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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.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Application of Remote Sensing to Assess the Impact of Short Term Climate Variability on Coastal Sedimentation

The purpose of this joint University of Wisconsin (UW) and Louisiana State University (LSU) project has been to relate short term climate variation to response in the coastal zone of Louisiana in an attempt to better understand how the coastal zone is shaped by climate variation. Climate variation in this case largely refers to variation in surface wind conditions that affect wave action and water currents in the coastal zone. The primary region of focus was the Atchafalaya Bay and surrounding bays in the central coastal region of Louisiana. Suspended solids in the water column show response to wind systems both in quantity (through resuspension) and in the pattern of dispersement or transport. Wind systems associated with cold fronts are influenced by short term climate variation. Wind energy was used as the primary signature of climate variation in this study because winds are a significant influence on sediment transport in the micro-tidal Gilf of Mexico coastal zone. Using case studies, the project has been able to investigate the influence of short term climate variation on sediment transport. Wind energy data, collected daily for National Weather Service (NWS) stations at Lake Charles and New Orleans, LA, were used as an indicator of short term climate variation influence on seasonal time scales. A goal was to relate wind energy to coastal impact through sediment transport. This goal was partially accomplished by combining remote sensing and wind energy data. Daily high resolution remote sensing observations are needed to monitor the complex coastal zone environment, where winds, tides, and water level all interact to influence sediment transport. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) era brings hope for documenting and revealing response of the complex coastal transport mosaic through regular high spatial resolution observations from the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument. MODIS observations were sampled in this project for information content and should continue to be viewed as a resource for coastal zone monitoring. The project initialized the effort to transfer a suspended sediment concentration (SSC) algorithm to the MODIS platform for case 2 waters. MODIS enables monitoring of turbid coastal zones around the globe. The MODIS SSC algorithm requires refinements in the atmospheric aerosol contribution, sun glint influence, and designation of the sediment inherent optical properties (IOPs); the framework for continued development is in place with a plan to release the algorithm to the MODIS direct broadcast community.

Menzel, W. Paul↗
NASA NTRS1974

Long-term variations of the solar wind proton parameters

Interplanetary plasma data taken near 1 AU by a variety of spacecraft (Imp 1, Vela 2-4, Explorer 33-35, and Heos 1) from 1963 to 1971 are used to study the long-term variations of the solar wind proton properties. An intercalibration among the different experiments is performed in order to obtain a coherent set of data. The most interesting result is a 40% reduction of the proton density between the minimum and the maximum of the solar activity cycle. The observed density variation occurs throughout the velocity range; however, a limited sample of data could suggest that at very low velocities (below 300 km/sec) the density is independent of the solar activity. The proton bulk velocity is remarkably constant during the period considered; small increases of the average speed occurring in 1968 and 1971 cannot be attributed to the solar cycle. No clear trend is exhibited by the proton temperature; differences among the various experiments probably have an instrumental origin.

Diodato, L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Comparison of Time-periodic Variations in Temperature and Wind from Meteorological Rockets and Satellites

Although the Meteorological Rocket Network operated by or in cooperation with th United States has decreased from fourteen to nine stations in the past five years, there have been many observations accumulated in the ten years since CIRA 1972 was prepared with data up to 1969. The mean, annual and semiannual variations of temperature and wind are presented and special attention is directed to the polar semiannual wave. The results are compared with the Oxford SCR-PMR five year data set, the CDC-SCR seven year data, and CIRA 1972 with respect to both temperature and zonal winds, as far as presently available. The agreement among the data sets is very good.

Belmont, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1969

Vertical profiles of wind and temperature by remote acoustical sounding

An acoustical method was investigated for obtaining meteorological soundings based on the refraction due to the vertical variation of wind and temperature. The method has the potential of yielding horizontally averaged measurements of the vertical variation of wind and temperature up to heights of a few kilometers; the averaging takes place over a radius of 10 to 15 km. An outline of the basic concepts and some of the results obtained with the method are presented.

Fox, H. L.↗
NASA NTRS1971

The responses of rising or falling spherical wind sensors to atmospheric wind perturbations.

Analysis of the responses of rising or falling spherical wind sensors to atmospheric wind perturbations on the wind profile in the vertical, using Fourier transform techniques. The linearized equations of motion of a sensor that is subject to drag and gravitational body forces are developed by perturbing a sensor about an equilibrium uniform motion with wind fluctuations which have vertical variations. The wind environment and sensor velocities are decomposed with stochastic Fourier-Stieltjes integrals, and the linearized equations of motion are used to derive the response functions and phase angles of the sensor motions. The results of the analysis are used to analyze the response properties of the Jimsphere balloon wind sensor. It is shown that, in general, the transfer functions associated with the horizontal sensor motions are smaller than the transfer functions associated with the vertical sensor motions in the omega times T product range from zero to infinity, omega being the wind perturbation frequency and T a time constant of the system. Thus, the sensor is more responsive to vertical than to horizontal air motions.

Fichtl, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Validation for Global Solar Wind Prediction Using Ulysses Comparison: Multiple Coronal and Heliospheric Models Installed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center

The prediction of the background global solar wind is a necessary part of space weather forecasting. Several coronal and heliospheric models have been installed and/or recently upgraded at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), including the Wang-Sheely-Arge (WSA)-Enlil model, MHD-Around-a-Sphere (MAS)-Enlil model, Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), and Heliospheric tomography using interplanetary scintillation data. Ulysses recorded the last fast latitudinal scan from southern to northern poles in 2007. By comparing the modeling results with Ulysses observations over seven Carrington rotations, we have extended our third-party validation from the previous near-Earth solar wind to middle to high latitudes, in the same late declining phase of solar cycle 23. Besides visual comparison, wehave quantitatively assessed the models capabilities in reproducing the time series, statistics, and latitudinal variations of solar wind parameters for a specific range of model parameter settings, inputs, and grid configurations available at CCMC. The WSA-Enlil model results vary with three different magnetogram inputs.The MAS-Enlil model captures the solar wind parameters well, despite its underestimation of the speed at middle to high latitudes. The new version of SWMF misses many solar wind variations probably because it uses lower grid resolution than other models. The interplanetary scintillation-tomography cannot capture the latitudinal variations of solar wind well yet. Because the model performance varies with parameter settings which are optimized for different epochs or flow states, the performance metric study provided here can serve as a template that researchers can use to validate the models for the time periods and conditions of interest to them.

Jian, L. K.↗
NASA NTRS1970

The variation of radar cross section with wind

X-band (8910 megahertz) and C-band (4455 megahertz) measurements indicate that two domains exist in the variation of radar cross section with wind at incident angles far from the normal. The first domain for flow windspeeds is characterized by a rapid variation of radar cross section with wind and the second domain at higher windspeeds by an asymptotic approach to an upper limit (saturation). The transaction between the two domains occurs at a windspeed of approximately 10 knots. Recent Joint Ocean Surface Study I observations tend to confirm this observation and offer additional proof of the validity of a composite surface model which relates the radar cross section of the sea to the wave-height spectrum. This confirmation was obtained by comparing the radar cross section measured by the four-frequency radar system with the radar cross section calculated from the ocean wave-height spectrum that had been determined by the optical analysis of photographs taken at the same time. A possible explanation for the wind variation of the radar cross section of the open ocean also was evolved, based on radar measurements in a wave tank under various wind conditions and subsequent comparison with optically determined spectra.

Guinard, N. W.↗
NASA NTRS1976

An analysis of Skylab II S193 scatterometer data

Skylab II S193 scatterometer data for the passes of June 5, 1973, over the Gulf of Mexico and June 6, 1973, over Pacific Hurricane AVA were analyzed. These two passes were chosen since it was possible to correlate the scattering data with simultaneous measurements of the local ocean wind conditions. The S193 scatterometer measured the radar cross section of the ocean at 13.9 GHz (Ku-band) as a function of incidence angle. The S193 data of June 5, 1973, when a practically uniform wind field was present, show reasonable agreement with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) empirical and theoretical models. The data of June 6, 1973, are more complex, due to rapid variations in wind speeds and directions around Hurricane AVA. The NRL empirical model was interpolated to account for variation in wind heading relative to the S193 antenna pointing direction; a reasonable comparison could then be made with the corresponding S193 data of June 6, 1973.

Jordan, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Helium abundance variations in the solar wind: Observations from Ulysses

The abundance of helium in the solar wind averages approximately 4% but has been observed to vary by more than two orders of magnitude from 0.1 to 30%. Physical processes responsible for this variability are still not clearly understood. Previous work has shown a correlation between low He abundance and coronal streamer plasma and between high He abundance and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We now have out-of-ecliptic data on helium in the solar wind from the plasma experiment aboard Ulysses. Tentative results show that the average high-latitude helium concentration is comparable to the in-ecliptic value for the present phase of the solar cycle, that excursions of the hour-averaged abundance very seldom fall outside the range 2.5 to 6.5%, and that there seems to be very little abundance enhancement associated with CMEs encountered at latitudes greater than 30 deg as opposed to the situation commonly encountered with in-ecliptic CMEs. In addition, preliminary observations of a single CME by both ISEE (in-ecliptic) and Ulysses (out-of-ecliptic) show a considerable He enhancement at ISEE with little or no perturbation of the average value at Ulysses' location. This paper will first present new results from the Ulysses mission up to the time of the meeting on the average abundance of helium in the solar wind as a function of spacecraft position, and will then focus on the out-of-ecliptic results including latitudinal abundance variations and observations of abundance enhancements (or lack thereof) in high-latitude CMEs.

Barraclough, B. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Solar cycle variations of the solar wind

Throughout the course of the past one and a half solar cycles, solar wind parameters measured near the ecliptic plane at 1 AU varied in the following way: speed and proton temperature have maxima during the declining phase and minima at solar minimum and are approximately anti-correlated with number density and electron temperature, while magnetic field magnitude and relative abundance of helium roughly follow the sunspot cycle. These variations are described in terms of the solar cycle variations of coronal holes, streamers, and transients. The solar wind signatures of the three features are discussed in turn, with special emphasis on the signature of transients, which is still in the process of being defined. It is proposed that magnetic clouds be identified with helium abundance enhancements and that they form the head of a transient surrounded by streamer like plasma, with an optional shock front. It is stressed that relative values of a parameter through a solar cycle should be compared beginning with the declining phase, especially in the case of magnetic field magnitude.

Crooker, N. U.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Long-term variations of selected solar wind properties - IMP 6, 7, and 8 results

Studies of the variability of the solar wind are extended to include the minimum of solar cycle 20; attention is given to the He abundance, the relative He-H velocity difference, the He-H temperature ratio, the solar coronal proton density, speed, rms velocity variation, temperature and number flux, and the kinetic and total energy fluxes. The solar wind data are from observations conducted by the IMP-6, -7 and -8 satellites. A well-developed corotating stream structure appearing in January 1973 and disappearing in mid-1976 receives particular consideration. An increase in proton number and total energy fluxes after September 1972 may be due to areal expansion of both polar coronal holes, and may be associated with compression of the low-speed equatorial disk-shaped region postulated to surround the sun in interplanetary space.

Feldman, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Fragmentation Increases Impact of Wind Disturbance on Forest Structure and Carbon Stocks in a Western Amazonian Landscape

Tropical second-growth forests could help mitigate climate change, but the degree to which their carbon potential is achieved will depend on exposure to disturbance. Wind disturbance is common in tropical forests, shaping structure, composition, and function, and influencing successional trajectories. However, little is known about the impacts of extreme winds in fragmented landscapes, though second-growth forests are often located in mosaics of forest, pasture, cropland, and other land cover types. Though indirect evidence suggests that fragmentation increases risk of wind damage, few studies have found such impacts following severe storms. In this study, we ask whether fragmentation and forest type (old vs. second growth) were associated with variation in wind damage after a severe convective storm in a fragmented production landscape in western Amazonia. We applied linear spectral unmixing to Landsat 8 imagery from before and after the storm, and combined it with field observations of damage to map wind effects on forest structure and biomass (Figure 4, 5). We also used Landsat 8 imagery to map land cover with the goals of identifying old- and second-growth forest and characterizing fragmentation. We used these data to assess variation in wind disturbance across 95,596 hectares of forest, distributed over 6,110 patches. We find that fragmentation is significantly associated with wind damage, with damage severity higher at forest edges and in edgier, more isolated patches (Figure 7). Damage was more severe in old-growth than in second-growth forests, but this effect was weaker than that of fragmentation (Figure 8). These results illustrate the importance of considering spatial configuration and landscape context in planning tropical forest restoration and predicting carbon sequestration in second-growth forests. Future research should address the mechanisms behind these results, to minimize wind damage risk in second-growth forests so their carbon potential can be maximally achieved.

Schwartz, Naomi B.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Behavior of neutral wind gradients at meteor heights over midlatitude stations

The variation of wind gradients in the altitude range of 80 to 100 km, which contributes information on propagational characteristics of wave phenomena prevailing at those altitudes, was studied. Diurnal and semidiurnal components of the zonal (EW) and meridional (NS) neutral wind data collected over Atlanta using the Georgia Tech Meteor Wind Radar Facility during the period of August 1974 through March of 1978 over the height range of 80 to 100 km are analyzed in detail to obtain information on height gradients in amplitude and phase of neutral wind components over height intervals of 80 to 90 and 90 to 100 km. The details of the data analysis, major results, and conclusions are presented.

Devara, P. C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

A model for the origin of solar wind stream interfaces

The basic variations in solar wind properties that have been observed at 'stream interfaces' near 1 AU are explained by a gas dynamic model in which a radially propagating stream, produced by a temperature variation in the solar envelope, steepens nonlinearly while moving through interplanetary space. The region thus identified with the stream interface separates the ambient solar wind from the fresh hot material originally in the stream. However, the interface regions given by the present model are thicker than most stream interfaces observed in the solar wind, a fact suggesting that some additional physical process may be important in determining that thickness. Variations in the density, speed, or Alfven pressure alone appear not to produce streams with such an interface.

Hundhausen, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Nucleosynthesis of He-3 in the sun and the variation of He-3/He-4 in solar wind

The time history of the variation of He-3/He-4 (R) on the surface of the sun as a result of nucleosynthesis in the solar interior has been studied for different empherical models of mixing. For homogeneous mixing with mixing periods between one million and 1,000 millions years, the expected value of R is very much larger than the observed solar wind value. On the other hand, the absolute value of R and its possible time variation in the solar wind are consistent with a model in which slow mixing with adjacent layers, equivalent to about 0.01 Mr, of the core takes place over a period of 100 million years. The possibility of explaining the He-3 rich solar flare events is discussed.

Stephens, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Observations of the dayside ionopause and ionosphere of Venus

Some of the principal features of the dayside solar wind ionosphere interaction at Venus are presented. The dayside ionopause and ionosphere are observed to respond dramatically to solar wind pressure variations. The ram pressure of the solar wind is manifested mainly as magnetic pressure just external to the subsolar ionopause, and the ionopause location is controlled principally by this pressure. The ionosheath field is observed to drape across the dayside ionosphere, and ionopause currents over most of the dayside usually act to exclude the high ionosheath field from the generally low-field ionosphere. Tenuous, warm ionospheric plasma is sometimes observed on field lines outside the ionopause current sheet, suggesting that this dayside ionospheric plasma can be transported to the nightside and into the Venus wake. Some of the magnetic and thermal plasma features of the dayside ionosphere are shown, and modeling and distribution of flux ropes, small scale helical magnetic structures, are discussed in the context of thermal plasma observations.

Elphic, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Robust Kalman filter design for predictive wind shear detection

Severe, low-altitude wind shear is a threat to aviation safety. Airborne sensors under development measure the radial component of wind along a line directly in front of an aircraft. In this paper, optimal estimation theory is used to define a detection algorithm to warn of hazardous wind shear from these sensors. To achieve robustness, a wind shear detection algorithm must distinguish threatening wind shear from less hazardous gustiness, despite variations in wind shear structure. This paper presents statistical analysis methods to refine wind shear detection algorithm robustness. Computational methods predict the ability to warn of severe wind shear and avoid false warning. Comparative capability of the detection algorithm as a function of its design parameters is determined, identifying designs that provide robust detection of severe wind shear.

Stratton, Alexander D.↗