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NASA NTRS1977

Aerosol physical properties in the stratosphere (APPS) radiometer design

The measurement concepts and radiometer design developed to obtain earth-limb spectral radiance measurements for the Aerosol Physical Properties in the Stratosphere (APPS) measurement program are presented. The measurements made by a radiometer of this design can be inverted to yield vertical profiles of Rayleigh scatterers, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, aerosol extinction, and aerosol physical properties, including a Junge size-distribution parameter, and a real and imaginary index of refraction. The radiometer design provides the capacity for remote sensing of stratospheric constituents from space on platforms such as the space shuttle and satellites, and therefore provides for global measurements on a daily basis.

Gray, C. R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Optical depth measurements and atmospheric correction of remotely sensed data for FIFE

Data derived from an airborne tracking-sun photometer are used to provide quantitative corrections for atmospheric effects in remotely sensed data. The atmospheric correction involves the validation of radiometric and atmospheric measurements and the application of single scattering approximation which permits the separation of Rayleigh scattering from aerosol scattering. Sun-photometer data are used to generate plots of spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions, aerosol phase functions, and aerosol single-scattering albedos. The atmospheric correction model and the atmospheric optical properties are incorporated into a program which is applied to two flightlines of data. Atmospheric corrections tested on remotely sensed data permitted the removal of limb brightening, although the results require verification by means of ground measurements.

Wrigley, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1977

The infrared photometric function of Mars and its bolometric albedo

The photometric properties of local areas on Mars are studied using Minnaert's rule of surface scattering to analyze Mariner 6 and 7 Infrared Spectrometer data. Several bright deserts, Hellas, and the south polar cap are found to obey Minnaert's function well. Observed bright regions all have similar values of limb-darkening coefficient k, except for Hellas and the south polar cap. The lower k of Hellas is apparently caused by microscopic effects rather than by large-scale roughness due to cratering. The higher k of the cap is similar to terrestrial snows in the visual at the same phase angle.

Pleskot, L. K.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Geocoronal imaging with Dynamics Explorer - A first look

The ultraviolet photometer of the University of Iowa spin-scan auroral imaging instrumentation on board Dynamics Explorer-1 has returned numerous hydrogen Lyman alpha images of the geocorona from altitudes of 570 km to 23,300 km (1.09 R sub E to 4.66 R sub E geocentric radial distance). The hydrogen density gradient is shown by a plot of the zenith intensities throughout this range, which decrease to near celestial background values as the spacecraft approaches apogee. Characterizing the upper geocorona as optically thin (single-scattering), the zenith intensity is converted directly to vertical column density. This approximation loses its validity deeper in the geocorona, where the hydrogen is demonstrated to be optically thick in that there is no Lyman alpha limb brightening. Further study of the geocoronal hydrogen distribution will require computer modeling of the radiative transfer. Previously announced in STAR as N83-20889

Rairden, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Geocoronal imaging with Dynamics Explorer

Rairden, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Bidirectional reflectance spectroscopy. II - Experiments and observations

Aspects of the theoretical bidirectional reflectance expression derived by Hapke (1981) are studied experimentally, and it is shown that the expression describes satisfactorily the measured angular scattering and spectral properties of a cobalt glass powder in which the two properties vary greatly with wavelength. The theoretical reflectance function also describes measured distributions of intensity across the surfaces of planets, except near the sunlit limb, where the macroscopic roughness influences the brightness.

Hapke, B.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Empirical STORM-E Model

Auroral nighttime infrared emission observed by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument onboard the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite is used to develop an empirical model of geomagnetic storm enhancements to E-region peak electron densities. The empirical model is called STORM-E and will be incorporated into the 2012 release of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). The proxy for characterizing the E-region response to geomagnetic forcing is NO+(v) volume emission rates (VER) derived from the TIMED/SABER 4.3 lm channel limb radiance measurements. The storm-time response of the NO+(v) 4.3 lm VER is sensitive to auroral particle precipitation. A statistical database of storm-time to climatological quiet-time ratios of SABER-observed NO+(v) 4.3 lm VER are fit to widely available geomagnetic indices using the theoretical framework of linear impulse-response theory. The STORM-E model provides a dynamic storm-time correction factor to adjust a known quiescent E-region electron density peak concentration for geomagnetic enhancements due to auroral particle precipitation. Part II of this series describes the explicit development of the empirical storm-time correction factor for E-region peak electron densities, and shows comparisons of E-region electron densities between STORM-E predictions and incoherent scatter radar measurements. In this paper, Part I of the series, the efficacy of using SABER-derived NO+(v) VER as a proxy for the E-region response to solar-geomagnetic disturbances is presented. Furthermore, a detailed description of the algorithms and methodologies used to derive NO+(v) VER from SABER 4.3 lm limb emission measurements is given. Finally, an assessment of key uncertainties in retrieving NO+(v) VER is presented

Mertens, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Limb brightening on Uranus - An interpretation of the lambda 7300 A methane band

Measurements of limb brightening on the Uranus disk within the lambda 7300 A CH4 band are interpreted using an elementary inhomogeneous radiative transfer model to describe the atmosphere. A two layer model which consists of a finite, optically thin, region of conservatively scattering particles overlying a semi-infinite clear H2-CH4 atmosphere satisfactorily explains the observations. The maximum optical thickness of the upper layer appears to lie in the range 0.1 to 0.2. The CH4/H2 mixing ratio in the lower layer is larger than the corresponding solar value by a factor on the order of three or greater. The results are discussed briefly in terms of current models of the Uranus atmosphere.

Price, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

A Daytime Aspect Camera for Balloon Altitudes

We have designed, built, and flight-tested a new star camera for daytime guiding of pointed balloon-borne experiments at altitudes around 40km. The camera and lens are commercially available, off-the-shelf components, but require a custom-built baffle to reduce stray light, especially near the sunlit limb of the balloon. This new camera, which operates in the 600-1000 nm region of the spectrum, successfully provided daytime aspect information of approximately 10 arcsecond resolution for two distinct star fields near the galactic plane. The detected scattered-light backgrounds show good agreement with the Air Force MODTRAN models, but the daytime stellar magnitude limit was lower than expected due to dispersion of red light by the lens. Replacing the commercial lens with a custom-built lens should allow the system to track stars in any arbitrary area of the sky during the daytime.

Dietz, Kurt L.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Daytime Aspect Camera for Balloon Altitudes

We have designed, built, and flight-tested a new star camera for daytime guiding of pointed balloon-borne experiments at altitudes around 40 km. The camera and lens are commercially available, off-the-shelf components, but require a custom-built baffle to reduce stray light, especially near the sunlit limb of the balloon. This new camera, which operates in the 600- to 1000-nm region of the spectrum, successfully provides daytime aspect information of approx. 10 arcsec resolution for two distinct star fields near the galactic plane. The detected scattered-light backgrounds show good agreement with the Air Force MODTRAN models used to design the camera, but the daytime stellar magnitude limit was lower than expected due to longitudinal chromatic aberration in the lens. Replacing the commercial lens with a custom-built lens should allow the system to track stars in any arbitrary area of the sky during the daytime.

Dietz, Kurt L.↗

NASA NTRS2023

Mesospheric and Upper Stratospheric Temperatures From OMPS-LP

We report the development of a temperature profile data set from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler (OMPS-LP) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. The data set covers a roughly 10 year period from 2012 to 2022, and temperatures are provided in the altitude range between 35 and 70 km. The algorithm uses daytime Rayleigh scattered radiation near 350 nm to estimate atmospheric density profiles, which are vertically integrated using the hydrostatic equation to estimate atmospheric pressure. Temperature profiles are then derived using the ideal gas law. Spectral structures in the OMPS-LP radiances are a source of systematic errors that limit the absolute accuracy to ±2 K. However, since the systematic errors do not change significantly over time, the relative accuracy is better than ±1 K. Our temperature data set has been designed to supplement global temperature maps produced by assimilation of data from traditional meteorological sensors, including GNSS radio occultation sensors, that provide high quality atmospheric temperature profiles up to 40–55 km. We show comparisons to other co-located temperature datasets to validate our product.

Observations of Mesospheric and Upper Stratospheri↗

NASA NTRS1975

He 584 A airglow emission from Venus - Mariner 10 observations

Observations were made across the bright limb of Venus by the ultraviolet spectrometer on Mariner 10 as the spacecraft flew by this planet on February 5, 1974. The altitude variation of the brightness of 584-A emission is interpreted with respect to the helium distribution in the atmosphere. Resonance scattering of solar radiation is considered as the source of this emission. The comparison of model calculations with the data shows that the observed altitude profile is consistent with a He density of about 2 million/cu cm at 145-km altitude and with an exospheric temperature of the order of 375 K. If the major loss of helium is by solar-wind scavenging only, the present helium content on Venus can be maintained by an outgassing rate of about 200,000 per sq cm per sec from the planet crust. By using these neutral helium measurements, it is found that the He(+) ion density in the outer ionosphere would be of the order of 200/cu cm.

Kumar, S.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Backscatter of hard X-rays in the solar atmosphere

The solar photosphere backscatters a substantial fraction of the hard X rays from solar flares incident upon it. This reflection was studied using a Monte Carlo simulation which takes into account Compton scattering and photo-electric absorption. Both isotropic and anisotropic X ray sources are considered. The bremsstrahlung from an anisotropic distribution of electrons are evaluated. By taking the reflection into account, the inconsistency is removed between recent observational data regarding the center-to-limb variation of solar X ray emission and the predictions of models in which accelerated electrons are moving down toward the photosphere.

Bai, T.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The Li-7 and Be-7 deexcitation lines: Probes for accelerated particle transport models in solar flares

The photon energy spectrum of a spectral feature composed of the 429 and 478 keV gamma-ray lines from Li-7 and Be-7 (produced by interactions of flare-accelerated alpha particles with ambient He in the solar atmosphere) depends on the angular distribution of the interacting accelerated particles. This spectrum is calculated for limb and disc-centered flares using a loop model for the transport of the ions. In this model, the flux tube magnetic field is constant in the corona and converges in the chromosphere to the photosphere. Magnetic mirroring and MHD pitch-angle scattering are both taken into account. Comparison of these results with data from other experiments is presented.

Murphy, Ronald J.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Vertical aerosol structure of Neptune - Constraints from center-to-limb profiles

New center-to-limb (CTL) equatorial region profiles of Neptune have been extracted from spatially well-resolved images. The 8900-A CTL profile entails the presence of material above the 5-mbar level whose optical depth is less than 0.5. CH4-band data admit of thin scattering hazes in the 0.4-1.5 bar pressure level, although optical depths must be lower than 0.05; so thin a haze falls short of the reflected flux at 6340 A, thereby implying the presence of another scattering layer deeper than 1.5 bars. A good fit to the observed reflectivity is obtained by a bright cloud layer with an optical depth of 3.0.

Hammel, H. B.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Photometry and polarimetry of Titan - Pioneer 11 observations and their implications for aerosol properties

Pioneer 11 measurements of Titan's limb darkening and polarization at red and blue wavelengths are refined, and the integrated disk brightness measurements at phase angles from 22 to 96 deg, over which Titan's phase coefficient averages about 0.014 magnitudes/deg in both colors, are reduced. Comparisons of the data with vertically homogeneous multiple scattering models indicate that the single-scattering phase functions of the aerosols in both colors are flat at scattering angles between 80 and 150 deg, with a small peak at larger scattering angles. Although a vertically homogeneous model in which particles are assumed to scatter as spheres cannot simultaneously match the polarization observations of both colors for any refractive index, observed polarizations are most sensitive to the particle properties near optical depth 1/2 in each color. Models based on single scattering by spheres can therefore be successful over a range of refractive indices, if the size of the particles increases with depth and if the cross section of the particles increases sufficiently rapidly with decreasing wavelength.

Tomasko, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Measurements of OH(X2pi) in the stratosphere by high resolution UV spectroscopy

This paper reports the first results obtained using high spectral resolution imaging ultraviolet spectroscopy to observe multiple rotational lines of OH A2 Sigma-X2pi (0-0) band. A 9.2 A spectral segment from 3075.8 A to 3085.0 A is imaged at 0.08 A FWHM spectral resolution, allowing the simultaneous acquisition of six of the brightest OH resonance fluorescence emission lines. The high spectral resolution and low scattered light design of the instrument allows these lines to be detected above the Rayleigh scattered sunlight background. The technique permits remote sensing of stratospheric OH from a high altitude instrument. The instrument was flown to an altitude of 40 km on Aug. 25, 1983, and again on June 12, 1986, on scientific balloons from Palestine, TX. The OH profiles inverted from the limb scans made during these flights are reported here. These profiles represent the first measurements of the temporal variation of OH over an extended height range. The results demonstrate that the technique can be used to monitor OH from orbit.

Torr, D. G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

JPL Fourier transform ultraviolet spectrometer

The Fourier Transform Ultraviolet Spectrometer (FTUVS) is a new high resolution interferometric spectrometer for multiple-species detection in the UV, visible and near-IR. As an OH sensor, measurements can be carried out by remote sensing (limb emission and column absorption), or in-situ sensing (long-path absorption or laser-induced fluorescence). As a high resolution detector in a high repetition rate (greater than 10 kHz) LIF system, OH fluorescence can be discriminated against non-resonant background emission and laser scatter, permitting (0, 0) excitation.

Cageao, R. P.↗