Engineering topics

Rabin, Douglas

Publications and source records attributed to Rabin, Douglas.

18 records

NASA NTRS2012

Instrumentation and First Results of the Reflected Solar Demonstration System for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission key goals include enabling observation of high accuracy long-term climate change trends, use of these observations to test and improve climate forecasts, and calibration of operational and research sensors. The spaceborne instrument suites include a reflected solar spectroradiometer, emitted infrared spectroradiometer, and radio occultation receivers. The requirement for the RS instrument is that derived reflectance must be traceable to Sl standards with an absolute uncertainty of <0.3% and the error budget that achieves this requirement is described in previo1L5 work. This work describes the Solar/Lunar Absolute Reflectance Imaging Spectroradiometer (SOLARIS), a calibration demonstration system for RS instrument, and presents initial calibration and characterization methods and results. SOLARIS is an Offner spectrometer with two separate focal planes each with its own entrance aperture and grating covering spectral ranges of 320-640, 600-2300 nm over a full field-of-view of 10 degrees with 0.27 milliradian sampling. Results from laboratory measurements including use of integrating spheres, transfer radiometers and spectral standards combined with field-based solar and lunar acquisitions are presented. These results will be used to assess the accuracy and repeatability of the radiometric and spectral characteristics of SOLARIS, which will be presented against the sensor-level requirements addressed in the CLARREO RS instrument error budget.

McCorkel, Joel↗

NASA NTRS2012

Test Plan for a Calibration Demonstration System for the Reflected Solar Instrument for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission addresses the need to observe high-accuracy, long-term climate change trends and to use decadal change observations as the most critical method to determine the accuracy of climate change. One of the major objectives of CLARREO is to advance the accuracy of SI traceable absolute calibration at infrared and reflected solar wavelengths. This advance is required to reach the on-orbit absolute accuracy required to allow climate change observations to survive data gaps while remaining sufficiently accurate to observe climate change to within the uncertainty of the limit of natural variability. While these capabilities exist at NIST in the laboratory, there is a need to demonstrate that it can move successfully from NIST to NASA and/or instrument vendor capabilities for future spaceborne instruments. The current work describes the test plan for the Solar, Lunar for Absolute Reflectance Imaging Spectroradiometer (SOLARIS) which is the calibration demonstration system (CDS) for the reflected solar portion of CLARREO. The goal of the CDS is to allow the testing and evaluation of calibration approaches , alternate design and/or implementation approaches and components for the CLARREO mission. SOLARIS also provides a test-bed for detector technologies, non-linearity determination and uncertainties, and application of future technology developments and suggested spacecraft instrument design modifications. The end result of efforts with the SOLARIS CDS will be an SI-traceable error budget for reflectance retrieval using solar irradiance as a reference and methods for laboratory-based, absolute calibration suitable for climate-quality data collections. The CLARREO mission addresses the need to observe high-accuracy, long-term climate change trends and advance the accuracy of SI traceable absolute calibration. The current work describes the test plan for the SOLARIS which is the calibration demonstration system for the reflected solar portion of CLARREO. SOLARIS provides a test-bed for detector technologies, non-linearity determination and uncertainties, and application of future technology developments and suggested spacecraft instrument design modifications. The end result will be an SI-traceable error budget for reflectance retrieval using solar irradiance as a reference and methods for laboratory-based, absolute calibration suitable for climate-quality data collections.

Thome, Kurtis↗

NASA NTRS2010

Future Directions in Solar Physics

I will discuss scientific opportunities for space-based solar physics instruments in the coming decade and their synergy with major new ground-based telescopes. l will also discuss ( pow small satellites may complement larger solar physics missions.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS2008

DISCO - A Wide Field Heliospheric Imager

DISCO (Direct Imaging of the Solar Corona) is a concept for a compact, side-looking heliospheric imager that captures a wide field of view with a single camera and detector. The first optical element of DISCO is a convex reflector that tends to direct stray light away from the lenses and detector. The angular resolution of the system varies over the field of view and is higher at low elongation angeles where it is most needed to resolve the structure of coronal mass ejections and corotating interaction regions.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS2007

Measuring a Precise Ultra-Lightweight Spaceflight Mirror on Earth: The Analysis of the SHARPI PM Mirror Figure Data during Mirror Processing at GSFC

The SHARPI (Solar High Angular Resolution Photometric Imager) primary mirror is a 5kg, 0.5m paraboloid, diffraction limited at FUV wavelengths when placed in a 0-G environment. The ULE sandwich honeycomb mirror and the attached mount pads were delivered by ITT (then Kodak) in 2003 to NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). At GSFC, we accepted, coated, mounted, and vibration tested this mirror in preparation for flight on the PICTURES (Planet Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Rocket Experiment) mission. At each step, the integrated analysis of interferometer data and FEA models was essential to quantify the 0-G mirror figure. This task required separating nanometer sized variations from hundreds of nanometers of gravity induced distortion. The ability to isolate such features allowed in-situ monitoring of mirror figure, diagnosis of perturbations, and remediation of process errors. In this paper, we describe the technical approach used to achieve these measurements and overcome the various difficulties maintaining UV diffraction-limited performance with this aggressively lightweighted mirror.

Antonille, Scott↗

NASA NTRS2002

Observational Aspects of the Solar Activity Cycle

I review recent space-borne and ground-based observations of cyclical solar phenomena, from the interior to the inner heliosphere. Two classes of observations will be stressed: those that bear on the generation and emergence of subsurface magnetic fields, and those that elucidate magnetic reorganization in the corona.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS2002

International Heliophysical Year

In 1957 a program of international research, inspired by the International Polar Years of 1882-83 and 1932-33, was organized as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) to study global phenomena of the Earth and geospace. The IGY involved about 60,000 scientists from 66 nations, working at thousands of stations, from pole to pole to obtain simultaneous, global observations on Earth and in space. There had never been anything like it before. The fiftieth anniversary of the International Geophysical Year will occur in 2007. We propose to organize an international program of scientific collaboration for this time period called the International Heliophysical Year (IHY). Like it predecessors, the IHY will focus on fundamental global questions of Earth science.

Davila, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS2002

D-wave Resonances in Positronium Hydride

In a previous paper [Phys. Rev. A 65, 032721 (2002)] we re-examined a model describing the structure of the low-energy Ps-H resonances as being due to quasi-bound states of the positron in the perturbed Coulomb potential of the H-ion appearing in the closed, rearranged channel. In particular, we wished to understand why the lowest p-state resonance was so far away from the lowest quasi-bound (2p) state. We found that the lowest resonance actually corresponds to the first excited [3p] state, while the lowest state is not recognizable as a resonance. In the present work we repeat our analysis, but this time for the lowest d state. We find that the lowest [3d] state does correspond to a resonance shifted moderately.

DiRienzi, Joseph↗

NASA NTRS2002

RHESSI Observations of Flares During the Storms Period from 14 to 24 April 2002

The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) observes X-rays and gamma rays from solar flares in the energy range from 3 keV to 17 MeV with a duty cycle of about 50%. The RHESSI observations of the flares during the Storms Workshop period from 14 to 24 April, 2002, will be reviewed. Many Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) C- and M-class flares were observed including the M2.6 flare on 17 April that was followed by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). The X1.5 flare on 21 April was particularly well observed with RHESSI in X-rays from its start at 00:40 UT until 01:33 UT on the first orbit, just before the soft X-ray peak. Footpoint emission was detected to energies as high as 200 keV, and a spatially-separated coronal source was identified at energies below about 30 keV. The coronal X-ray source was followed for over 12 more hours on subsequent orbits as it gradually rose to over 130,000 km above the limb. The X-ray images and spectra of this flare will be presented in relation to the Transitional Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) images in the 195-angstrom band and the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO) images of the associated CME.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS1995

Line-of-sight magnetic flux imbalances caused by electric currents

Several physical and observational effects contribute to the significant imbalances of magnetic flux that are often observed in active regions. We consider an effect not previously treated: the influence of electric currents in the photosphere. Electric currents can cause a line-of-sight flux imbalance because of the directionality of the magnetic field they produce. Currents associated with magnetic flux tubes produce larger imbalances than do smoothly-varying distributions of flux and current. We estimate the magnitude of this effect for current densities, total currents, and magnetic geometry consistent with observations. The expected imbalances lie approximately in the range 0-15%, depending on the character of the current-carying fields and the angle from which they are viewed. Observationally, current-induced flux imbalances could be indicated by a statistical dependence of the imbalance on angular distance from disk center. A general study of magnetic flux balance in active regions is needed to determine the relative importance of other- probably larger- effects such as dilute flux (too weak to measure or rendered invisible by radiative transfer effects), merging with weak background fields, and long-range connections between active regions.

Gary, G. Allen↗

NASA NTRS1994

Imaging spectroscopy of the solar CO lines at 4.67 microns

We analyze spatially and temporally resolved spectra of the fundamental vibration-rotation transitions of carbon monoxide (CO) in the solar spectrum at 4.67 micrometers. Our observations imply that, in the quiet Sun, spatial variations in CO intensity are largely dynamical in nature, reinforcing the suggestion that dynamical effects play a key role in the formation of the dark CO cores. Time sequences of resolved spectra exhibit mainly 3 minute power in line-core intensity but mainly a 5 minute period in Doppler shift. The weak 7-6 R68 line shows normal Evershed flow in the penumbra of a sunspot; we find evidence for the onset of inverse Evershed flow in the strong 3-2 R14 line. Spectra at the limb indicate that 3-2 R14 emission extends approximately 360 km beyond the continuum limb.

Uitenbroek, Han↗

NASA NTRS1992

Pervasive variability in the quiet solar transition region

Extreme UV spectroheliograms from an experimental time series are employed to investigate the nature of the quiet solar transition region with respect to temporal variability. A statistical treatment is developed to analyze the fraction of spatial elements that yield intensity variations significantly higher than the signal noise. The EUV intensity in every spatial resolution varies on a time scale of minutes by about 10-30 percent, and the fractional amplitude of the temporal variations is found to be nearly independent of mean intensity. The paper concludes that the quiet solar transition region is probably generated and modulated by small-scale magnetic activity, since the temporal variability in the transition region is spatially uniform and rather pervasive.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS1992

A relation between magnetic field strength and temperature in sunspots

We present Stokes I Zeeman splitting measurements of sunspots using the highly sensitive (g = 3) Fe I line at a wavelength of 1.5649 micron. The splittings are compared with simultaneous intensity measurements in the adjacent continuum. The relation between magnetic field strength and temperature has a characteristic, nonlinear shape in all the spots studied. In the umbra, there is an approximately linear relation between B super 2 and T sub b, consistent with magnetohydrostatic equilibrium in a nearly vertical field. A distinct flattening of the B super 2 vs T sub b relationship in the inner penumbra may be due to changes in the lateral pressure balance as the magnetic field becomes more horizontal; spatially unresolved intensity inhomogeneities may also influence the observed relation.

Kopp, Greg↗

NASA NTRS1992

Spatially extended measurements of magnetic field strength in solar plages

The study determines magnetic field strengths along one spatial dimension of a plage region from circularly polarized (Stokes V) spectra of a highly Zeeman-sensitive iron line at 6388.6/cm (1.565 micron). The measured fields are found to lie primarily in the range 1200-1700 G. The mean formal precision for a single determination is +/-65 G. More than 90 percent of the magnetic flux is kilogauss-strength fields. The field strength is coherently organized on spatial scales from 1 arcmin to the limit of angular resolution (2 arcsec). It is inferred from the amplitude of the V signal that the spatial filling factor of the strong-field elements can approach 0.5 within a 2-arcsec resolution element. Magnetic field strength and amplitude are correlated in the sense that locations with stronger mean fields have larger V amplitudes, but the relationship shows more scatter than can be explained by errors in measurement. The individual sigma-components of the V profile are broader than an average quiet-sun line profile would produce by an amount corresponding to 625 G or 4.1 km/s; Zeeman broadening due to a range of magnetic field strength within the resolution element is proposed as the likely explanation.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS1992

A true-field magnetogram in a solar plage region

The Near-Infrared Magnetograph is used to make the first 2D image of true magnetic field strength in the solar photosphere. The magnitude of the magnetic field vector is derived with a typical formal precision of + or - 75 G (2 sigma) from circularly polarized spectra of a highly Zeeman-sensitive iron line at 6388.6/cm. The true-field map demonstrates that the properties of 'kilogauss' flux tubes vary coherently on a variety of spatial scales within the 1-arcmin field of view. The measured fields span the range 1000-1700 G. The amplitude of the polarized signal implies that the spatial filling factor of the flux tubes can approach 0.3 at the seeing-limited resolution of 2 arcsec. Magnetic field strength and magnetic flux are statistically related in the sense that weak-field areas are weak-flux areas, but strong fields are present in both strong-flux and weak-flux areas. This implies a degree of independence in the relationship between the filling factor of flux tubes and their individual properties, such as field strength, pressure, and temperature.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS1991

Energy balance in coronal funnels

The energy balance in magnetic flux tubes is examined semianalytically for the case in which thermal conduction balances radiation or in which enthalpy transport occurs. Different values are considered for areal constriction, shape, length, and maximum temperature. The overall energy budget of the solar corona is not significantly affected by magnetic constriction. A bowl-shaped funnel with a constriction factor of 4 describes the empirical differential-emission measure for log-T values between approximately 5.3 and 6.0. Loop-scaling relationships are derived for the full range of models to illustrate the dependence of the constant of proportionality on the properties of the magnetic constriction. Constriction can reduce the total energy requirement of the funnel by a factor of 5 and not affect the differential emission in flow-dominated models.

Rabin, Douglas↗

NASA NTRS1987

10.7-cm solar radio flux and the magnetic complexity of active regions

During sunspot cycles 20 and 21, the maximum in smoothed 10.7-cm solar radio flux occurred about 1.5 yr after the maximum smoothed sunspot number, whereas during cycles 18 and 19 no lag was observed. Thus, although 10.7-cm radio flux and Zurich sunspot number are highly correlated, they are not interchangeable, especially near solar maximum. The 10.7-cm flux more closely follows the number of sunspots visible on the solar disk, while the Zurich sunspot number more closely follows the number of sunspot groups. The number of sunspots in an active region is one measure of the complexity of the magnetic structure of the region, and the coincidence in the maxima of radio flux and number of sunspots apparently reflects higher radio emission from active regions of greater magnetic complexity. The presence of a lag between sunspot-number maximum and radio-flux maximum in some cycles but not in others argues that some aspect of the average magnetic complexity near solar maximum must vary from cycle to cycle. A speculative possibility is that the radio-flux lag discriminates between long-period and short-period cycles, being another indicator that the solar cycle switches between long-period and short-period modes.

Wilson, Robert M.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The prominence-corona interface and its relationship to the chromosphere-corona transition

The classical model of the chromosphere-corona transition does not account for the observed behavior of the differential emission measure for T approx. less than 100,000 K. Several models have been proposed to resolve this discrepancy in physically different ways. Because the observed differential emission measure at the prominence-corona interface is on average nearly the same as in the chromosphere-corona transition, prominences offer a fresh testing ground for models tailored to the chromosphere-corona transition. The researcher considered three such models and concluded that none extends in a natural way to the environment of prominences. The researcher advanced a simple idea involving thermal conduction both along and across the magnetic field from the corona into cool threads.

Rabin, Douglas↗