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These data were collected with airborne wind instrumentation booms onboard the TBS at BNF M1. The data include 60 Hz wind speed, component wind speed, wind direction, TKE, TI, and altitude measurements.
Wind profiles measured by smoke trail technique presented as plots of velocity components
In this paper a self-editing quick look procedure is presented for use at the Sunset radar. It is used for determining relatively unbiased hourly estimates of the u and v components of the wind. The technique presented here should be applicable to all height ranges, though only ST results are presented here. The vertical wind component, w, may be measured directly by pointing the radar beam straight up. The east and west components of the wind, u and v, however, must be estimated by projecting to the horizontal plane the radial velocity, vr, actually observed by pointing the radar suitably off zenith.
The spectra of the radial (V sub R) and nonradial (V sub T, V sub N) velocity components of the solar wind, the proton density (rho) and the proton thermal speed (W), show increasing power with increasing period up to a period of about 1 day. The powers tend to level off above 1 day except for that of V sub R which continues to increase up to a period of 10 days. At all periods, the power is V sub R is greater than that in V sub T V sub N, and W, and the difference becomes very large at the longest periods because of the increasing power in V sub R. The powers in V sub T V sub N, and W are similar at all periods. The cross spectra reveal a sharp change in behavior at periods above and below approximately 1 day, suggesting that two distant types of physical processes must dominate above and below this dividing period. In general, the coherences at the long periods are larger than at the short periods suggesting that the physical situation in the long period regime may be simpler than in the short period regime where multiple processes appear to be required to account for the low coherences.
Detailed measurements of the mean flow and turbulence were made with the use of a micrometeorological facility consisting of an instrumented 76-m tall tower located within a 100-m distance from the Atlantic Ocean at Wallops Island, Virginia. Under moderately strong wind conditions, the popular neutral boundary layer flow model fails to provide an adequate description of the actual flow. In addition to detailed flow information for all wind directions, averages of the important flow parameters used for design such as vertical distribution of mean velocity, turbulence intensities and turbulence integral scales were presented for wind direction sectors with near uniform upstream terrain. Power spectra of the three velocity components for the prevailing northwesterly and southerly winds are discussed.
The Sunset radar is a VHF, pulsed Doppler radar located in a narrow canyon near the Sunset townsite 15 km west of Boulder, CO. This facility is operated by the Aeronomy Laboratory, ERL, NOAA, exclusively for meteorological research and the development of the mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST) and stratosphere-troposphere (ST) radar technique. Recent results include a measurement of all three components of wind velocity for the Federal Administration.
From January 1, 1983 to March 30, 1983 the ISEE-3 spacecraft was in the region of the magnetotail of the earth at distances from 60 to 240 R sub E. The ion composition instrument aboard ISEE-3 made ion composition and velocity measurements in two modes during this period. In the first mode the mass per charge (M/Q) range was 0.7 to 32 at velocities from 79 to 220 km per s. The M/Q range of the second mode was 1.4 to 6.0 at velocities from 300 to 620 km per s. Preliminary analysis of the data shows the magnetotail composition to have a significant solar wind-like component, with bulk velocities generally in the 300-600 km per s range.
Correlation coefficients between radial components of interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind velocity from Mariner 5 data due to Alfven waves
By using Explorer 35 interplanetary observations of solar protons with energies greater than 0.3 MeV during ten selected solar events (1967-1970) the tine dependence of intensity and of the angular distribution of intensity has been studied for the first time in the sub-MeV range of energy. The respective contributions of diffusive and convective transport are resolved. Results are qualitatively similar to those of McCracken et al. (1968, 1971) in the energy range from 7.5to 45 MeV; but, as was expected, convective transport is found to be relatively more important at the lower energies. The convective component of the anisotropy vector yields values of the solar wind velocity in good agreement with directly measured values.
The ST/MST (stratosphere troposphere/mesosphere stratosphere troposphere) clear air Doppler radar, or wind profiler, is an important tool in observational meteorology because of its capability to remote observe dynamic parameters of the atmosphere. There are difficulties in transforming the observed radial velocities into meteorological wind components. How this problem has been treated in the past is reviewed, and some of the analysis is recast to a form more suited to the high diagnostic abilities of a number of fixed beam configurations with reference to a linear wind field. The results, in conjunction with other works which treats problems such as the effects of finite sample volumes in the presence of nonhomogeneous atmospheric reflectivity, have implications important to the design of both individual MST/ST radars and MST/ST radar networks. The key parameters to uncoupling terms in the scaling equations are w sub x and w sub y. Whenever the stratiform condition, which states that these two parameters are negligible, is satisfied, a five beam ST radar may determine unbiased values of u, v, and w for sample volumes directly above the radar. The divergence and partial deformation of the flow may also be determined. Three beam systems can determine w and w sub z, but are unable to obtain u and v wind components uncontaminated by vertical sheer terms, even when the stratiform condition is satisfied.
The MIT group participated in seven publications in the 1999 issues of JGR with sections devoted in PEM-Tropics A, and had two papers which may be considered offshoots of these studies combined with commercial aircraft trace constituents data, one in Nature and one in EOS. In the meteorological overview we contributed a set of 1000 hPa divergent wind maps which we calculated from ECMWF data, meridional wind cross-sections, velocity potential and divergent wind maps, maps of stream function and rotational wind components, and vertical velocity profiles computed from mass balance, these all constituting part of the overall climatology. We also contributed material for the "stalactite" case observed from the DC-8 on September 3, 1996. This included a map of potential vorticity on 350 K, a cross-section of lidaro O3 a cross-section of potential vorticity along 140 deg W, and a map of specific humidity showing extreme dryness accompanying the high potential vorticity values and the high ozone values, all suggesting subsidence from the local stratosphere. In the paper on chemical characteristics we contributed 12 hour values of the 1000 hPa divergent wind component for the full period of PEM Tropics A; these were used by David Westberg to establish the air mass boundaries and in turn used by Gerry Gregory to set up a table of quantitative values of trace constituents and their ratios both sides of the boundaries.
A coaxial focused CW scanning laser Doppler velocimeter (SLDV) radar equipment applying heterodyne detection at 10.6 microns can measure intensity fluctuations under field conditions. The set includes a 20 W CO2 laser, a coaxial Cassegrainian telescope, standard heterodyne equipment, and a SAW spectrum analyzer with 100 kHz signal resolution. Operation of the equipment and techniques for taking remote measurements are described briefly. Applications to remote measurements of transverse component of wind speed, as a complement to the traditional Doppler method of determining axial velocity, are under study. SLDV equipment has been used in detection, tracking, and measurements of atmospheric turbulence associated with aircraft wing-tip vortices or with dust devils, and in measurement of general atmospheric wind profiles.
In a previous study, Knudsen et al. suggested that Venus has a weak internal magnetic dipole field of the order of 7 x 10 + 20 G cm(exp -3) that is manifested in the form of magnetic flux tubes threading the ionospheric holes in the Venus nightside ionosphere. They pointed out that any internal field of Venus, dipole or multipole, would be weakened in the subsolar region and concentrated in the antisolar region of the planet by the supersonic transterminator convection of the dayside ionosphere into the nightside hemisphere. The inferred magnitude of the dipole field does not violate the upper limit for an internal magnetic field established by the Pioneer Venus magnetometer experiment. The most compelling objection to the model suggested by Knudsen et al. has been the fact that it does not explain the observed interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) control of the polarity of the ionospheric hole flux tubes. In this presentation I suggest that a magnetic reconnection process analogous to that occurring at earth is occurring at Venus between the IMF and a weak internal dipole field. At Venus in the subsolar region, the reconnection occurs within the ionosphere. At Earth it occurs at the magnetopause. Reconnection will occur only when the IMF has an appropriate orientation relative to that of the weak internal field. Thus, reconnection provides a process for the IMF to control the flux tube polarity. The reconnection in the subsolar region takes place in the ionosphere as the barrier magnetic field is transported downward into the lower ionosphere by downward convection of ionospheric plasma and approaches the oppositely directed internal magnetic field that is diffusing upward. The reconnected flux tubes are then transported anti-Sunward by the anti-Sunward convecting ionospheric plasma as well as by the anti-Sunward-flowing solar wind. Reconnection will also occur in the Venus magnetic tail region, somewhat analogously to the reconnection that occurs in the magnetotail of the Earth. The possibility that reconnection is occurring between the IMF and an internal dipole field may be tested by measuring the orientation of the IMF projected into a plane perpendicular to the solar wind velocity during time intervals for which ionospheric holes are observed. The orientations of the IMV components should fall within a 180 deg angle.
We present deep X-ray and radio observations of the fast blue optical transient (FBOT) AT 2020xnd/ZTF 20acigmel at z = 0.2433 from 13 days to 269 days after explosion. AT 2020xnd belongs to the category of optically luminous FBOTs with similarities to the archetypal event AT 2018cow. AT 2020xnd shows luminous radio emission reaching L ν ≈ 8 × 10 29 erg s -1 Hz -1 at 20 GHz and 75 days post-explosion, accompanied by luminous and rapidly fading soft X-ray emission peaking at L X ≈ 6 × 10 42 erg s -1 . Interpreting the radio emission in the context of synchrotron radiation from the explosion's shock interaction with the environment, we find that AT 2020xnd launched a high-velocity outflow (v ~ 0.1c–0.2c) propagating into a dense circumstellar medium (effective $\dot{M}\approx {10}^{-3}\,{M}_{\odot }$ yr -1 for an assumed wind velocity of v w = 1000 km s -1 ). Similar to AT 2018cow, the detected X-ray emission is in excess compared to the extrapolated synchrotron spectrum and constitutes a different emission component, possibly powered by accretion onto a newly formed black hole or neutron star. These properties make AT 2020xnd a high-redshift analog to AT 2018cow, and establish AT 2020xnd as the fourth member of the class of optically luminous FBOTs with luminous multiwavelength counterparts.
Periodic wind measurements at meteor heights from ionized meteor trails by radio reflections
Homodyne laser-Doppler system determines three-component wind velocity at altitudes of several kilometers in clear-air conditions. There is no need for deployment of towers, radiosondes, or for seeding airflows.
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) operates a ground-based atmospheric profiling network consisting of collocated radar wind profilers (RWP) and radio acoustic sounding systems (RASS) as part of its Ambient Air Monitoring Program. This network provides continuous observations of wind and temperature structure in the lower troposphere to support air quality forecasting, regulatory analysis, and atmospheric research. The network currently includes three fixed sites across Maryland: Horn Point (HP, lower eastern shore) [38.587525°,-76.141006°], Howard University-Beltsville (HUB, central Maryland) [39.055277°, -76.878632°], and Piney Run (PR, western Maryland) [39.705950°, -79.012000°] The network is designed to capture regional variability in atmospheric transport and boundary-layer processes. These systems measure vertical profiles of horizontal wind speed and direction using Doppler radar techniques, with observations typically spanning from ~100 m above ground level up to approximately 2.5–4 km. Measurements are derived from the Doppler shift of backscattered electromagnetic signals, enabling retrieval of wind vectors at multiple altitudes with high temporal resolution (e.g., 30-minute averages reported every 6 minutes). Each radar wind profiler is paired with a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) to provide profiles of virtual temperature in the lower atmosphere (~100–200 m AGL) by measuring the propagation speed of acoustic waves. Together, the RWP/RASS system yields a coupled data set of thermodynamic and kinematic atmospheric structure, including additional parameters such as vertical velocity, radial velocity, signal-to-noise ratio, and spectral width for advanced analysis. There are two types of files for each station: wind data (files with a "w" prefix) and virtual temperature RASS data (files with a "t" prefix). The wind data files are in the format wYYDDD.cns, where YY is the 2-digit year and DDD is the day of the year. The RASS virtual temperature data files are in the format tYYDDD.cns. Each record has the following header structure: Line 1 : Station Name RASS files Line 2 : RASS rev DeTect_2.0, WINDS files Line 2 : WINDS rev ATI 5.1 Line 3 : N latitude, W longitude, and site elevation (m) Line 4 : Date and begin time of consensus: yy mm dd hh mn ss plus # minutes to add to get UTC Line 5 : Consensus averaging time (minutes); number of beams; number of range gates Line 6 : Number of records required to make consensus (num) total number of records (tot) and the consensus window size (m/s) in the format: num:tot (window) RASS files Line 7 : no. of coded cells, no. of spec, pulse width (ns), and inter-pulse period (µs), WINDS files Line 7 : No. of coded cells, no. of spectra, pulse width (ns), and inter-pulse period (µs), each with a pair of values: first value is for oblique beams, second for vertical RASS files Line 8 : Full scale Doppler value (m/s) Delay to first gate (ns) Number of gates Spacing of gates (ns), WINDS files Line 8 : Full scale Doppler velocity (m/s), oblique and vertical Vertical correction applied to oblique beams? (0 = no, 1 = yes) Delay to first gate (ns), oblique and vertical Number of gates, oblique and vertical Spacing of gates (ns), oblique and vertical Line 9 : Azimuth and elevation (9s indicate vertical beam not used) RASS files Line 10, values : HT = Height above ground (km), T = Uncorrected virtual temperature consensus (deg C), Tc = Corrected virtual temperature consensus (deg C), W = Vertical wind consensus (9s indicate vertical beam not used, w-component, positive upward, m/s), CNT = Number of records that made consensus (for the 3 values in same order), SNR = Average signal to noise ratio (dB) of records in consensus (same order) WINDS files Line 10, values : HT = Height above ground (km), SPD = Wind speed (m/s), DIR = Wind direction (deg E of N from N), RAD = Radial velocities for each beam (m/s) in order given in azimuth and elevation line (positive toward radar; 9s indicate vertical beam not used, CNT = Number of records that made consensus, SNR = Average signal to noise ratio (dB) of records in consensus
Plots of winds encountered in-flight are presented for a severe turbulence case from JAWS flight 7 (near Denver on the afternoon of July 15, 1982). During the flight the B-57B showed a 30-knot increase in airspeed over a distance of about 426 ft and then a more gradual decrease of 40 to 50 knots over a distance of about 3.2 miles. This suspected outflow feature was associated with downdraft in excess of 20 knots. The horizontal wind direction changed almost 180 deg during the pass through the feature, and the intensity of velocity differences decreased for all three components within the downdraft. Calculated probability density functions for u, v, and w showed a jagged character; and distributions for Delta-u, Delta-v, and Delta-w were distinctly non-Gaussian. Based on skewness and kurtosis values, the data could probably best be modeled by a Pearson type VII (Student's t) distribution.