observed low sticking coefficient (<1 × 10 –4 at room temperature) and suggesting that heating can be used to increase the adsorption rate. Upon sticking, diborane has an ≈50% chance of splitting into two BH 3 fragments versus merely losing hydrogen to form a dimer such as B 2 H 4 . As boron dimers are likely electrically inactive, whether this latter reaction occurs is shown to be predictive of the incorporation rate. The dissociation process proceeds with significant energy barriers, necessitating the use of high temperatures for incorporation. Using the barriers calculated from DFT, we parameterize a Kinetic Monte Carlo model that predicts the incorporation statistics of boron as a function of the initial depassivation geometry, dose, and anneal temperature. Our results suggest that the dimer nature of diborane inherently limits its doping density as an acceptor precursor and furthermore that heating the boron dimers to split before exposure to silicon can lead to poor selectivity on hydrogen and halogen resists. This suggests that, while diborane works as an atomic precision acceptor precursor, other non-dimerized acceptor precursors may lead to higher incorporation rates at lower temperatures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Monotonicity in the averaging process

In this work, we investigate an averaging process that describes how interacting agents approach consensus through binary interactions. In each elementary step, two agents are selected at random and they reach compromise by adopting their opinion average. We show that the fraction of agents with a monotonically decreasing opinion decays as e - αt , and that the exponent is selected as the extremum from a continuous spectrum of possible values. The opinion distribution of monotonic agents is asymmetric, and it becomes self-similar at large times. Furthermore, the tails of the opinion distribution are algebraic, and they are characterized by two distinct and nontrivial exponents. We also explore statistical properties of agents with an opinion strictly above average.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Primordial non-Gaussianity from the completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey II: measurements in Fourier space with optimal weights

ABSTRACT We present measurements of the local primordial non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{\mathrm{NL}}^\mathrm{local} $from the clustering of 343 708 quasars with redshifts 0.8 < z < 2.2 distributed over 4808 deg2 from the final data release (DR16) of the extended Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), the largest volume spectroscopic survey up to date. Our analysis is performed in Fourier space, using the power spectrum monopole at very large scales to constrain the scale-dependent halo bias. We demonstrate the robustness of our analysis pipeline with EZ-mock catalogues that simulate the eBOSS DR16 target selection. We carefully assess the impact of systematics on our measurement, exploiting a novel neural network scheme for cleaning the DR16 sample as well as test multiple contamination removal methods. We estimate the bias due to the overcorrection of the systematic removal to be sub-dominant compared to the statistical uncertainty. We find fNL = −12 ± 21 (68 per cent confidence) for the main clustering sample including quasars with redshifts between 0.8 and 2.2, after applying redshift weighting techniques, designed for non-Gaussianity measurement from large scales structure, to optimize our analysis, which improve our results by 37 per cent.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A better way to define dark matter haloes

ABSTRACT Dark matter haloes have long been recognized as one of the fundamental building blocks of large-scale structure formation models. Despite their importance – or perhaps because of it! – halo definitions continue to evolve towards more physically motivated criteria. Here, we propose a new definition that is physically motivated, effectively unique, and parameter-free: ‘A dark matter halo is comprised of the collection of particles orbiting in their own self-generated potential’. This definition is enabled by the fact that, even with as few as ≈300 particles per halo, nearly every particle in the vicinity of a halo can be uniquely classified as either orbiting or infalling based on its dynamical history. For brevity, we refer to haloes selected in this way as physical haloes. We demonstrate that (1) the mass function of physical haloes is Press–Schechter, provided the critical threshold for collapse is allowed to vary slowly with peak height; and (2) the peak-background split prediction of the clustering amplitude of physical haloes is statistically consistent with the simulation data, with accuracy no worse than ≈5 per cent.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

The contributions from the progenitor genomes of the mesopolyploid Brassiceae are evolutionarily distinct but functionally compatible

The members of the tribe Brassiceae share a whole-genome triplication (WGT), and one proposed model for its formation is a two-step pair of hybridizations producing hexaploid descendants. However, evidence for this model is incomplete, and the evolutionary and functional constraints that drove evolution after the hexaploidy are even less understood. Here, we report a new genome sequence of Crambe hispanica , a species sister to most sequenced Brassiceae. Using this new genome and three others that share the hexaploidy, we traced the history of gene loss after the WGT using the Polyploidy Orthology Inference Tool (POInT). We confirm the two-step formation model and infer that there was a significant temporal gap between those two allopolyploidizations, with about a third of the gene losses from the first two subgenomes occurring before the arrival of the third. We also, for the 90,000 individual genes in our study, make parental subgenome assignments, inferring, with measured uncertainty, from which of the progenitor genomes of the allohexaploidy each gene derives. We further show that each subgenome has a statistically distinguishable rate of homoeolog losses. There is little indication of functional distinction between the three subgenomes: the individual subgenomes show no patterns of functional enrichment, no excess of shared protein-protein or metabolic interactions between their members, and no biases in their likelihood of having experienced a recent selective sweep. We propose a "mix and match" model of allopolyploidy, in which subgenome origin drives homoeolog loss propensities but where genes from different subgenomes function together without difficulty.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

New result for the neutron β -asymmetry parameter A 0 from UCNA

Background: The neutron β-decay asymmetry parameter A 0 defines the angular correlation between the spin of the neutron and the momentum of the emitted electron. Values for A 0 permit an extraction of the ratio of the weak axial-vector to vector coupling constants, λ≡g A /g V , which under assumption of the conserved vector current hypothesis (g V =1) determines g A . Precise values for g A are important as a benchmark for lattice QCD calculations and as a test of the standard model. Purpose: The UCNA experiment, carried out at the Ultracold Neutron (UCN) source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, was the first measurement of any neutron β-decay angular correlation performed with UCN. This article reports the most precise result for A 0 obtained to date from the UCNA experiment, as a result of higher statistics and reduced key systematic uncertainties, including from the neutron polarization and the characterization of the electron detector response. Methods: UCN produced via the downscattering of moderated spallation neutrons in a solid deuterium crystal were polarized via transport through a 7 T polarizing magnet and a spin flipper, which permitted selection of either spin state. The UCN were then contained within a 3-m long cylindrical decay volume, situated along the central axis of a superconducting 1 T solenoidal spectrometer. With the neutron spins then oriented parallel or anti-parallel to the solenoidal field, an asymmetry in the numbers of emitted decay electrons detected in two electron detector packages located on both ends of the spectrometer permitted an extraction of A 0 . Results: The UCNA experiment reports a new 0.67% precision result for A 0 of A 0 = -0.12054(44) stat (68) syst , which yields λ=g A /g V = -1.2783(22). Combination with the previous UCNA result and accounting for correlated systematic uncertainties produces A 0 = -0.12015(34) stat (63) syst and λ=g A /g V = -1.2772(20).Conclusions: This new result for A 0 and g A /g V from the UCNA experiment has provided confirmation of the shift in values for g A /g V that has emerged in the published results from more recent experiments, which are in striking disagreement with the results from older experiments. Individual systematic corrections to the asymmetries in older experiments (published prior to 2002) were >10%, whereas those in the more recent ones (published after 2002) have been of the scale of <2%. Finally, the impact of these older results on the global average will be minimized should future measurements of A 0 reach the 0.1% level of precision with central values near the most recent results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Differentially Private Adaptive Noise Injection (DP-ANI) v1.0

Location data is collected from users continuously to understand their mobility patterns. Releasing the user trajectories may compromise user privacy. Therefore, the general practice is to release aggregated location datasets. However, private information may still be inferred from an aggregated version of location trajectories. Differential privacy (DP) protects the query output against inference attacks regardless of background knowledge. This software implements a differential privacy-based privacy model that protects the user's origins and destinations from being inferred from aggregated mobility datasets. This is achieved by injecting Planar Laplace noise to the user origin and destination GPS points. The noisy GPS points are then transformed into a link representation using a link-matching algorithm. Finally, the link trajectories form an aggregated mobility network. The injected noise level is selected using the Sparse Vector Mechanism. This DP selection mechanism considers the link density of the location and the functional category of the localized links. Compared to the different baseline models, including a k-anonymity method, our differential privacy-based aggregation model offers query responses that are close to the raw data in terms of aggregate statistics at both the network and trajectory-levels with maximum 9% deviation from the baseline in terms of network length.

Peisert, Sean [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato↗

An Assessment of Non-Powered Dam Hydropower Development Opportunities in the United States

Retrofitting non-powered dams (NPDs) to add hydropower offers multiple benefits over traditional, new hydropower development. Since much of the civil works infrastructure already exists, many retrofits require minimal new construction and can leverage existing water conveyances and discharge for generation. Although NPDs vary considerably in terms of their defining characteristics, identifying similarities helps support targeted investment and find opportunities to develop solutions for common challenges. With the publication of NPD-related data in 2022 (Hansen et al. 2022b), the US Department of Energy and relevant stakeholders are equipped with key information across roughly 89,000 US NPDs. These data represent the best-available information to date and extend beyond previous assessments of potential power capacity by describing design, operational, socioeconomic, environmental aspects of NPDs (Hadjerioua et al. 2012). To capitalize on these efforts to improve breadth and depth of NPD data access, this study uses a data-driven approach to assess NPD hydropower development opportunities in the United States. To help describe project feasibility drivers for NPDs, recent NPD retrofits were reviewed to examine variability with respect to a variety of characteristics. Based on the assessment of recent retrofits and data availability, several attributes were selected to characterize the remaining NPD population: (1) owner type, (2) 30% exceedance flow (a common design flow that describes the flow that is exceeded by 30% of the flow in the record), (3) hydraulic head, and (4) maximum reservoir storage. These four characteristics were used as inputs to a statistical clustering analysis (a common technique for grouping individuals of a population based on similarities or how closely associated individuals are to one another) of a set of 2,709 NPDs with at least 100 kW potential capacity and recently retrofit dams with available data. With the large dataset of NPDs, the clusters help describe how the population breaks down into different types (i.e., how many types of dams there are and what portion of the population belongs to each cluster).

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

System Study: Auxiliary Feedwater 1998-2020

This report presents an unreliability evaluation of the auxiliary feedwater (AFW) system at 69 U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. Demand, run hour, and failure data from calendar year 1998–2020 for selected components were obtained from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS), formerly the INPO Consolidated Events Database (ICES). The unreliability results are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for system unreliability are provided for the entire active period. Statistically significant decreasing trends were identified in the industry-wide estimates of AFW system start-only unreliability and AFW system 8-hour mission unreliability.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

System Study: Emergency Power System 1998-2020

This report presents an unreliability evaluation of the emergency power system (EPS) at 104 U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. Demand, run hours, and failure data from 1998 through 2020 for selected components were obtained from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS), formerly the INPO Consolidated Events Database (ICES). The unreliability results are trended for the most recent 10 year period while yearly estimates for system unreliability are provided for the entire active period. Statistically significant decreasing trends were identified in the industry-wide estimates of EPS system start-only mission as well as EPS system unreliability (8-hour mission).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

System Study: Residual Heat Removal 1998-2022

This report presents an unreliability evaluation of the residual heat removal (RHR) system in two modes of operation (low-pressure injection in response to a large loss-of-coolant accident and in response to post-trip shutdown cooling) at 93 U.S. commercial operating nuclear reactors. New Standardized Plant Analysis Risk (SPAR) models with the most recent SPAR parameter update results were used in this report. Demand, run hour, and failure data from 1998–2022 for selected components were obtained from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS), formerly the INPO Consolidated Events Database. The unreliability results are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for system unreliability are provided for the entire active period. No statistically significant increasing or decreasing trends were identified in the RHR results.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Crop identification technology assessment for remote sensing (CITARS). Volume 6: Data processing at the laboratory for applications of remote sensing

The results of classifications and experiments for the crop identification technology assessment for remote sensing are summarized. Using two analysis procedures, 15 data sets were classified. One procedure used class weights while the other assumed equal probabilities of occurrence for all classes. Additionally, 20 data sets were classified using training statistics from another segment or date. The classification and proportion estimation results of the local and nonlocal classifications are reported. Data also describe several other experiments to provide additional understanding of the results of the crop identification technology assessment for remote sensing. These experiments investigated alternative analysis procedures, training set selection and size, effects of multitemporal registration, spectral discriminability of corn, soybeans, and other, and analyses of aircraft multispectral data.

Bauer, M. E.↗

Crop Identification Technology Assessment for Remote Sensing (CITARS)

The results of classifications and experiments performed for the Crop Identification Technology Assessment for Remote Sensing (CITARS) project are summarized. Fifteen data sets were classified using two analysis procedures. One procedure used class weights while the other assumed equal probabilities of occurrence for all classes. In addition, 20 data sets were classified using training statistics from another segment or date. The results of both the local and non-local classifications in terms of classification and proportion estimation are presented. Several additional experiments are described which were performed to provide additional understanding of the CITARS results. These experiments investigated alternative analysis procedures, training set selection and size, effects of multitemporal registration, the spectral discriminability of corn, soybeans, and other, and analysis of aircraft multispectral data.

Bauer, M. E.↗

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Tropospheric Clouds Observed by MODIS Onboard the Terra and Aqua Satellites

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was developed by NASA and launched onboard the Terra spacecraft on December 18,1999 and Aqua spacecraft on May 4, 2002. It achieved its final orbit and began Earth observations on February 24, 2000 for Terra and June 24, 2002 for Aqua. A comprehensive set of remote sensing algorithms for cloud masking and the retrieval of cloud physical and optical properties has been developed by members of the MODIS atmosphere science team. The archived products from these algorithms have applications in climate change studies, climate modeling, numerical weather prediction, as well as fundamental atmospheric research. In addition to an extensive cloud mask, products include cloud-top properties (temperature, pressure, effective emissivity), cloud thermodynamic phase, cloud optical and microphysical parameters (optical thickness, effective particle radius, water path), as well as derived statistics. We will describe the various cloud properties being analyzed on a global basis from both Terra and Aqua. These include the latitudinal distribution of cloud optical and radiative properties of both liquid water and ice clouds, as well as joint histograms of cloud optical thickness and effective radius for selected geographical locations around the world.

King, Michael D.↗

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Tropospheric Clouds Observed by MODIS Onboard the Terra and Aqua Satellites

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was developed by NASA and launched onboard the Terra spacecraft on December 18, 1999 and Aqua spacecraft on May 4, 2002. It achieved its final orbit and began Earth observations on February 24, 2000 for Terra and June 24, 2002 for Aqua. A comprehensive set of remote sensing algorithms for cloud masking and the retrieval of cloud physical and optical properties has been developed by members of the MODIS atmosphere science team. The archived products from these algorithms have applications in climate change studies, climate modeling, numerical weather prediction, as well as fundamental atmospheric research. In addition to an extensive cloud mask, products include cloud-top properties (temperature, pressure, effective emissivity), cloud thermodynamic phase, cloud optical and microphysical parameters (optical thickness, effective particle radius, water path), as well as derived statistics. We will describe the various cloud properties being analyzed on a global basis from both Terra and Aqua. These include the latitudinal distribution of cloud optical and radiative properties of both liquid water and ice clouds, as well as joint histograms of cloud optical thickness and effective radius for selected geographical locations around the world.

King, Michael D.↗