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At least 163 records · Page 9

Submm-Wave Radiometry for Cloud/Humidity/Precipitation Sciences

Although active sensors can provide cloud profiles at good vertical resolution, clouds are often coupled with dynamics to form fast and organized structures. Lack of understanding of these organized systems leads to great challenge for numerical models. The deficiency is partly reflected, for example, in poorly modeled intraseasonal variations (e.g., MJD). Remote sensing clouds in the middle and upper troposphere has been challenging from space. Vis/IR sensors are sensitive to the topmost cloud layers whereas low-frequency MW techniques are sensitivity to liquid and precipitation at the bottom of cloud layers. The middle-level clouds, mostly in the ice phase, require a sensor that has moderate penetration and sensitivity to cloud scattering, in order to measure cloud water content. Sensors at submm wavelengths provide promising sensitivity and coverage with the spatial resolution needed to measure cloud water content floating in the upper air. In addition, submm-wave sensors are able to provide better measurements of upper-tropospheric humidity than traditional microwave instruments.

Wu, Dong L.↗

Impact of Land Model Calibration on Coupled Land-Atmosphere Prediction

Land-atmosphere (L-A) interactions play a critical role in determining the diurnal evolution of both planetary boundary layer (PBL) and land surface heat and moisture budgets, as well as controlling feedbacks with clouds and precipitation that lead to the persistence of dry and wet regimes. Recent efforts to quantify the strength of L-A coupling in prediction models have produced diagnostics that integrate across both the land and PBL components of the system. In this study, we examine the impact of improved specification of land surface states, anomalies, and fluxes on coupled WRF forecasts during the summers of extreme dry and wet land surface conditions in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. The improved land initialization and surface flux parameterizations are obtained through calibration of the Noah land surface model using the new optimization and uncertainty estimation subsystem in NASA's Land Information System (LIS-OPT/UE). The impact of the calibration on the a) spinup of the land surface used as initial conditions, and b) the simulated heat and moisture states and fluxes of the coupled WRF simulations is then assessed. Changes in ambient weather and land-atmosphere coupling are evaluated along with measures of uncertainty propagation into the forecasts. In addition, the sensitivity of this approach to the period of calibration (dry, wet, average) is investigated. Results indicate that the offline calibration leads to systematic improvements in land-PBL fluxes and near-surface temperature and humidity, and in the process provide guidance on the questions of what, how, and when to calibrate land surface models for coupled model prediction.

Santanello, Joseph A., Jr.↗

GC13I-0857: Designing a Frost Forecasting Service for Small Scale Tea Farmers in East Africa

Kenya is the third largest tea exporter in the world, producing 10% of the world's black tea. Sixty percent of this production occurs largely by small scale tea holders, with an average farm size of 1.04 acres, and an annual net income of $1,075. According to a recent evaluation, a typical frost event in the tea growing region causes about $200 dollars in losses which can be catastrophic for a small holder farm. A 72-hour frost forecast would provide these small-scale tea farmers with enough notice to reduce losses by approximately 80 USD annually. With this knowledge, SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations for improved decision making in developing countries, sought to design a frost monitoring and forecasting service that would provide farmers with enough lead time to react to and protect against a forecasted frost occurrence on their farm. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa, through its implementing partner, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), designed a service that included multiple stakeholder engagement events whereby stakeholders from the tea industry value chain were invited to share their experiences so that the exact needs and flow of information could be identified. This unique event allowed enabled the design of a service that fit the specifications of the stakeholders. The monitoring service component uses the MODIS Land Surface Temperature product to identify frost occurrences in near-real time. The prediction component, currently under testing, uses the 2-m air temperature, relative humidity, and 10-m wind speed from a series of high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model runs over eastern Kenya as inputs into a frost prediction algorithm. Accuracy and sensitivity of the algorithm is being assessed with observations collected from the farmers using a smart phone app developed specifically to report frost occurrences, and from data shared through our partner network developed at the stakeholder engagement meeting. This presentation will illustrate the efficacy of our frost forecasting algorithm, and a way forward for incorporating these forecasts in a meaningful way to the key decision makers - the small-scale farmers of East Africa.

frost↗

Low Noise Amplifiers and Receivers for Remote Sensing

The study of atmospheric dynamics and climatology depend on accurate and frequent measurements of temperature and humidity profiles of the atmosphere. These measurements furthermore enable highly accurate measurements of ocean topography by providing total column water vapour data for radar path delay correction. The atmospheric temperature profile is characterised at the oxygen molecule absorption frequencies (60 and 118 GHz) and the humidity profile at the water molecule absorption frequencies (23 and 183 GHz). Total column measurements can be achieved by comparing measured radiometric temperatures at atmospheric window channels, such as 90, 130 and 166 GHz. The standard receiver technology for these frequencies was diode mixers with MMIC LNAs being applied at the lower frequencies. The sensitivity of millimetre wave receivers improved significantly with the introduction of the low noise 35 nm gate length InP MMIC amplifiers. We currently achieve 3 dB noise figure at 180 GHz and 2 dB noise figure at 90 GHz with our MMIC low noise amplifiers (LNAs) in room temperature. These amplifiers and the receivers we have built using them made it possible to conduct highly accurate airborne measurement campaigns from the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle, develop millimeter wave internally calibrated radiometers for altimeter radar path delay correction, and build prototypes of large arrays of millimeter receivers for a geostationary interferometric sounder. We use the developed millimeter wave receivers to measure temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere and in hurricanes as well as to characterize the path delay error in ocean topography altimetry.

low noise amplifier↗

Cloud optical thickness feedbacks in the CO2 climate problem

A radiative-convective equilibrium model is developed and applied to study cloud optical thickness feedbacks in the CO2 climate problem. The basic hypothesis is that in the warmer and moister CO2-rich atmosphere, cloud liquid water content will generally be larger too. For clouds other than thin cirrus the result is to increase the albedo more than to increase the greenhouse effect. Thus, the sign of the feedback is negative: cloud optical properties act as a thermostat and alter in such a way as to reduce the surface and tropospheric warming caused by the addition of CO2. This negative feedback can be substantial. When observational estimates of the temperature dependence of cloud liquid water content are employed in the model, the surface temperature change caused by doubling CO2 is reduced by about one half. This result is obtained for global and annual average conditions, no change in cloud amount or altitude, and constant relative humidity. These idealizations, together with other simplifications typical of one-dimensional radiative-convective climate models, render the result tentative. Further study of cloud optical property feedbacks is warranted, however, because the climate is apparently so sensitive to them.

Somerville, R. C. J.↗

Laser remote sensing of atmospheric ammonia using a CO2 lidar system

A CO2 differential-absorption lidar system has been used for the remote sensing of ammonia in the atmosphere. For CO2 lidar returns backscattered from topographic targets at ranges up to 2.7 km, the path-averaged sensitivity of the DIAL system was 5 ppb of NH3. Concentrations of atmospheric ammonia were found to vary during the day from undetectable levels (less than 5 ppb) to as high as 20 ppb, depending on temperature and humidity conditions.

Force, A. P.↗

March 2003 EOS Aqua AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice Field Campaign

An overview of the March 2003 coordinated sea ice field campaign in the Alaskan Arctic is presented with reference to the papers in this special section. This campaign is part of the program to validate the Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) sea ice products. Standard AMSR-E sea ice products include sea ice concentration, sea ice temperature, and snow depth on sea ice. The validation program consists of three elements, namely: 1) satellite data comparisons; 2) coordinated satellite/aircraft surface measurements; and 3) modeling and sensitivity analyses. Landsat-7 and RADARSAT observations were used in comparative studies with the retrieved AMSR-E sea ice concentrations. The aircraft sensors provided high-resolution microwave imagery of the surface, atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity, and digital records of sea ice conditions. When combined with in situ measurements, aircraft data were used to validate the AMSR-E sea ice temperature and snow-depth products. The modeling studies helped interpret the field-data comparisons, provided insight on the limitations of the AMSR-E sea ice algorithms, and suggested potential improvements to the AMSR-E retrieval algorithms.

Cavalieri, Donald J.↗

Shipboard Sunphotometer Measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth Spectra and Columnar Water Vapor During ACE-2 and Comparison with Selected Land, Ship, Aircraft, and Satellite Measurements

Analyses of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and colurnmn water vapor (CWV) measurements acquired with NASA Ames Research Center's 6-channel Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) operated aboard the R/V Professor Vodyanitskiy during the 2nd Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) are discussed. Data are compared with various in situ and remote measurements for selected cases. The focus is on 10 July, when the Pelican airplane flew within 70 km of the ship near the time of a NOAA-14/AVHRR satellite overpass and AOD measurements with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) above the marine boundary layer (MBL) permitted calculation of AOD within the MBL from the AATS-6 measurements. A detailed column closure test is performed for MBL AOD on 10 July by comparing the AATS-6 MBL AODs with corresponding values calculated by combining shipboard particle size distribution measurements with models of hygroscopic growth and radiosonde humidity profiles (plus assumptions on the vertical profile of the dry particle size distribution and composition). Large differences (30-80% in the mid-visible) between measured and reconstructed AODs are obtained, in large part because of the high sensitivity of the closure methodology to hygroscopic growth models, which vary considerably and have not been validated over the necessary range of particle size/composition distributions. The wavelength dependence of AATS-6 AODs is compared with the corresponding dependence of aerosol extinction calculated from shipboard measurements of aerosol size distribution and of total scattering mearured by a shipboard integrating nephelometer for several days. Results are highly variable, illustrating further the great difficulty of deriving column values from point measurements. AATS-6 CWV values are shown to agree well with corresponding values derived from radiosonde measurements during 8 soundings on 7 days and also with values calculated from measurements taken on 10 July with the AATS-14 and the University of Washington Passive Humidigraph aboard the Pelican.

Livingston, John M.↗

Shipboard Sunphotometer Measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth Spectra and Columnar Water Vapor During ACE-2, and Comparison with Selected Land, Ship, Aircraft, and Satellite Measurements

Analyses of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and columnar water vapor (CWV) measurements acquired with NASA Ames Research Center's six-channel Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) operated aboard the R/V (research vehicle) Professor Vodyanitskiy during the second Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) are discussed. Data are compared with various in situ and remote measurements for selected cases. The focus is on 10 July, when the Pelican airplane flew within 70 km of the ship near the time of a NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration)-14/AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) satellite overpass and AOD measurements with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) above the marine boundary layer (MBL) permitted calculation of AOD within the MBL from the AATS-6 measurements. A detailed column closure test is performed for MBL AOD on 10 July by comparing the AATS-6 MBL AODs with corresponding values calculated by combining shipboard particle size distribution measurements with models of hygroscopic growth and radiosonde humidity profiles (plus assumptions on the vertical profile of the dry particle size distribution and composition). Large differences (30-80% in the mid-visible) between measured and reconstructed AODs are obtained, in large part because of the high sensitivity of the closure methodology to hygroscopic growth models, which vary considerably and have not been validated over the necessary range of particle size/composition distributions. The wavelength dependence of AATS-6 AODs is compared with the corresponding dependence of aerosol extinction calculated from shipboard measurements of aerosol size distribution and of total scattering measured by a shipboard integrating nephelometer for several days. Results are highly variable, illustrating further the great difficulty of deriving column values from point measurements. AATS-6 CWV values are shown to agree well with corresponding values derived from radiosonde measurements during eight soundings on seven days and also with values calculated from measurements taken on 10 July with the AATS-14 and the University of Washington Passive Humidigraph aboard the Pelican.

Livingston, John M.↗

Environmental Testing of Contamination Sensitive Instruments and Optics in Non-Cleanliness Controlled Facilities

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Telescope Element + Integrated Science Instrument Module (OTIS) went through environmental testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The vibration and acoustic tests occurred outside of cleanrooms. These areas are typically around ISO Class 8, far out of specifications for JWST. Through collaboration between the OTIS Mechanical and Contamination Engineering teams, a portable clean enclosure was designed, built, and verified to prevent contamination of the sensitive OTIS assembly. This manuscript describes the process of designing and building this enclosure, including materials selection and High Efficiency Particle Air (HEPA) filtration. This enclosure also provided environmental control with a portable air conditioning unit to control the relative humidity level enabling personnel to work within it. The manuscript emphasizes working in a systematic order to maintain cleanliness and integrity. “Clean as you go” during construction was a top priority to ensure that this critical Ground Support Equipment (GSE) was acceptable. The process of installing the walls and then sealing their internal and external surfaces with approved films was critical to maintaining OTIS integrity. This proved important because OTIS was in the enclosure for months longer than originally planned. This manuscript concludes by reviewing the process used to verify that the OTIS clean enclosure could achieve acceptable contamination level fallout accumulation for use during the vibration and acoustic testing and then verifying that the predicted performance was achieved after testing was complete.

Contamination Control, James Webb Space Telescope,↗

Experiments with the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) using the synthetic relative humidity

This study is intended to examine the impact of the synthetic relative humidity on the model simulation of mesoscale convective storm environment. The synthetic relative humidity is derived from the National Weather Services surface observations, and non-conventional sources including aircraft, radar, and satellite observations. The latter sources provide the mesoscale data of very high spatial and temporal resolution. The synthetic humidity data is used to complement the National Weather Services rawinsonde observations. It is believed that a realistic representation of initial moisture field in a mesoscale model is critical for the model simulation of thunderstorm development, and the formation of non-convective clouds as well as their effects on the surface energy budget. The impact will be investigated based on a real-data case study using the mesoscale atmospheric simulation system developed by Mesoscale Environmental Simulations Operations, Inc. The mesoscale atmospheric simulation system consists of objective analysis and initialization codes, and the coarse-mesh and fine-mesh dynamic prediction models. Both models are a three dimensional, primitive equation model containing the essential moist physics for simulating and forecasting mesoscale convective processes in the atmosphere. The modeling system is currently implemented at the Applied Meteorology Unit, Kennedy Space Center. Two procedures involving the synthetic relative humidity to define the model initial moisture fields are considered. It is proposed to perform several short-range (approximately 6 hours) comparative coarse-mesh simulation experiments with and without the synthetic data. They are aimed at revealing the model sensitivities should allow us both to refine the specification of the observational requirements, and to develop more accurate and efficient objective analysis schemes. The goal is to advance the MASS (Mesoscal Atmospheric Simulation System) modeling expertise so that the model output can provide reliable guidance for thunderstorm forecasting.

Chang, Chia-Bo↗

Hygrothermal properties of composites

The testing procedure and acceptance criteria for outgassing selection of materials to be used in spacecraft has been reviewed. Outgassing testing should be conducted according to ASTM Standard E 595-90. In general, materials with CVCM less than or equal to 0.10% and TML less than or equal to 1.00% are acceptable for space applications. Next, test data on several types of graphite-epoxy composite materials are presented over time at various relative humidity levels at room temperature for moisture absorption, and under vacuum at several temperatures for moisture desorption (outgassing). The data can be accurately represented by simple equations which are useful for materials characterization. Finally, a laser dilatometer systems of extremely high sensitivity and accuracy was assembled and used to measure the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of several types of graphite-epoxy structures, culminating in the ability to perform loading and thermal expansion tests on a prototype optical bench.

Arsenovic, Petar↗

Cloud Cover Increase with Increasing Aerosol Absorptivity: A Counterexample to the Conventional Semidirect Aerosol Effect

We reexamine the aerosol semidirect effect using a general circulation model and four cases of the single-scattering albedo of dust aerosols. Contrary to the expected decrease in low cloud cover due to heating by tropospheric aerosols, we find a significant increase with increasing absorptivity of soil dust particles in regions with high dust load, except during Northern Hemisphere winter. The strongest sensitivity of cloud cover to dust absorption is found over land during Northern Hemisphere summer. Here even medium and high cloud cover increase where the dust load is highest. The cloud cover change is directly linked to the change in relative humidity in the troposphere as a result of contrasting changes in specific humidity and temperature. More absorption by aerosols leads to larger diabatic heating and increased warming of the column, decreasing relative humidity. However, a corresponding increase in the specific humidity exceeds the temperature effect on relative humidity. The net effect is more low cloud cover with increasing aerosol absorption. The higher specific humidity where cloud cover strongly increases is attributed to an enhanced convergence of moisture driven by dust radiative heating. Although in some areas our model exhibits a reduction of low cloud cover due to aerosol heating consistent with the conventional description of the semidirect effect, we conclude that the link between aerosols and clouds is more varied, depending also on changes in the atmospheric circulation and the specific humidity induced by the aerosols. Other absorbing aerosols such as black carbon are expected to have a similar effect.

Perlwitz, Jan↗

Modeling Insights into Deuterium Excess as an Indicator of Water Vapor Source Conditions

Deuterium excess (d) is interpreted in conventional paleoclimate reconstructions as a tracer of oceanic source region conditions, such as temperature, where precipitation originates. Previous studies have adopted co-isotopic approaches to estimate past changes in both site and oceanic source temperatures for ice core sites using empirical relationships derived from conceptual distillation models, particularly Mixed Cloud Isotopic Models (MCIMs). However, the relationship between d and oceanic surface conditions remains unclear in past contexts. We investigate this climate-isotope relationship for sites in Greenland and Antarctica using multiple simulations of the water isotope-enabled Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE-R general circulation model and apply a novel suite of model vapor source distribution (VSD) tracers to assess d as a proxy for source temperature variability under a range of climatic conditions. Simulated average source temperatures determined by the VSDs are compared to synthetic source temperature estimates calculated using MCIM equations linking d to source region conditions. We show that although deuterium excess is generally a faithful tracer of source temperatures as estimated by the MCIM approach, large discrepancies in the isotope-climate relationship occur around Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum simulation, when precipitation seasonality and moisture source regions were notably different from present. This identified sensitivity in d as a source temperature proxy suggests that quantitative climate reconstructions from deuterium excess should be treated with caution for some sites when boundary conditions are significantly different from the present day. Also, the exclusion of the influence of humidity and other evaporative source changes in MCIM regressions may be a limitation of quantifying source temperature fluctuations from deuterium excess in some instances.

simulation↗

Passive Microwave Studies of Atmospheric Precipitation and State

The principal contributions of this research on novel passive microwave spectral techniques are in the areas of: (1) global precipitation mapping using the opaque spectral bands on research and operational weather satellites, (2) development and analysis of extensive aircraft observational imaging data sets obtained using the MIT instrument NAST-M near 54 and 118 GHz over hurricanes and weather ranging from tropical to polar; simultaneous data from the 8500-channel infrared spectrometer NAST-I was obtained and analyzed separately, (3) estimation of hydrometeor diameters in cell tops using data from aircraft and spacecraft, (4) continued improvement of expressions for atmospheric transmittance at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths, (5) development and airborne use of spectrometers operating near 183- and 425-GHz bands, appropriate to practical systems in geosynchronous orbit, and (6) preliminary studies of the design and performance of future geosynchronous microwave sounders for temperature and humidity profiles and for continuous monitoring of regional precipitation through most clouds. This work was a natural extension of work under NASA Grant NAG5-2545 and its predecessors. This earlier work had developed improved airborne imaging microwave spectrometers and had shown their sensitivity to precipitation altitude and character. They also had prepared the foundations for precipitation estimation using the opaque microwave bands. The field demonstration and improvement of these capabilities was then a central part of the present research reported here, during which period the first AMSU data became available and several hurricanes were overflown by NAST-M, yielding unique data about their microwave signatures. This present work has in turn helped lay the foundation for future progress in incorporating the opaque microwave channels in systems for climatologically precise global precipitation mapping from current and future operational satellites. Extension of these techniques to global snowfall mapping, even over ice and snow, is one such opportunity signaled by this research.

Staelin, David H.↗

High Lapse Rates in AIRS Retrieved Temperatures in Cold Air Outbreaks

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) experiment, on NASA's Aqua spacecraft, uses a combination of infrared and microwave observations to retrieve cloud and surface properties, plus temperature and water vapor profiles comparable to radiosondes throughout the troposphere, for cloud cover up to 70%. The high spectral resolution of AIRS provides sensitivity to important information about the near-surface atmosphere and underlying surface. A preliminary analysis of AIRS temperature retrievals taken during January 2003 reveals extensive areas of superadiabatic lapse rates in the lowest kilometer of the atmosphere. These areas are found predominantly east of North America over the Gulf Stream, and, off East Asia over the Kuroshio Current. Accompanying the high lapse rates are low air temperatures, large sea-air temperature differences, and low relative humidities. Imagery from a Visible / Near Infrared instrument on the AIRS experiment shows accompanying clouds. These lines of evidence all point to shallow convection in the bottom layer of a cold air mass overlying warm water, with overturning driven by heat flow from ocean to atmosphere. An examination of operational radiosondes at six coastal stations in Japan shows AIRS to be oversensitive to lower tropospheric lapse rates due to systematically warm near-surface air temperatures. The bias in near-surface air temperature is seen to be independent of sea surface temperature, however. AIRS is therefore sensitive to air-sea temperature difference, but with a warm atmospheric bias. A regression fit to radiosondes is used to correct AIRS near-surface retrieved temperatures, and thereby obtain an estimate of the true atmosphere-ocean thermal contrast in five subtropical regions across the north Pacific. Moving eastward, we show a systematic shift in this air-sea temperature differences toward more isothermal conditions. These results, while preliminary, have implications for our understanding of heat flow from ocean to atmosphere. We anticipate future improvements in the AIRS retrieval algorithm will lead to improved understanding of the exchange of sensible and latent heat from ocean to atmosphere, and more realistic near-surface lapse rates.

cold air outbreak↗

Delayed darkening of radiation-exposed radiochromic dye dosimeters

Experiments have verified the existence of considerable delayed darkening in FWT-60 dosimetry films that may, depending on relative humidity, last for several hours. The amount of delayed darkening depends very strongly on the relative humidity at which the films are equilibrated before irradiation. It is pointed out that the delayed darkening effect must be taken into account before any meaningful dosimetric measurements may be made using these nylon-based thin dosimetry films. The particular radiation-sensitive compound used in the FWT-60 films is the hexahydrosyethyl pararosanaline cyanide with the Dupont nylon resin, Elvamide 8061, which forms the host matrix of a solid-state solution.

Danchenko, V.↗

Interpretation of ground-based radiometric observations in terms of a gravity wave model

An analysis is presented of 2-hour and 4-hour segments of data taken at Denver, Colorado, on February 3, 1984, by a ground-based radiometer designed and operated by the Wave Propagation Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The zenith-viewing instrument has two moisture-sensing and four temperature-sensing channels. It is demonstrated that a peak at a period of 10 min, present in the spectra of the measured brightness temperature and of the derived geopotential heights, thicknesses, and vertically integrated water vapor content, is due to an internal gravity wave generated by wind shear in the jet aloft. This analysis shows that the radiometer has the sensitivity to detect such disturbances and that the mathematical inversion technique used to retrieve the geopotential field and other integrated quantities retains the derived information as well. Finally, a linear expression is derived which relates the brightness temperature to the atmospheric temperature, density, humidity, and cloud liquid perturbation fields.

Canavero, F. G.↗