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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Lidar observations of the fine-scale variability of marine stratocumulus clouds

An Nd:YAG lidar system was flown aboard NASA's ER-2 high altitude aircraft. Observations of cloud top height were made with 70 m along-track and 7.5 m vertical-height resolution. The lidar data observed from an East Pacific stratocumulus cloud height deck revealed large cloud variability on 1-5 km scales. The cloud deck sloped upward from 700 to 1000 m in a northeast-southwest direction over a distance of 120 km. Vertical cloud top distributions were negatively skewed indicating flat-topped clouds. The dominant spectral peak of the cloud top variations was found at 4.5 km, which is 5 to 7 times the depth of the local boundary layer. No other peaks were significant in the average spectrum. The cloud layer was stable with respect to cloud top entrainment instability. The southwestern region of the study area was more prone to shear instability at cloud top than the northeastern region. The results of this study show that a lidar system is ideal to provide the topography of clouds and local boundary layer depth. This information is useful in the study of cloud top radiation and parameterization of clouds in numerical models.

Boers, Reinout↗
NASA NTRS2001

Cloud Physics Lidar Measurements During the SAFARI-2000 Field Campaign

A new remote sensing instrument, the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) has been built for use on the ER-2 aircraft. The first deployment for CPL was the SAFARI-2000 field campaign during August-September 2000. The CPL is a three-wavelength lidar designed for studies of cirrus, subvisual cirrus, and boundary layer aerosols. The CPL utilizes a high repetition rate, low pulse energy laser with photon counting detectors. A brief description of the CPL instrument will be given, followed by examples of CPL data products. In particular, examples of aerosol backscatter, including boundary layer smoke and cirrus clouds will be shown. Resulting optical depth estimates derived from the aerosol measurements will be shown. Comparisons of the CPL optical depth and optical depth derived from microPulse Lidar and the AATS-14 sunphotomer will be shown.

McGill, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS1992

Remote Sensing by Spaceborne Lidar Aided by Surface Returns

Spaceborne lidar offers the possibility of global mapping of clouds and atmospheric aerosols. Mapping of cloud-top heights, multiple layers of thin clouds and the depth of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), given sufficient aerosols, are applications that should be fairly easy to accomplish from space with even a modest lidar system. However, the constraints imposed on spaceborne lidar by large ranging distances, limited available power/weight, and fast moving platforms present significant challenges to achieving more quantitative retrievals such as extracting aerosol extinction profiles, PBL optical depths and cloud optical depths. Ways to take advantage of the strong signals available from ground/sea reflections to improve upon atmospheric aerosol and cloud retrievals as well as to distinguish certain surface types are explored.

Reagan, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Cloud condensation nuclei near marine cumulus

Extensive airborne measurements of cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) spectra and condensation nuclei below, in, between, and above the cumulus clouds near Hawaii point to important aerosol-cloud interactions. Consistent particle concentrations of 200/cu cm were found above the marine boundary layer and within the noncloudy marine boundary layer. Lower and more variable CCN concentrations within the cloudy boundary layer, especially very close to the clouds, appear to be a result of cloud scavenging processes. Gravitational coagulation of cloud droplets may be the principal cause of this difference in the vertical distribution of CCN. The results suggest a reservoir of CCN in the free troposphere which can act as a source for the marine boundary layer.

Hudson, James G.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Vertical Transport Processes for Inert and Scavenged Species: TRACE-A Measurements

The TRACE-A mission of the NASA DC-8 aircraft made a large-scale survey of the tropical and subtropical atmosphere in September and October of 1992. Both In-situ measurements of CO (G. Sachsen NASA Langley) and aerosol size (J. Browell group, NASA Langley) provide excellent data sets with which to constrain vertical transport by planetary boundary layer mixing and deep-cloud cumulus convection. Lidar profiles of aerosol-induced scattering and ozone (also by Bremen) are somewhat require more subtle interpretation as tracers, but the vertical information on layering largely compensates for these complexities. The reason this DC-8 dataset is so useful is that very large areas of biomass burning over Africa and South America provide surface sources of appropriate sizes with which to characterize vertical and horizontal motions; the major limitation of our source description is that biomass burning patterns move considerably every few days, and daily burning inventories are a matter of concurrent, intensive research. We use the Penn State / NCAR MM5 model in an assimilation mode on the synoptic and intercontinental scale, and assess the success it shows in vertical transport descriptions. We find that the general level of emissions suggested by the climatological approach (Will. Has, U. of Montana) appears to be approximately correct, possibly a bit low, for this October, 1992, time period. Vertical transport in planetary boundary layer mixing to 5.5 kin was observed and reproduced in our simulations. Furthermore we find evidence that Blackader "transilient" or matrix-transport scheme is needed, but may require some adaptation in our tracer model: CO seems to exhibit very high values at the top of the planetary boundary layer, a process that stretches the eddy-diffusion parameterization. We will report on progress in improving the deep convective transport of carbon monoxide: the Grail scheme as we used it at 100 kin resolution did not transport enough material to the upper troposphere. We expect to be able to attribute this to either parameterization reasons (inadequacy of this parameterization at the large 100km scale) or other reasons. Nevertheless, the qualitative nature of deep transport by clouds shows up well in the simulations. As for scavengable species, the simulations predict tens of micrograms per standard cubic meter of smoke aerosol in the boundary layer. In a straightforward illustration of our simple bulk-mass scavenging parameterization, to one or two micrograms per standard cubic meter of smoke aerosol in the free troposphere just above the source regions: very high concentrations for the free troposphere. We expect to report on comparisons of these predictions to a variety of observations.

Chatfield, Robert B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Interaction of the ABL with stratocumulus and cumulus cloud layers, appendix N

The role of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the oceans which in the general circulation of the atmosphere is to supply moisture to cumulus and stratus clouds is outlined. In extreme weather events, such as powerful storms and intense droughts, the primary role of the ABL is to supply or deny moisture to the weather system. Even for routine weather regimes, cloudiness and precipitation are key elements of any forecast. The premier problem for ABL parameterization is to formulate the physical coupling between the ABL turbulence and the clouds.

Randall, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

On the maintenance of the Marine boundary layer-free tropospheric gradient of transient tracers

A simple model of the marine boundary layer is used to arrive at a steady-state budget for trace gases in this layer. Five processes maintain the tracer balance in the layer. The first is a large-scale horizontal convergence of the tracer; the second is the pumping by clouds of the tracer out of the boundary layer into the free troposphere; the third is penetration by the tracer from the free troposphere into the marine boundary from compensating subsidence in the cloud-free air surrounding cumulus clouds; the fourth is sea surface emission or deposition of the tracer; and the fifth is in situ photochemical production or loss of the tracer within the marine boundary layer. The budget equation is used in deriving an expression for the mixing ratio difference between the two regions. A scale analysis suggests that the mixing ratio difference between the marine boundary layer and the free troposphere can be an order of magnitude smaller in disturbed weather conditions than in suppressed conditions, showing that the difference in chemical concentrations between the free troposphere and the marine boundary layer cannot be rationalized solely on the basis of chemical measurements.

Gidel, L. T.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE)

A spaceborne lidar system is presently being constructed for flight aboard the U. S. Space Shuttle in early 1991. The experiment, Lidar In Space Technology Experiment (LITE), utilizes a neodymium:YAG laser and 0.85 meter effective diameter Cassegranian-configured telescope receiver for making elastic backscatter measurements. The laser will be frequency doubled and tripled simulataneously producing a 10 Hz rate of 200 mJ at 1064 nm, 400 mJ at 532 nm, and 150 mJ at 355 nm. The technological objectives of LITE are to evaluate lidar system operations in space, lidar techniques in space, and to provide a test bed for new lidar technologies in later flights. The measurement objectives include the determination of cloud top and planetary boundary layer heights, the measurement of tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols, and the measurement of temperature and density between 10 to 40 km altitude. Detailed simulations will be presented showing the errors associated with each of these measurement objectives. In addition, the experiment scenario will be described including measurement times, data flow, processing and archival, and initial plans for validation of the LITE data set with correlative measurements.

Mccormick, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A simple dynamical model of a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer

The evolution of a planetary boundary layer topped by stratocumulus clouds is investigated theoretically. The derivation of a simulation model based on two-dimensional shallow moist Boussinesq convection is examined in detail, and the numerical results are presented in extensive tables and maps. The horizontal asymmetry of the circulation within a convective couplet is shown to increase with cloud depth and latent heating, so that the circulation becomes detached from that of the subcloud layer when the clouds fill one-third to one-half of the domain.

Laufersweiler, Mark J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

STS-75 Flight Day 14

On this fourteenth day of the STS-75 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. Andrew Allen, Pilot Scott Horowitz, Payload Cmdr. Franklin Chang-Diaz, Payload Specialist Umberto Guidoni (Italy), and Mission Specialists Jeffrey Hoffman, Maurizio Cheli (ESA) and Claude Nicollier (ESA), are shown conducting material burn tests and physiological experiments. Earth views include cloud cover, sunrise, atmospheric boundary layer, Florida, Amazon River, Brazil coast line, and the Pacific Ocean.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2002

Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) for the ICESat Mission

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is a new generation lidar and is the primary science payload for NASA's ICESat Mission. The GLAS design combines a 10 cm precision surface lidar with a sensitive dual wavelength cloud and aerosol lidar. GLAS will precisely measure the heights of the Earth's polar ice sheets, establish a grid of accurate height profiles of the Earth's land topography, and profile the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols on a global scale. GLAS will be integrated onto a small spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace, and will be launched into a polar orbit with a 590-630 km altitude at an inclination of 94 degrees. ICESat is is currently planned to launch in winter 2002/03 and GLAS is designed to operate continuously in space for a minimum of 3 years. GLAS will measure the vertical distance from orbit to the Earth's surface with pulses from a ND:YAG laser at a 40 Hz rate. Each 6 nsec wide 1064 nm laser pulse is used to produce a single range measurement. On the surface, the laser footprints have 66 m diameter and approx. 170 m center-center spacings. The GLAS receiver uses a I m diameter telescope to detect laser backscatter and a Si APD to detect the 1064 nm signals. The detector's output is sampled by a digital ranging receiver, which records each transmitted pulse and surface echo waveform with 1 nsec (15 cm) resolution. Each echo pulse is digitized and is reported to ground with a record length of from 200 to 544 samples, depending on the spacecraft's location . The GLAS location and epoch times are measured by a precision GPS receiver carried on the ICESat spacecraft. Initial processing of the echo waveforms within GLAS permits discrimination between cloud and surface echoes for selecting appropriate waveform samples. This selection is guided by an on-board DEM which is used to set the boundaries for the echo pulse search algorithm. Subsequent ground-based echo pulse analysis, along with GPS-based clock frequency estimates, permit final determination of the range to the surface, degree of pulse spreading, and vertical distribution of any vegetation illuminated by the laser. Accurate knowledge of the laser beam's pointing angle is needed to prevent height biases when measuring over tilted surfaces, such as near the boundaries of ice sheets. For surfaces with 2 deg. slopes, knowledge of pointing angle of the beam's centroid angle to better than 10 urad is needed. GLAS uses a stellar reference system (SRS) to measure the pointing angle of each laser firing relative to inertial space. The SRS uses a high precision star camera oriented toward local zenith and a gyroscope to determine the inertial orientation of the SRS optical bench. The far field pattern of each laser is measured pulse relative to the star camera with a laser reference system (LRS). GLAS will also measure the vertical distributions of clouds and aerosols by recording the vertical profiles of laser pulse backscatter at both 1064 and 532 nm. The 1064 rim measurements use the Si APD detector and will be used to measure the height and echo pulse shape from thicker clouds. The lidar receiver at 532 nm uses a narrow bandwidth etalon filter and highly sensitive photon counting detectors. The 532 nm backscatter profiles will be used to measure the vertical extent of thinner clouds and the atmospheric boundary layer. The GLAS instrument component development is complete and the instrument is undergoing final testing and qualification at NASA-Goddard. The GLAS "as-built" characteristics and its expected measurement performance will be discussed.

Abshire, James B.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Aerosol Profile Measurements from the NASA Langley Research Center Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar

Since achieving first light in December of 2005, the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) has been involved in seven field campaigns, accumulating over 450 hours of science data across more than 120 flights. Data from the instrument have been used in a variety of studies including validation and comparison with the Cloud- Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite mission, aerosol property retrievals combining passive and active instrument measurements, aerosol type identification, aerosol-cloud interactions, and cloud top and planetary boundary layer (PBL) height determinations. Measurements and lessons learned from the HSRL are leading towards next-generation HSRL instrument designs that will enable even further studies of aerosol intensive and extensive parameters and the effects of aerosols on the climate system. This paper will highlight several of the areas in which the NASA Airborne HSRL is making contributions to climate science.

Obland, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2022

An Overview of Atmospheric Features Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean and North American East Coast – Part 1: Analysis of Aerosols, Gases, and Wet Deposition Chemistry

The Western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) and adjoining East Coast of North America are of great importance for atmospheric research and have been extensively studied for several decades. This broad region exhibits complex meteorological features and a wide range of conditions associated with gas and particulate species from many sources regionally and other continents. As Part 1 of a 2‐part paper series, this work characterizes quantities associated with atmospheric chemistry, including gases, aerosols, and wet deposition, by analyzing available satellite observations, ground‐based data, model simulations, and reanalysis products. Part 2 provides insight into the atmospheric circulation, boundary layer variability, three‐dimensional cloud structure, properties, and precipitation over the WNAO domain. Key results include spatial and seasonal differences in composition along the North American East Coast and over the WNAO associated with varying sources of smoke and dust and meteorological drivers such as temperature, moisture, and precipitation. Spatial and seasonal variations of tropospheric carbon monoxide and ozone highlight different pathways towards the accumulation of these species in the troposphere. Spatial distributions of speciated aerosol optical depth and vertical profiles of aerosol mass mixing ratios show a clear seasonal cycle highlighting the influence of different sources in addition to the impact of intercontinental transport. Analysis of long‐term climate model simulations of aerosol species and satellite observations of carbon monoxide confirm that there has been a significant decline in recent decades among anthropogenic constituents owing to regulatory activities.

ACTIVATE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Three Years of Airborne Observations During NASA Activate: A Statistical Summary of Chemical, Optical, and Microphysical Aerosol Properties Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean

Airborne observations are critical to understanding Earth’s climate system and surface-level air quality by providing both spatial and vertical information that is not possible through ground measurement networks or satellite observations. Airborne platforms allow assessments of long-range transport, vertical redistribution, boundary-layer dynamics, and cloud-aerosol-interactions that are critical to model evaluation and satellite validation. Still, the high cost and effort of aircraft operations can limit measurement campaigns to short, focused time periods. Multiple deployments are often necessary for seasonal comparisons, and results can be limited if target phenomenon are infrequent. Subsequent analyses typically focus on case studies, especially if deployment conditions are climatologically anomalous. The NASA ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment) mission was designed to overcome these limitations by operating semi-continuously over multiple months during multiple seasons. Flight plans were intentionally simple, repetitive, and systematic to provide a statistically robust dataset that could be utilized similarly to a ground-network. Here, we present an overview of three years (2020-2022) of aerosol measurements from the NASA HU-25 Falcon aircraft supporting the ACTIVATE mission. Data from 179 flights were considered, the majority of which were based at NASA Langley Research Center and flown locally over the Wester North Atlantic Ocean just east of Hampton, VA, USA. Airmass characteristics tended to transition from continental outflow near the coast to mostly marine over the open ocean. Seasonal, diurnal, spatial, and vertical trends in aerosol microphysical, optical, and chemical properties are discussed in the context of synoptic scale meteorology. Statistical benefits of the ACTIVATE sampling strategy are discussed with regard to future model evaluation.

Luke D Ziemba↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Role of Boundary Layer Aerosol in the Vertical Development of Precipitation and Electrification: Another Look at the Contrast Between Lightning over Land and Over Ocean

Comparisons are made between the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration in the boundary layer and radar/electrical observations of the vertical development of precipitation and lightning in both the 'break period' and 'monsoon' regimes in tropical Brazil. The initial radar echoes and the maximum flash rates are found to be higher when the CCN concentration is higher, characteristic of the 'break period' conditions. One possible explanation for both observations is the survival of cloud droplets against coalescence and their attainment of the mixed phase region aloft.

Williams, E.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Scanning Backscatter Lidar Observations for Characterizing 4-D Cloud and Aerosol Fields to Improve Radiative Transfer Parameterizations

Clouds have a powerful influence on atmospheric radiative transfer and hence are crucial to understanding and interpreting the exchange of radiation between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and space. Because clouds are highly variable in space, time and physical makeup, it is important to be able to observe them in three dimensions (3-D) with sufficient resolution that the data can be used to generate and validate parameterizations of cloud fields at the resolution scale of global climate models (GCMs). Simulation of photon transport in three dimensionally inhomogeneous cloud fields show that spatial inhomogeneities tend to decrease cloud reflection and absorption and increase direct and diffuse transmission, Therefore it is an important task to characterize cloud spatial structures in three dimensions on the scale of GCM grid elements. In order to validate cloud parameterizations that represent the ensemble, or mean and variance of cloud properties within a GCM grid element, measurements of the parameters must be obtained on a much finer scale so that the statistics on those measurements are truly representative. High spatial sampling resolution is required, on the order of 1 km or less. Since the radiation fields respond almost instantaneously to changes in the cloud field, and clouds changes occur on scales of seconds and less when viewed on scales of approximately 100m, the temporal resolution of cloud properties should be measured and characterized on second time scales. GCM time steps are typically on the order of an hour, but in order to obtain sufficient statistical representations of cloud properties in the parameterizations that are used as model inputs, averaged values of cloud properties should be calculated on time scales on the order of 10-100 s. The Holographic Airborne Rotating Lidar Instrument Experiment (HARLIE) provides exceptional temporal (100 ms) and spatial (30 m) resolution measurements of aerosol and cloud backscatter in three dimensions. HARLIE was used in a ground-based configuration in several recent field campaigns. Principal data products include aerosol backscatter profiles, boundary layer heights, entrainment zone thickness, cloud fraction as a function of altitude and horizontal wind vector profiles based on correlating the motions of clouds and aerosol structures across portions of the scan. Comparisons will be made between various cloud detecting instruments to develop a baseline performance metric.

Schwemmer, Geary K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Interannual variation of seasonal means and subseasonal variability of cloud streets off the east coast of North America 1984-1987

Convection waves are a strong function of the original forcing by convection in the boundary layer. This convection can take the form of random or 2-D spatial structure. When clouds are formed as a result of 2-D boundary layer forcing, they are called cloud streets. Convective waves may be important in the global momentum balance. Global circulation models presently overestimate wind speeds in the middle and upper troposphere, and do not account for convective waves. If the hypothesis that convective waves significantly contribute to momentum transport in the troposphere is correct, then climatology of cloud streets will help understand convective waves' role in the global momentum balance. If the hypothesis is incorrect, then cloud street climatology is still useful because cloud streets show areas where large amounts of sensible and latent heat are transferred from the ocean to the atmosphere. Interannual variation of seasonal means and subseasonal variability of cloud street occurrence off the east coast of North America is examined and compared. The months of Dec., Jan., and Feb. during 1984-85, 1985-86, and 1986-87 are examined along with each season.

Rademacher, Kurt R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Idealized model for stratocumulus cloud layer thickness

Equilibrium solutions are constructed using an idealized model for mixed and partially mixed boundary layers to show the dependence of the equilibrium cloud layer thickness on different physical processes. The condition when a mixed layer becomes cloud-free is reduced to a comparison between three pressure scales, associated with the surface wind and divergence, the radiative cooling and the subsaturation of the entrained air. The evaporation of layer cloud by cloud-top mixing is also formulated in terms of simple pressure scales.

Betts, Alan K.↗