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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Experimental investigation of the dependence of radar backscattering on wind speed, wind stress and wave height

During summer 1988, radar measurements were performed in conjunction with detailed environmental observations on Lake Washington at the University of Washington Sand Point field station. Radar data were collected at 5.3 and 10 GHz for incidence angles between 30 and 60 deg with VV-polarization. The environmental measurements included wind speed and direction, large-wave heights, the high-frequency portion of the wave spectrum, humidity, and air and water temperatures. The small-scale wave spectrum was measured using a resistance wire gauge. The results show that backscatter increased with wind speed as expected. However, little difference was observed in the scattering coefficient for upwind and crosswind directions. The results also indicated an increase in the amplitude of small waves with friction velocity.

Gogineni, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Acceleration phenomena of high-speed wind observed at 0.1-0.3 AU with interplanetary scintillation

The radial distance dependence of solar wind speeds, which were measured by interplanetary scintillation method, has been studied especially for a high-speed solar wind, and large increase of the IPS speeds (300 km/s) was observed at the distance range of 0.1 - 0.3 AU. When the streams are mapped back onto the source surface, they distribute in polar coronal holes or their boundaries. Since the IPS measurement can be biased by several effects such as of line-of-sight integration, strong scattering and random velocities, we examined these biasing effects and have found difficulty to explain the large IPS speed increase with the biasing effects.

Kojima, M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Evaluation of SEASAT-A SMMR derived wind speed measurements

Wind speeds derived from versions of the least-squares and regression algorithms developed after the JASIN Workshop were evaluated. The accuracy of scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR) wind retrievals was determined in terms of the intrinsic accuracy of a baseline surface truth data set in favorable conditions. Effects which degrade the wind retrievals or introduce biases were identified and assessed. The performance of the SMMR in storms was ascertained with particular emphasis on the effects of rain.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2024

High Spectral Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) Retrievals of Ocean Surface Wind Speed: Methodology and Evaluation

Ocean surface wind speed (i.e., wind speed 10 m above sea level) is a critical parameter used by atmospheric models to estimate the state of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL). Accurate surface wind speed measurements in diverse locations are required to improve characterization of MABL dynamics and assess how models simulate large-scale phenomena related to climate change and global weather patterns. To provide these measurements, this study introduces and evaluates a new surface wind speed data product from the NASA Langley Research Center nadir-viewing High Spectral Resolution Lidar – generation 2 (HSRL-2) using data collected as part of the NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) mission. The HSRL-2 can directly measure vertically resolved aerosol backscatter and extinction profiles without additional constraints or assumptions, enabling the instrument to accurately derive atmospheric attenuation and directly determine surface reflectance (i.e., surface backscatter). Also, the high horizontal spatial resolution of the HSRL-2 retrievals (0.5 s or ∼ 75 m along track) allows the instrument to probe the fine-scale spatial variability in surface wind speeds over time along the flight track and over breaks in broken cloud fields. A rigorous evaluation of these retrievals is performed by comparing coincident HSRL-2 and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Airborne Vertical Atmosphere Profiling System (AVAPS) dropsonde data, owing to the joint deployment of these two instruments on the ACTIVATE King Air aircraft. These comparisons show correlations of 0.89, slopes of 1.04 and 1.17, and y intercepts of −0.13 and −1.05 m s−1 for linear and bisector regressions, respectively, and the overall accuracy is calculated to be 0.15 ± 1.80 m s−1. It is also shown that the dropsonde surface wind speed data most closely follow the HSRL-2 distribution of wave slope variance using the distribution proposed by Hu et al. (2008) rather than the ones proposed by Cox and Munk (1954) and Wu (1990) for surface wind speeds below 7 m s−1, with this category comprising most of the ACTIVATE data set. The retrievals are then evaluated separately for surface wind speeds below 7 m s−1 and between 7 and 13.3 m s−1 and show that the HSRL-2 retrieves surface wind speeds with a bias of ∼ 0.5 m s−1 and an error of ∼ 1.5 m s−1, a finding not apparent in the cumulative comparisons. Also, it is shown that the HSRL-2 retrievals are more accurate in the summer (−0.18 ± 1.52 m s−1) than in the winter (0.63 ± 2.07 m s−1), but the HSRL-2 is still able to make numerous (N=236) accurate retrievals in the winter. Overall, this study highlights the abilities and assesses the performance of the HSRL-2 surface wind speed retrievals, and it is hoped that further evaluation of these retrievals will be performed using other airborne and satellite data sets.

Sanja Dmitrovic↗
NASA NTRS2000

SSMI Wind Speed Climatology of the Time of Monsoon Wind Offset in the Western Arabian Sea

Forecasting the time of onset of monsoon wind in the western Arabian Sea, which is believed to precede the onset of rainfall along the west coast of India, is an important unsolved problem. Prior to measurements of the surface wind field by satellite, there was an absence of suitable surface wind observations. NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) surface wind vectors revealed that the time of the 1997 onset of 12 m/s southwest monsoon wind speeds in the western Arabian Sea preceded the onset of monsoon rainfall in Goa, India, by 3 - 4 days. Wind speed and direction data were necessary to establish a dynamical mechanism between times of onset of 12 m/s wind speed off Somalia and rainfall in Goa. Except for NSCAT, no satellite scatterometer wind product recorded adequately sampled 2-day 1deg x 1deg averaged wind vectors, which are the required space and time scales, to examine the wind-rain relationship in other years. However, the greater-than-95% steadiness of summer monsoon winds allows an opportunity to use satellite measurements of surface wind speed. The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) recorded surface wind speed with adequate sampling to produce a 1-day, 1deg x 1deg data product during 1988 - 1998. SSMI data had been uniformly processed throughout the period. Times of onset of 12 m/s wind speed off Somalia determined with the SSMI data set were 21 May 1988, 24 May 1989, 17 May 1990, 28 May 1991, 8 June 1992, 28 May 1993, 30 May 1994, 7 June 1995, 29 May 1996, 12 June 1997, and 15 May 1998. Uncertainty of the 1992 and 1996 times of onset were increased because of the absence of SSMI data on 6 and 7 June 1992 and on 30 May 1996. Correlations of timing of monsoon wind onset with El Nino will be described. Variability of the time difference between times of onset of 12 m/s wind speed and Goa rainfall will be discussed. At the time of submission of the abstract, the Goa rainfall data have not arrived from the India Meteorological Department.

Halpern, David↗
NASA NTRS1973

Monthly and annual percentage levels of wind speed differences computed by using FPS-16 radar/Jimsphere wind profile data from Cape Kennedy, Florida

The percentage levels of wind speed differences are presented computed from sequential FPS-16 radar/Jimsphere wind profiles. The results are based on monthly profiles obtained from December 1964 to July 1970 at Cape Kennedy, Florida. The profile sequences contain a series of three to ten Jimspheres released at approximately 1.5-hour intervals. The results given are the persistence analysis of wind speed difference at 1.5-hour intervals to a maximum time interval of 12 hours. The monthly percentage of wind speed differences and the annual percentage of wind speed differences are tabulated. The percentage levels are based on the scalar wind speed changes calculated over an altitude interval of approximately 50 meters and printed out every 25 meters as a function of initial wind speed within each five-kilometer layer from near sea level to 20 km. In addition, analyses were made of the wind speed difference for the 0.2 to 1 km layer as an aid for studies associated with take-off and landing of the space shuttle.

Susko, M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Further development of an improved altimeter wind speed algorithm

A previous altimeter wind speed retrieval algorithm was developed on the basis of wind speeds in the limited range from about 4 to 14 m/s. In this paper, a new approach which gives a wind speed model function applicable over the range 0 to 21 m/s is used. The method is based on comparing 50 km along-track averages of the altimeter normalized radar cross section measurements with neighboring off-nadir scatterometer wind speed measurements. The scatterometer winds are constructed from 100 km binned measurements of radar cross section and are located approximately 200 km from the satellite subtrack. The new model function agrees very well with earlier versions up to wind speeds of 14 m/s, but differs significantly at higher wind speeds. The relevance of these results to the Geosat altimeter launched in March 1985 is discussed.

Chelton, Dudley B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

An atlas of monthly mean distributions of SSMI surface wind speed, AVHRR/2 sea surface temperature, AMI surface wind velocity, TOPEX/POSEIDON sea surface height, and ECMWF surface wind velocity during 1993

The following monthly mean global distributions for 1993 are presented with a common color scale and geographical map: 10-m height wind speed estimated from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) on a United States (U.S.) Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft; sea surface temperature estimated from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/2) on a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite; 10-m height wind speed and direction estimated from the Active Microwave Instrument (AMI) on the European Space Agency (ESA) European Remote Sensing (ERS-1) satellite; sea surface height estimated from the joint U.S.-France Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/POSEIDON spacecraft; and 10-m height wind speed and direction produced by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). Charts of annual mean, monthly mean, and sampling distributions are displayed.

Halpern, D.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Peak wind speed anemometer /maxometer/

Peak wind speed recording device, which employs a drag disk with two constant-rate springs /high and low/ and a precision clutching mechanism, measures wind speeds from 8 m/sec up to 200 m/sec while retaining permanent record of peak wind. Device withstands temperatures up to 810 K.

Camp, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1978

An analysis of maximum horizontal wind speeds and associated parameters recorded at NASA's 150-Meter Ground Winds Tower facility at Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Continuous horizontal wind speed measurements were processed and classified as a function of tower level (10, 18, 60, and 150 meters) and period of reference day, month, season: winter (October through March) and summer (April through September), and annual. Tabulations were made of the daily maximum horizontal wind speed, time of ocurrence, and five associated parameters: mean horizontal wind speed, maximum vertical gusts (i.e., updraft and downdraft), and mean and instantaneous directions. Analyses using these data included means, extremes, standard deviations, and frequency distributions. Comparisons of intensity of maximum horizontal wind speeds determined in this year of data are made with maximum values recorded at Kennedy Space Center during another non-hurricane-occurrence year (1967) and with values during 1966 through 1972 when six hurricanes affected the area after the Ground Winds Tower facility became operational. Wind flow in the lowest 150 meters of the atmosphere was measured for the identification of hazards involved in wind shear encounter relative to ascent and descent of the space shuttle and conventional aircraft.

Alexander, M. B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

ECMWF and SSM/I global surface wind speeds

Monthly mean 2.5 deg x 2.5 deg resolution 10-m height wind speeds from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) forecast-analysis system are compared between 60 deg S and 60 deg N during 1988-91. The SSM/I data were uniformly processed while numerous changes were made to the ECMWF forecast-analysis system. The SSM/I measurements, which were compared with moored-buoy wind observations, were used as a reference dataset to evaluate the influence of the changes made to the ECMWF system upon the ECMWF surface wind speed over the ocean. A demonstrable yearly decrease of the difference between SSM/I and ECMWF wind speeds occurred in the 10 deg S-10 deg N region, including the 5 deg S-5 deg N zone of the Pacific Ocean, where nearly all of the variations occurred in the 160 deg E-160 deg W region. The apparent improvement of the ECMWF wind speed occurred at the same time as the yearly decrease of the equatorial Pacific SSM/I wind speed, which was associated with the natural transition from La Nina to El Nino conditions. In the 10 deg S-10 deg N tropical Atlantic, the ECMWF wind speed had a 4-yr trend, which was not expected nor was it duplicated with the SSM/I data. No yearly trend was found in the difference between SSM/I and ECMWF surface wind speeds in middle latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The magnitude of the differences between SSM/I and ECMWF was 0.4 m/s or 100% larger in the Northern than in the Southern Hemisphere extratropics. In two areas (Arabian Sea and North Atlantic Ocean) where ECMWF and SSM/I wind speeds were compared to ship measurements, the ship data had much better agreement with the ECMWF analyses compared to SSM/I data. In the 10 deg S-10 deg N area the difference between monthly standard deviations of the daily wind speeds dropped significantly from 1988 to 1989 but remained constant at about 30% for the remaining years.

Halpern, David↗
NASA NTRS1991

Relationship between gas exchange, wind speed, and radar backscatter in a large wind-wave tank

The relationships between the gas exchange, wind speed, friction velocity, and radar backscatter from the water surface was investigated using data obtained in a large water tank in the Delft (Netherlands) wind-wave tunnel, filled with water supersaturated with SF6, N2O, and CH4. Results indicate that the gas-transfer velocities of these substances were related to the wind speed with a power law dependence. Microwave backscatter from water surface was found to be related to gas transfer velocities by a relationship in the form k(gas) = a 10 exp (b A0), where k is the gas transfer velocity for the particular gas, the values of a and b are obtained from a least squares fit of the average backscatter cross section and gas transfer at 80 m, and A0 is the directional (azimuthal) averaged return.

Wanninkhof, Richard H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

ECMWF and SSMI Global Surface Wind Speeds

Monthly mean, 2.5 deg - x 2.5 deg-resolution, 10-m height wind speeds from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI) instrument and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) forecast-analysis system are compared between 60 deg S and 60 deg N during 1988-1991. The SSMI data were uniformly processed while numerous changes were made to the ECMWF forecast-analysis system. The SSMI measurements, which were compared with moored-buoy wind observations, were considered to be a reference data set to evaluate the influence of the changes made to the ECMWF system upon the ECMWF surface wind speed over the ocean. A demonstrable yearly decrease of the difference between SSMI and ECMWF wind speeds occurred in the 10 deg S - 10 deg N region, including the 5 deg S - 5 deg N zone of the Pacific Ocean, where nearly all of the variations occurred in the 160 deg E - 160 deg W region. The apparent improvement of the ECMWF wind speed occurred at the same time as the yearly decrease of the equatorial Pacific SSMI wind speed, which was associated with the natural transition from La Nina to El Nino conditions. In the 10 deg S - 10 deg N tropical Atlantic, the ECMWF wind speed had a 4-year trend, which was not expected nor was it duplicated with the SSMI data. No yearly trend was found in the difference between SSMI and ECMWF surface wind speeds in middle latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres. The magnitude of the differences between SSMI and ECMWF was 0.4 m s^(-1) or 100 percent larger in the northern than in the southern hemisphere extratropics. In two areas (Arabian Sea and North Atlantic Ocean) where ECMWF and SSMI wind speeds were compared to ship measurements, the ship data had much better agreement with the ECMWF analyses compared to SSMI data. In the 10 deg S - 10 deg N area the difference between monthly standard deviations of the daily wind speeds dropped significantly from 1988 to 1989, but remained constant at about 30 percent for the remaining years. y.

Halpern, David↗
NASA NTRS1989

Low-speed wind tunnel performance of high-speed counterrotation propellers at angle-of-attack

The low-speed aerodynamic performance characteristics of two advanced counterrotation pusher-propeller configurations with cruise design Mach numbers of 0.72 were investigated in the NASA Lewis 9- by 15-Foot Low-Speed Wind Tunnel. The tests were conducted at Mach number 0.20, which is representative of the aircraft take/off/landing flight regime. The investigation determined the effect of nonuniform inflow on the propeller performance characteristics for several blade angle settings and a range of rotational speeds. The inflow was varied by yawing the propeller mode to angle-of-attack by as much as plus or minus 16 degrees and by installing on the counterrotation propeller test rig near the propeller rotors a model simulator of an aircraft engine support pylon and fuselage. The results of the investigation indicated that the low-speed performance of the counterrotation propeller configurations near the take-off target operating points were reasonable and were fairly insensitive to changes in model angle-of-attack without the aircraft pylon/fuselage simulators installed on the propeller test rig. When the aircraft pylon/fuselage simulators were installed, small changes in propeller performance were seen at zero angle-of-attack, but fairly large changes in total power coefficient and very large changes of aft-to-forward-rotor torque ratio were produced when the propeller model was taken to angle-of-attack. The propeller net efficiency, though, was fairly insensitive to any changes in the propeller flowfield conditions near the take-off target operating points.

Hughes, Christopher E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Low-speed wind tunnel performance of high-speed counterrotation propellers at angle-of-attack

The low-speed aerodynamic performance characteristics of two advanced counterrotation pusher-propeller configurations with cruise design Mach numbers of 0.72 were investigated in the NASA Lewis 9- by 15-Foot Low-Speed Wind Tunnel. The tests were conducted at Mach number 0.20, which is representative of the aircraft take-off/landing flight regime. The investigation determined the effect of nonuniform inflow on the propeller performance characteristics for several blade angle settings and a range of rotational speeds. The inflow was varied by yawing the propeller model to angle-of-attack by as much as plus or minus 16 degrees and by installing on the counterrotation propeller test rig near the propeller rotors a model simulator of an aircraft engine support pylon and fuselage. The results of the investigation indicated that the low-speed performance of the counterrotation propeller configurations near the take-off target operating points were reasonable and were fairly insensitive to changes in model angle-of-attack without the aircraft pylon/fuselage simulators installed on the propeller test rig. When the aircraft pylon/fuselage simulators were installed, small changes in propeller performance were seen at zero angle-of-attack, but fairly large changes in total power coefficient and very large changes of aft-to-forward-rotor torque ratio were produced when the propeller model was taken to angle-of-attack. The propeller net efficiency, though, was fairly insensitive to any changes in the propeller flowfield conditions near the take-off target operating points.

Hughes, Christopher E.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Estimates of the wind speeds required for particle motion on Mars

Threshold wind speeds for setting particles into motion on Mars are estimated by evaluating experimentally observed threshold friction velocities and determining the ratio of this velocity to the threshold wind speed at the top of earth's atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Turning angles between the direction of the wind at the top of the ABL and the wind stress at the surface are also estimated. Detailed consideration is given to the dependence of the threshold wind speed at the top of the ABL on particle diameter, surface pressure, air temperature, atmospheric stability and composition, surface roughness, and interparticle cohesion. The results are applied to interpret a number of phenomena that have been observed on Mars and are attributable to aeolian processes. It is shown that: (1) minimum threshold wind speeds of about 50 to 100 m/sec are required to cause particle motion on Mars under 'favorable' conditions; (2) particle motion should be infrequent and strongly correlated with proximity to small topographical features; (3) in general, particle motion occurs more readily at night than during the day, in winter polar areas than equatorial areas around noon, and for H2O or CO2 ice particles than for silicate particles; and (4) the boundary between saltating and suspendible particles is located at a particle diameter of about 100 microns.

Pollack, J. B.↗