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At least 163 records · Page 9

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NASA NTRS1980

Influence of nonequilibrium radiation and shape change on aerothermal environment of Jovian entry body

Radiative transfer equations are derived under nonequilibrium conditions which include multilevel energy transitions. The nonequalibrium results, obtained with and without ablation injection in the shock layer, are found to be greatly influenced by the temperature distribution in the shock layer. In the absence of ablative products, the convective and radiative heating to the entry body are reduced significantly under nonequilibrium conditions. The influence of nonequilibrium is found to be greater at higher entry altitudes. With coupled ablation and carbon phenolic injection, 16 chemical species are used in the ablation layer for radiation absorption. Equilibrium and nonequilibrium results are compared under peak heating conditions. A 45 degree sphere cone, a 35 degree hyperboloid, and a 45 degree ellipsoid were used to study probe shape change. Results indicate that the shock layer flow field and heat transfer to the body are influenced significantly by the probe shape change. The effect of shape change on radiative heating of the afterbodies is found to be considerably larger for the sphere cone and ellipsoid than for the hyperboloid.

Tiwari, S. N.↗

NASA NTRS1992

An explicit canopy BRDF model and inversion

Based on a rigorous canopy radiative transfer equation, the multiple scattering radiance is approximated by the asymptotic theory, and the single scattering radiance calculation, which requires an numerical intergration due to considering the hotspot effect, is simplified. A new formulation is presented to obtain more exact angular dependence of the sky radiance distribution. The unscattered solar radiance and single scattering radiance are calculated exactly, and the multiple scattering is approximated by the delta two-stream atmospheric radiative transfer model. The numerical algorithms prove that the parametric canopy model is very accurate, especially when the viewing angles are smaller than 55 deg. The Powell algorithm is used to retrieve biospheric parameters from the ground measured multiangle observations.

Liang, Shunlin↗

DOE OSTI2022

Parameterization of cloud transmittance for expeditious assessment and forecasting of all-sky DNI

Radiative transfer models require vast computing resources to solve cloud transmittance and reflectance from the radiative transfer equation. As a result, models offering precise simulation in operations often acquire individual cloud transmittance or reflectance from a lookup table precomputed for practicable scenarios. To further expedite the computation of global horizontal irradiance and to reduce the storage requirements, the Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) parameterized the lookup table using elementary functions with specified coefficients. This study extends FARMS direct normal irradiance (DNI) computation by utilizing hyperbolic tangent functions and various polynomial functions to parameterize the cloud transmittance for scattered solar radiation in the circumsolar region. The parameterization is implemented in FARMS with DNI (FARMS-DNI) and accounts for the circumsolar radiation when assessing or forecasting DNI. The evaluation, with long-term observations at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's, Solar Radiation Research Laboratory, and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement, Southern Great Plains, Central Facility, shows that the parameterized DNIs are virtually identical with those computed by coupling FARMS-DNI to a lookup table of cloud transmittance. This parameterization has diverse applications in radiative transfer models and numerical weather prediction models used to assess or forecast direct solar radiation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2019

A Fast Vector Radiative Transfer Model for the Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled System

To infer atmospheric and oceanic constituent properties from polarimetric observations, an efficient and accurate retrieval algorithm is desirable. In-line radiative transfer calculations are indispensable if a large state vector, including both atmospheric profiles and surface properties, is used to improve retrieval accuracy. However, in-line radiative transfer calculations are usually not computationally efficient for remote sensing applications. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop an accurate and fast vector radiative transfer model (RTM) to fully utilize satellite polarimetric observations. This paper reports on a fast vector RTM, referred to as TAMU-VRTM, in support of polarimetric remote sensing, which is capable of simulating the Stokes vector values observed at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface by fully considering absorption, scattering, and emission in the atmosphere and ocean. Gaseous absorption is parameterized with respect to gas concentration, temperature, and pressure, by using a regression method applicable to an inhomogeneous atmospheric path. An efficient two-component approach combining the small angle approximation and the adding-doubling method is utilized to solve the vector radiative transfer equation (RTE). The thermal emission component of the RTE solution is obtained by an efficient doubling process. The air-sea interface is treated as a wind-ruffled rough surface in the model to mimic a realistic ocean surface. Several oceanic optical property models are introduced to model ocean inherent optical properties. To demonstrate the applicability of the TAMUVRTM, simulations are compared with satellite observations, and results from other vector radiative transfer methods including benchmarks.

radiative transfer in coupled atmosphere-ocean sys↗

NASA NTRS1975

The role of multiple scattering in one-dimensional radiative transfer

The usual methods of solving the radiative transfer equation yield answers which embrace all orders of scattering and thus shed little light on the underlying physical process. The present analysis examines the contributions of the various orders of scattering to the one dimensional transfer of radiation. In the one dimensional case an exact analytical solution exists and the problem reduces to that of expanding these exact solutions in powers of the albedo for single scattering. Formulas are given which permit the calculation of any order of scattering in an atmosphere of arbitrary optical thickness, particle albedo, and asymmetry parameter. The results should aid in identifying those physical situations where only the lowest orders of scattering play a significant role and where appropriate approximate methods might provide results of acceptable accuracy.

Adamson, D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations on an SIMD machine applied to accretion disks

We have developed a tool to solve the radiative transfer equation for a three-dimensional astrophysical object on the SIMD computer MasPar MP-1. With this tool we can rapidly calculate the image of such an object as seen from an arbitrary direction and at an arbitrary wavelength. Such images and spectra can then be used to directly compare observations with the model. This tool can be applied to many different areas in astrophysics, e.g., HI disks of galaxies and polarized radiative transfer of accretion columns onto white dwarfs. Here we use this tool to calculate the image and spectrum of a simple model of an accretion disk.

Vath, H.↗

NASA NTRS1981

A note on solar elevation dependence of clear sky snow albedo

Recent attempts to match shortwave albedo of snow for clear skies using approximate spectral solar fluxes and solutions of the radiative transfer equation for snow were unsuccessful until a separate surface reflection term was introduced. A separate consideration of specular reflection from surface snow grains has been objected to as being ad hoc. Results based on a new parameterization of shortwave radiation are discussed. Compared to the previous radiation models, new model gives higher diffuse insolation and predicts higher albedos. The difference between observed and predicted albedos is substantially reduced without invoking surface reflection.

Choudhury, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

A Radiation Solver for the National Combustion Code

A methodology is given that converts an existing finite volume radiative transfer method that requires input of local absorption coefficients to one that can treat a mixture of combustion gases and compute the coefficients on the fly from the local mixture properties. The Full-spectrum k-distribution method is used to transform the radiative transfer equation (RTE) to an alternate wave number variable, g . The coefficients in the transformed equation are calculated at discrete temperatures and participating species mole fractions that span the values of the problem for each value of g. These results are stored in a table and interpolation is used to find the coefficients at every cell in the field. Finally, the transformed RTE is solved for each g and Gaussian quadrature is used to find the radiant heat flux throughout the field. The present implementation is in an existing cartesian/cylindrical grid radiative transfer code and the local mixture properties are given by a solution of the National Combustion Code (NCC) on the same grid. Based on this work the intention is to apply this method to an existing unstructured grid radiation code which can then be coupled directly to NCC.

National Combustion Code↗

NASA NTRS1981

Scale covariant gravitation. V - Kinetic theory. VI - Stellar structure and evolution

A scale covariant kinetic theory for particles and photons is developed. The mathematical framework of the theory is given by the tangent bundle of a Weyl manifold. The Liouville equation is derived, and solutions to corresponding equilibrium distributions are presented and shown to yield thermodynamic results identical to the ones obtained previously. The scale covariant theory is then used to derive results of interest to stellar structure and evolution. A radiative transfer equation is derived that can be used to study stellar evolution with a variable gravitational constant. In addition, it is shown that the sun's absolute luminosity scales as L approximately equal to GM/kappa, where kappa is the stellar opacity. Finally, a formula is derived for the age of globular clusters as a function of the gravitational constant using a previously derived expression for the absolute luminosity.

Hsieh, S.-H.↗

NASA NTRS1985

The equilibrium structure of thin magnetic flux tubes. I

A model atmosphere within a thin magnetic flux tube that is embedded in an arbitrarily stratified medium is presently constructed by solving the radiative transfer equation in the two-stream approximation for gray opacity, under the assumption that the magnetic field is sufficiently strong to warrant the neglect of both thermal conduction and convective diffusion; energy inside the flux tube therefore being transported solely by radiation. The structure of the internal atmosphere is determined on the basis of the hydrostatic and radiative equilibrium conditions of the tube embedded in an external atmosphere. The gas temperature along the axis of the tube is computed, and the geometry of the flux tube is determined on the basis of magnetic flux conservation and total pressure equilibrium.

Ferrari, A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Radiative transfer solutions for cylindrical coordinates with emitting, absorbing, and anisotropic scattering medium

The radiative transfer equation is solved by the S-N discrete ordinates method in one-dimensional radial and two-dimensional r-z coordinates systems. The walls of the enclosures are diffuse, and the participating medium absorbs, emits and anisotropically scatters the radiative energy. Diffuse wall incidence, isothermal medium emission and collimated incidence problems are considered. Effects of the scattering phase functions on average incident radiation and net radiative heat fluxes are studied. In addition, the effects of scattering albedo, optical thickness and the wall emissivity are briefly discussed.

Jendoubi, Slah↗

NASA NTRS1994

Photoionization of disk galaxies: An explanation of the sharp edges in the H I distribution

We have reproduced the observed radial truncation of the H I distribution in isolated spiral galaxies with a model in which extragalactic radiation photoionizes the gaseous disk. For a galactic mass distribution model that reproduces the observed rotation curves, including dark matter in the disk and halo, the vertical structure of the gas is determined self-consistently. The ionization structure and column densities of H and He ions are computed by solving the radiation transfer equation for both continuum and lines. Our model is similar to that of Maloney, and the H I structure differs by less than 10%. The radial structure of the column density of H I is found to be more sensitive to the extragalactic radiation field than to the distribution of mass. For this reason, considerable progress can be made in determining the extragalactic flux of ionizing photons, phi(sub ex), with more 21 cm observations of isolated galaxies. However, owing to the uncertainty of the radial distribution of total hydrogen at large radii, inferring the extragalactic flux by comparing the observed edges to photoionization models is somewhat subjective. We find 1 x 10(exp 4)/sq cm/s is less than or approximately phi(sub ex) is less than or approximately 5 x 10(exp 4)/sq cm/s, corresponding to 2.1 is less than or approximately iota(sub 0) is less than or approximately 10.5 x 10(exp -23) ergs/sq cm/s/Hz/sr for a 1/nu spectrum. Although somewhat higher, our inferred range of iota(sub 0) is consistent with the large range of values obtained by Kulkarni & Fall from the 'proximity effect' toward Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs) at approximately 0.5.

Dove, James B.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Computation of diffuse sky irradiance from multidirectional radiance measurements

Accurate determination of the diffuse solar spectral irradiance directly above the land surface is important in characterizing the reflectance properties of these surfaces, especially vegetation canopies. This determination is also needed to infer the net radiation budget of the earth-atmosphere system above these surfaces. An algorithm is developed here for the computation of hemispheric diffuse irradiance using the measurements from an instrument called PARABOLA, which rapidly measures upwelling and downwelling radiances in three selected wavelength bands. The validity of the algorithm is established from simulations. The standard reference data set of diffuse radiances of Dave (1978), obtained by solving the radiative transfer equation numerically for realistic atmospheric models, is used to simulate PARABOLA radiances. Hemispheric diffuse irradiance is estimated from a subset of simulated radiances by using the algorithm described. The algorithm is validated by comparing the estimated diffuse irradiance with the true diffuse irradiance of the standard data set. The validations include sensitivity studies for two wavelength bands (visible, 0.65-0.67 micron; near infrared, 0.81-0.84 micron), different atmospheric conditions, solar elevations, and surface reflectances. In most cases the hemispheric diffuse irradiance computed from simulated PARABOLA radiances and the true irradiance obtained from radiative transfer calculations agree within 1-2 percent. This technique can be applied to other sampling instruments designed to estimate hemispheric diffuse sky irradiance.

Ahmad, Suraiya P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Physical processes in the strong magnetic fields of accreting neutron stars

Analytical formulae are fitted to observational data on physical processes occurring in strong magnetic fields surrounding accreting neutron stars. The propagation of normal modes in the presence of a quantizing magnetic field is discussed in terms of a wave equation in Fourier space, quantum electrodynamic effects, polarization and mode ellipticity. The results are applied to calculating the Thomson scattering, bremsstrahlung and Compton scattering cross-sections, which are a function of the frequency, angle and polarization of the magnetic field. Numerical procedures are explored for solving the radiative transfer equations. When applied to modeling X ray pulsars, a problem arises in the necessity to couple the magnetic angle and frequency dependence of the cross-sections with the hydrodynamic equations. The use of time-dependent averaging and approximation techniques is indicated.

Meszaros, P.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The Eddington limit and supercritical accretion. II - Time-dependent calculations

Spherically symmetric, time-dependent accretion of an ionized hydrogen plasma onto a neutron star is calculated for accretion rates in excess of the Eddington limit. The coupled hydrodynamic and frequency integrated radiative transfer equations are solved on an Eulerian grid for these supercritical accretion flows. Our results indicate that steady state flows are limited to rates at or below the critical rate, with emergent luminosities equal to or less than the Eddington luminosity. Initially supercritical accretion rates generate a large pulse of radiation which reduces the accretion rate to the critical value and produces an extended quasi-static envelope.

Burger, H. L.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Some aspects of the interaction of radiation with the thermal and mass budgets of cloud droplets

It is shown that the effects of radiative heating or cooling can have a substantial influence on the mass budget of a cloud droplet and thus on the microphysical properties of a cloud as a whole. The radiative transfer equation, including all orders of multiple scattering, is solved for spectral windows of earth's atmosphere by adopting the Eddington approximation and assuming that the cloud is isothermal and illuminated by fluxes from both the ground and the sky. The results obtained for the 8-12-micron window indicate that radiative cooling can increase a droplet's growth rate and may also make the droplet cooler than the surrounding gas while water vapor is diffusing in, which would cause diffusiophoreisis and thermophoreisis to combine and increase the efficiency with which droplets would scavenge aerosols.

Barkstrom, B. R.↗

NASA NTRS1983

A mathematical characterization of vegetation effect on microwave remote sensing from the Earth

In passive microwave remote sensing of the earth, a theoretical model that utilizes the radiative transfer equations was developed to account for the volume scattering effects of the vegetation canopy. Vegetation canopies such as alfalfa, sorghum, and corn are simulated by a layer of ellipsoidal scatterers and cylindrical structures. The ellipsoidal scatterers represent the leaves of vegetation and are randomly positioned and oriented. The orientation of ellipsoids is characterized by a probability density function of Eulerian angles of rotation. The cylindrical structures represent the stalks of vegetation and their radii are assumed to be much smaller than their lengths. The underlying soil is represented by a half-space medium with a homogeneous permittivity and uniform temperature profile. The radiative transfer quations are solved by a numerical method using a Gaussian quadrature formula to compute both the vertical and horizontal polarized brightness temperature as a function of observation angle. The theory was applied to the interpretation of experimental data obtained from sorghum covered fields near College Station, Texas.

Choe, Y.↗

NASA NTRS2021

Multi-Frequency NMM3D Simulations of Wave Propagation in Vegetation for Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture

To investigate the feasibility of using multi-frequencies to fur- ther improve the soil moisture retrieval, the recently devel- oped hybrid method is used to perform full-wave scattering simulations of a wheat field at three different frequencies of L-, S- and C- bands. In the hybrid method, the multiple scattering within a single wheat plant is first captured using the T-matrix of vec- tor cylindrical waves calculated from the full-wave solutions of HFSS. In the second step, the scattering among different plants is considered using the Foldy-Lax equations of multiple scattering theory (MST) and the extracted T-matrix. The transmission of microwaves through wheat field at the L-, S- and C-bands are calculated using the hybrid method. Results show that: (1) the transmission obtained from the full-wave simulations is much larger than those computed from the radiative transfer equations (RTE) model, (2) the hybrid method transmission has a weaker frequency dependence than those of the RTE, and (3) the attenuation caused by the vegetation layer would saturate with an increase in frequency.

Yueh, Simon↗