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At least 181 records · Page 10

Voyager 1 imaging and IRIS observations of Jovian methane absorption and thermal emission - Implications for cloud structure

Images from three filters of the Voyager 1 wide angle camera are used to measure the continuum reflectivity and spectral gradient near 6000 A and the 6190 A band methane/continuum ratio for a variety of cloud features in Jupiter's atmosphere. The dark barge features in the North Equatorial Belt have anomalously strong positive continuum spectral gradients suggesting unique composition. Methane absorption is shown at unprecedented spatial scales for the Great Red Spot and its immediate environment, for a dark barge feature in the North Equatorial Belt, and for two hot spot and plume regions in the North Equatorial Belt. Methane absorption and five micrometer emission are correlated in the vicinity of the Great Red Spot but are anticorrelated in one of the plume hot spot regions. Methane absorption and simultaneous maps of five micrometer brightness temperature are quantitatively compared to realistic cloud structure models which include multiple scattering at five micrometer as well as in the visible. Variability in H2 quadrupole lines are also investigated.

West, R. A.↗

Neutral winds derived from IRI parameters and from the HWM87 wind model for the SUNDIAL campaign of September, 1986

Meridional neutral winds derived from the height of the maximum ionization of the F2-layer are compared with values from results of the HWM87 empirical neutral wind model. The time period considered in this study is the SUNDIAL-2 campaign, September 21 through October 5, 1986. Winds have been derived from measurements by a global network of ionosondes, as well as from similar quantities generated by the International Reference Ionosphere. Global wind patterns from the three sources are similar. Differences tend to be the result of local or transient phenomena that are either too rapid to be described by the order of harmonics of the empirical models, or are the result of temporal changes not reproduced by models based on average conditions.

Miller, K. L.↗

The albedo, effective temperature, and energy balance of Uranus, as determined from Voyager IRIS data

The albedo, T(eff), and energy balance of Uranus are presently derived from Voyager IR Spectrometer and Radiometer data. By obtaining the absolute phase curve of Uranus, it has become possible to evaluate the Bond albedo without making separate determinations of the geometric albedo and phase integral. An orbital mean value for the bolometric Bond albedo of 0.3 + or - 0.049 yields an equilibrium temperature of 58.2 + or - 1.0 K. Thermal spectra from pole-to-pole latitude coverage establish a T(eff) of 59.1 + or - 0.3 K, leading to an energy balance of 1.06 + or - 0.08 for Uranus.

Pearl, J. C.↗

Neutral winds derived from IRI parameters and from the HWM87 wind model for the sundial campaign of September, 1986

Meridional neutral winds derived from the height of the maximum ionization of the F2 layer are compared with values from results of the HWM87 empirical neutral wind model. The time period considered is the SUNDIAL-2 campaign, 21 Sept. through 5 Oct. 1986. Winds were derived from measurements by a global network of ionosondes, as well as from similar quantities generated by the International Reference Ionosphere. Global wind patterns from the three sources are similar. Differences tend to be the result of local or transient phenomena that are either too rapid to be described by the order of harmonics of the empirical models, or are the result of temporal changes not reproduced by models based on average conditions.

Miller, K. L.↗

Stratospheric ethane on Neptune - Comparison of groundbased and Voyager IRIS retrievals

Near-simultaneous ground and spacecraft measurements of 12-micron ethane emission spectra during the Voyager encounter with Neptune have furnished bases for the determination of stratospheric ethane abundance and the testing and constraining of Neptune methane-photochemistry models. The ethane retrievals were sensitive to the thermal profile used. Contribution functions for warm thermal profiles peaked at higher altitudes, as expected, with the heterodyne functions covering lower-pressure regions. Both constant- and nonconstant-with-height profiles remain candidate distributions for Neptune's stratospheric ethane.

Kostiuk, Theodor↗

Response to Comment on "Does the Earth Have an Adaptive Infrared IRIS?"

Harrison's (2001) Comment on the Methodology in Lindzen et al (2001) has prompted re-examination of several aspects of study. Probably the most significant disagreement in our conclusions is due to our different approaches to minimizing the influence of long-time-scale variations in the variables A and T on the results. Given the strength of the annual cycle and the 20-month period covered by the data, we believe that removing monthly means is a better approach to minimizing the long-time-scale behavior of the data than removal of the linear trend, which might actually add spurious long- time- scale variability into the modified data. We have also indicated how our statistical methods of establishing statistical significance differ. More definitive conclusions may only possible after more data have been analyzed, but we feel that our results are robust enough to encourage further study of this phenomenon.

Bell, Thomas L.↗

Response to Comment on "Does the Earth Have an Adaptive Infrared Iris?"

In his comment on Lindzen et al., Harrison found that the amount of high-level clouds, A, and the sea-surface temperature beneath clouds, T, averaged over a large oceanic domain in the western Pacific have secular linear trends of opposite signs over a period of 20 months. He found that when the linear trends are subtracted from the data, the correlation between the residual A and T is much reduced. His estimates of the confidence levels for the correlation indicate, moreover, that this correlation is not statistically significant. The domain-averaged A and, to a lesser degree, T, have distinct intra-seasonal and seasonal variations. These variations are influenced by the large-scale wind and temperature distributions and by the seasonal variation of insolation. To separate the local effect from the effect of slowly changing large-scale conditions, rather than subtracting 20-month linear trends from the series, which has the potential to spuriously extrapolate intra-seasonal and seasonal variations to even longer time scales, we subtracted 30-day running means of A and T from each time series; in effect, the data were high-pass filtered. The number of points (days), N, is reduced by this process from the original value of 510 to 480.

Bell, Thomas L.↗

Response to "The Iris Hypothesis: A Negative or Positive Cloud Feedback?"

Based on radiance measurements of Japan's Geostationary Meteorological Satellite, Lindzen et al. found that the high-level cloud cover averaged over the tropical western Pacific decreases with increasing sea surface temperature. They further found that the response of high-level clouds to the sea surface temperature had an effect of reducing the magnitude of climate change, which is referred as a negative climate feedback. Lin et al. reassessed the results found by Lindzen et al. by analyzing the radiation and clouds derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System measurements. They found a weak positive feedback between high-level clouds and the surface temperature. We have found that the approach taken by Lin et al. to estimating the albedo and the outgoing longwave radiation is incorrect and that the inferred climate sensitivity is unreliable.

Chou, Ming-Dah↗

Response to "No Evidence for Iris"

Hartmann and Michelsen claimed that there was no evidence for the negative relation between the high-level clouds and the sea surface temperature as suggested by Lindzen et al. The assertion made by Hartmann and Michelsen that there is a need for clouds thousands of kilometers away from the equator to be connected to convection at the equator does not seem to have any validity. Nor does their suggestion that the causes of the observational relations shown in Lindzen et al. do not involve detrainment.

Chou, Ming-Dah↗

Quasi-Periodic Fluctuations and Chromospheric Evaporation in a Solar Flare Ribbon Observed by Hinode/EIS, IRIS, and RHESSI

The Hinode/Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) obtained rapid cadence (11.2 s) EUV stare spectra of an M7.3 flare ribbon in AR 12036 on 2014 April 18. Quasi-periodic (P approx. = 75.6 +/- 9.2 s) intensity fluctuations occurred in emission lines of O IV, Mg VI, Mg VII, Si VII, Fe XIV, and Fe XVI during the flare's impulsive rise, and ended when the maximum intensity in Fe XXIII was reached. The profiles of the O IV- Fe XVI lines reveal that they were all redshifted during most of the interval of quasi-periodic intensity fluctuations, while the Fe XXIII profile revealed multiple components including one or two highly blueshifted ones. This indicates that the flare underwent explosive chromospheric evaporation during its impulsive rise. Fluctuations in the relative Doppler velocities were seen, but their amplitudes were too subtle to extract significant quasi-periodicities. RHESSI detected 25-100 keV hard-X-ray sources in the ribbon near the EIS slit's pointing position during the peaks in the EIS intensity fluctuations. The observations are consistent with a series of energy injections into the chromosphere by nonthermal particle beams. Electron densities derived with Fe XIV (4.6 x 10(exp 10) per cu cm) and Mg VII (7.8 x 10(exp 9) per cu cm) average line intensity ratios during the interval of quasi-periodic intensity fluctuations, combined with the radiative loss function of an optically thin plasma, yield radiative cooling times of 32 s at 2.0 x 10(exp 6) K, and 46 s at 6.3 x 10(exp 5) K (about half the quasi-period); assuming Fe XIV's density for Fe XXIII yields a radiative cooling time of 10(exp 3) s (13 times the quasi-period) at 1.4 x 10(exp 7) K.

Brosius, Jeffrey W.↗