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At least 199 records · Page 11

Deciphering the Role of Desert Dust in the Climate Puzzle: The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX)

Numerous studies have shown that aerosol particles may be one of the primary agents that can offset the climate warming induced by the increase in the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Desert aerosols are probably the most abundant and massive type of aerosol particles that are present in the atmosphere worldwide. These aerosols are carried over large distances and have various global impacts. They interact with clouds, impact the efficiency of their rain production and change their optical properties. They constitute one of the primary sources of minerals for oceanic life and influence the health of coral reefs. They have direct effects on human health, especially by inducing breathing difficulties in children. It was lately discovered that desert particles carry pathogens from the Sahara desert over the Atlantic Ocean, a fact that may explain the migration of certain types of diseases. Aerosols not only absorb solar radiation but also scatter it, so that their climatic effect is influenced not only by their physical properties and height distribution but also by the reflectivity of the underlying surface. This latter property changes greatly over land and is low over ocean surfaces. Aerosol plumes are emitted from discrete, sporadic sources in the desert areas of the world and are transported worldwide by the atmosphere's wind systems. For example, Saharan dust reaches Mexico City, Florida, Ireland, Switzerland and the Mediterranean region, while Asian dust reaches Alaska, Hawaii and the continental United States. This means that in order to assess its global effects, one must observe dust from space. The Space Shuttle is a unique platform, because it flies over the major deserts of our planet, enabling measurements and remote sensing of the aerosols as they travel from source to sink regions. Such efforts must always be accompanied by in-situ data for validation and calibration, with direct sampling of the airborne particles. MEIDEX is a joint project of the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and NASA, under a cooperation agreement between the two agencies.

Levin, Zev↗

Version 2.0 AERONET Dust Aerosol properties, Constraints and Application to Asian Dust Observations

In November 2006, AERONET released Version 2 of the Dubovik and King sky radiance and optical depth inversion. Reanalysis of the entire AERONET database revealed marked differences in aerosol properties in arid and semi arid regions with dust dominated aerosols. The change will be illustrated through sensitivity analysis and examples from the UAE2 (United Arab Emirates Unified Aerosol Experiment) field campaign. Properties of dust dominated aerosols will be presented from regional AERONET sites in China showing variations in dust aerosol properties. The constraints and limitations of the AERONET inversion will be presented that will facilitate analysis by the user community of these data.

Holben, Brent↗

Analysis of "Midnight" Tracks in the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector: Possible Discovery of a Contemporary Interstellar Dust Grain

In January 2006, the Stardust sample return capsule returned to Earth bearing the first solid samples from a primitive solar system body, Comet 81P/Wild2, and a collector dedicated to the capture and return of contemporary interstellar dust. Both collectors were approximately 0.1m(exp 2) in area and were composed of aerogel tiles (85% of the collecting area) and aluminum foils. The Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC) was exposed to the interstellar dust stream for a total exposure factor of 20 m(exp 2) day. The Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) is a three-year effort to characterize the collection using nondestructive techniques.

Westphal, A. J.↗

Four Interstellar Dust Candidates from the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector

In January 2006, the Stardust sample return capsule returned to Earth bearing the first solid samples from a primitive solar system body, Comet 81P/Wild2, and a collector dedicated to the capture and return of contemporary interstellar dust. Both collectors were approx. 0.1 sq m in area and were composed of aerogel tiles (85% of the collecting area) and aluminum foils. The Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC) was exposed to the interstellar dust stream for a total exposure factor of 20 sq m/day. The Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) is a consortium-based project to characterize the collection using nondestructive techniques. The goals and restrictions of the ISPE are described . A summary of analytical techniques is described.

Westphal, A. J.↗

Existence domains of large amplitude dust-acoustic solitons in non-thermal plasmas with positive and negative dust

Using the traditional Sagdeev pseudopotential approach, the existence of large amplitude solitons is investigated for a plasma composed of cold negative dust, adiabatic positive dust, non-thermal ions and Boltzmann electrons. The lower and upper soliton Mach number limitations are determined as a function of various parameters and physical reasons are provided as to why these Mach number limits occur. Some regions in parameter space have been identified where only negative or positive solitons occur, whereas, other regions support the coexistence of both positive and negative potential solitons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Large amplitude dust-acoustic double layers in non-thermal plasmas with positive and negative dust

The existence of large amplitude double layers in a plasma composed of cold negative dust, adiabatic positive dust, non-thermal ions and Boltzmann electrons is investigated using the Sagdeev pseudopotential technique. Both positive potential and negative potential double layers are found to be supported by the model. The variation of the maximum amplitudes of the double layers and corresponding Mach numbers are examined as a function of various plasma parameters. In particular, we investigate to what extent ion non-thermal effects are required for positive potential double layers to occur.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The Dust Accelerator Facility of the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies

The NASA Lunar Institute's Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies has recently completed the construction of a new experimental facility to study hypervelocity dust impacts. The installation includes a 3 MV Pelletron, accelerating small particles in the size range of 0.1 to few microns to velocities in the range of 1 to 100 km/s. Here we report the capabilities of our facility, and the results of our first experiments.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Low intensity dust ion-acoustic shock waves due to dust charge fluctuation in a nonextensive dusty plasma

The properties of low intensity dust ion acoustic shock waves are studied in a charge varying dusty plasma with nonextensive electrons. Owing to the departure from the Maxwellian electron distribution to a nonextensive one, the modified electrostatic charging of a spherical dust particle in plasma with ion streaming speed is considered. Based on the weakly nonlinear analysis, a new relationship between the low intensity localized disturbances and nonextensive electrons is derived. It is found that both strength and steepness of shock structures arise as the electrons evolve far from their thermodynamic equilibrium in such plasma with parameter ranges corresponding to Saturn's rings. It is also shown that the ion temperature and population of electrons reduce the possibility of the formation of the shock profile.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The collision effect between dust grains and ions to the dust ion acoustic waves in a dusty plasma

Damping solitary wave in dusty plasma is studied by considering the collision effect between dust grains and ions. It can be described by a KdV type equation in which a damping term of {phi}{sup 2} exist. It is found that both the amplitude and propagation velocity of the solitary wave decrease with time exponentially. Our results are compared with another KdV type equation with the damping term of {phi}. It is noted that the damping rate of the KdV type equation with the damping term of {phi}{sup 2} is larger than that with the term of {phi}. It is found that the damping rate is proportional to the collision frequency between dust grains and ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Nonlinear dust acoustic waves in inhomogeneous four-component dusty plasma with opposite charge polarity dust grains

The reductive perturbation technique is employed to investigate the propagation properties of nonlinear dust acoustic (DA) waves in a four-component inhomogeneous dusty plasma (4CIDP). The 4CIDP consists of both positive- and negative-charge dust grains, characterized by different mass, temperature, and density, in addition to a background of Maxwellian electrons and ions. The inhomogeneity caused by nonuniform equilibrium values of particle densities, fluid velocities, and electrostatic potential leads to a significant modification to the nature of nonlinear DA solitary waves. It is found that this model reveals two DA wave velocities, one slow, λ{sub s}, and the other is fast, λ{sub f}. The nonlinear wave evolution is governed by a modified Kortweg-de Vries equation, whose coefficients are space dependent. Both the two soliton types; compressive and rarefactive are allowed corresponding to λ{sub s}. However, only compressive soliton is created corresponding to λ{sub f}. The numerical investigations illustrate the dependence of the soliton amplitude, width, and velocity on the plasma inhomogeneities in each case. The relevance of these theoretical results with 4CIDPs observed in a multi-component plasma configurations in the polar mesosphere is discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

THE STELLAR, MOLECULAR GAS, AND DUST CONTENT OF THE HOST GALAXIES OF TWO z {approx} 2.8 DUST-OBSCURED QUASARS

We present optical through radio observations of the host galaxies of two dust-obscured, luminous quasars selected in the mid-infrared, at z = 2.62 and z = 2.99, including a search for CO emission. Our limits on the CO luminosities are consistent with these objects having masses of molecular gas {approx}< 10{sup 10} M{sub Sun }, several times less than those of luminous submillimeter-detected galaxies at comparable redshifts. Their near-infrared spectral energy distributions, however, imply that these galaxies have high stellar masses ({approx}10{sup 11}-10{sup 12} M{sub Sun }). The relatively small reservoirs of molecular gas and low dust masses are consistent with them being relatively mature systems at high-z.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DUST SCATTERING IN TURBULENT MEDIA: CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SCATTERED LIGHT AND DUST COLUMN DENSITY

Radiative transfer models in a spherical, turbulent interstellar medium (ISM), in which the photon source is situated at the center, are calculated to investigate the correlation between the scattered light and the dust column density. The medium is modeled using fractional Brownian motion structures that are appropriate for turbulent ISM. The correlation plot between the scattered light and optical depth shows substantial scatter and deviation from simple proportionality. It was also found that the overall density contrast is smoothed out in scattered light. In other words, there is an enhancement of the dust-scattered flux in low-density regions, while the scattered flux is suppressed in high-density regions. The correlation becomes less significant as the scattering becomes closer to being isotropic and the medium becomes more turbulent. Therefore, the scattered light observed in near-infrared wavelengths would show much weaker correlation than the observations in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. We also find that the correlation plot between scattered lights at two different wavelengths shows a tighter correlation than that of the scattered light versus the optical depth.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Evidence for Reduced, Carbon-rich Regions in the Solar Nebula from an Unusual Cometary Dust Particle

Geochemical indicators in meteorites imply that most formed under relatively oxidizing conditions. However, some planetary materials, such as the enstatite chondrites, aubrite achondrites, and Mercury, were produced in reduced nebular environments. Because of large-scale radial nebular mixing, comets and other Kuiper Belt objects likely contain some primitive material related to these reduced planetary bodies. Here, we describe an unusual assemblage in a dust particle from comet 81P/Wild 2 captured in silica aerogel by the NASA Stardust spacecraft. The bulk of this ∼20 μ m particle is comprised of an aggregate of nanoparticulate Cr-rich magnetite, containing opaque sub-domains composed of poorly graphitized carbon (PGC). The PGC forms conformal shells around tiny 5–15 nm core grains of Fe carbide. The C, N, and O isotopic compositions of these components are identical within errors to terrestrial standards, indicating a formation inside the solar system. Magnetite compositions are consistent with oxidation of reduced metal, similar to that seen in enstatite chondrites. Similarly, the core–shell structure of the carbide + PGC inclusions suggests a formation via FTT reactions on the surface of metal or carbide grains in warm, reduced regions of the solar nebula. Together, the nanoscale assemblage in the cometary particle is most consistent with the alteration of primary solids condensed from a C-rich, reduced nebular gas. The nanoparticulate components in the cometary particle provide the first direct evidence from comets of reduced, carbon-rich regions that were present in the solar nebula.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗