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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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

The brightness temperature of the air-sea interface at microwave frequencies

Available results of observation have shown that at nadir the brightness temperature of the sea surface at 19.35 GHz increases linearly with increasing wind speed. The computational results of the modified theoretical model presented are in good agreement with the measurement results both at nadir and other angles. The model depicts that, for a fully developed sea driven by the wind with speed above 5 m/sec, the air in the transitional zone immediately above the air-sea interface is mixed with sea water droplets from bursting air bubbles. The droplet concentration has a profile tapering off to zero at a certain height. The dielectric constant of the inhomogeneous droplet profile is thus both a function of the height above the interface and the wind speed. Both the inhomogeneity effect and the possible attenuation effect of the droplet concentration have been considered.

Tang, C. C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1969

The employment of weather satellite imagery in an effort to identify and locate the forest-tundra ecotone in Canada

Weather satellite imagery provides the only routinely available orbital imagery depicting the high latitudes. Although resolution is low on this imagery, it is believed that a major natural feature, notably linear in expression, should be mappable on it. The transition zone from forest to tundra, the ecotone, is such a feature. Locational correlation is herein established between a linear signature on the imagery and several ground truth positions of the ecotone in Canada.

Aldrich, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1971

The interpretation of XUV solar radiation.

Discussion of the importance of laboratory and theoretical investigations for the analysis of solar UV and X-ray data by referring to five problems to which space experimenters are currently devoting a great deal of attention: (1) the temperature minimum at the interface between the photosphere and the chromosphere; (2) the temperature and density profiles of the low chromosphere; (3) the transition zone at the chromosphere-corona interface; (4) the corona; and (5) solar flares. Brief comments are made on the special need for laboratory and theoretical data of all kinds to assist in the interpretation of the rapidly accumulating volume of observations in the X-ray region of the solar spectrum.

Goldberg, L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Mapping northern Atlantic coastal marshlands, Maryland-Virginia, using ERTS imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 data provides repetitive synoptic coverage for DC 00000 of wetland ecology, detection of change, and mapping or inventory of wetland boundaries and plant communities. ERTS-1 positive transparencies of Atlantic Coastal wetlands were enlarged to different scales and mapped using a variety of methods. Results of analysis indicate: (1) mapping of wetland boundaries and vegetative communities from imagery at a scale of 1:1,000,000 is impractical because small details are difficult to illustrate; (2) mapping to a scale of 1:250,000 is practical for defining land-water interface, upper wetland boundary, gross vegetative communities, and spoil disposal/dredge and fill operations; (3) 1:125,000 enlargements provide additional information on transition zones, smaller plant communities, and drainage or mosquito ditching. Overlays may be made directly from prints.

Anderson, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Extreme-ultraviolet emission from solar prominences.

Spectra and spectroheliograms of prominences have been obtained at wavelengths of 300 to 1400 A from instruments aboard the OSO 4 and OSO 6 spacecraft. Quiescent prominences appear in emission above the limb for all strong lines formed at temperatures below 300,000 K, but not at higher temperatures. The gas pressure in the 100,000-K transition zone around prominences is approximately equal to that in the cooler (6500 K) central regions. The temperature and the hydrogen ground-state departure coefficient in the central regions are determined from the Lyman-continuum spectrum. Prominences on the disk (filaments) are visible in absorption in many lines, especially those at wavelengths below the hydrogen Lyman limit at 912 A.

Noyes, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Range of earth structure nonuniqueness implied by body wave observations.

The Herglotz-Wiechert integral for the direct inversion of ray parameter versus distance curves can be manipulated to find the envelope of all possible models consistent with geometrical body wave observations (travel time and ray parameter versus distance). Such an extremal inversion approach has been used to find the uncertainty bounds for the velocity structure in the mantle and core. It is found, for example, that there is an uncertainty of plus or minus 40 km in the radius of the inner core boundary, plus or minus 18 km at the core-mantle boundary, and plus or minus 35 km at the 435-km transition zone. The velocity uncertainty is about plus or minus 0.08 km/sec for P and S waves in the lower mantle and about plus or minus 0.20 km/sec in the core. Experiments with various combinations of ray types in the core indicate that rather crude observations of SKKS-SKS travel times confine the range of possible models far more dramatically than do the most precise estimates of PmKP travel times. Comparisons of results from extremal inversion and linearized perturbation inversions indicate that body wave behavior is too strongly nonlinear for linearized schemes to be effective for predicting uncertainty.

Wiggins, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

New observations of the solar ultraviolet chromosphere.

We present some of the results of a rocket flight which obtained a stigmatic spectrum of the sun in the region 1190 to 1320A. The experiment achieved a spectral resolution of 0.01A throughout this range, and the effective angular resolution was about 20 sec. Lines which are formed in the chromosphere and transition zone show strong fluctuations with position on the disk. The correspondence between the H Lyman-alpha profile and chromospheric details seen in the Ca K-line is demonstrated.

Bruner, E. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Computer program for calculating laminar, transitional, and turbulent boundary layers for a compressible axisymmetric flow

Finite-difference computer program calculates viscous compressible boundary layer flow over either planar or axisymmetric surfaces. Flow may be initially laminar and progress through transitional zone to fully turbulent flow, or it may remain laminar, depending on imposed boundary conditions, laws of viscosity, and numerical solution of momentum and energy equations.

Albers, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Analyzing the thermionic reactor critical experiments

The Thermionic Reactor Critical Experiments (TRCE) consisted of fast spectrum highly enriched U-235 cores reflected by different thicknesses of beryllium or beryllium oxide with a transition zone of stainless steel between the core and reflector. The mixed fast-thermal spectrum at the core reflector interface region poses a difficult neutron transport calculation. Calculations of TRCE using ENDF/B fast spectrum data and GATHER library thermal spectrum data agreed within about 1 percent for the multiplication factor and within 6 to 8 percent for the power peaks. Use of GAM library fast spectrum data yielded larger deviations. The results were obtained from DOT R Theta calculations with leakage cross sections, by region and by group, extracted from DOT RZ calculations. Delineation of the power peaks required extraordinarily fine mesh size at the core reflector interface.

Niederauer, G. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Computer program for calculating laminar, transitional, and turbulent boundary layers for a compressible axisymmetric flow

A finite-difference program is described for calculating the viscous compressible boundary layer flow over either planar or axisymmetric surfaces. The flow may be initially laminar and progress through a transitional zone to fully turbulent flow, or it may remain laminar, depending on the imposed boundary conditions, laws of viscosity, and numerical solution of the momentum and energy equations. The flow may also be forced into a turbulent flow at a chosen spot by the data input. The input may contain the factors of arbitrary Reynolds number, free-stream Mach number, free-stream turbulence, wall heating or cooling, longitudinal wall curvature, wall suction or blowing, and wall roughness. The solution may start from an initial Falkner-Skan similarity profile, an approximate equilibrium turbulent profile, or an initial arbitrary input profile.

Albers, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Lunakhod-2 in Lemonnier crater

A study of surface properties of the Lemonnier Crater by Lunakhod 2 is summarized. Special efforts were made to determine the variations of physical-chemical properties of the lunar surface as a function of the selenological-morphological structure in the transition zone of a mare region to the highlands. Studies were also made of the local magnetic situation, physical-mechanical properties of the soil, and the optical properties of the surface.

Koval, A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

On the Fe XXIV emission in the solar flare of 1973 June 15

The double ribbon flare of 1973 June 15 was observed in the XUV wavelength region with the NRL objective grating spectroheliograph during the Skylab missions. The Fe XXIV emissions at 192.1 and 255.2 A are prominent in the early phase of the flare. The Fe XXIV emission is centered over the neutral line, forming a bridgelike structure between magnetic regions of opposite polarity. This is unlike the emission pattern of He II, the transition zone ions, and Fe IX-XVI, which are relatively brighter in the adjacent flare ribbons overlying strong vertical magnetic field. An electron density of 5 times 10 to the 10th per cu cm for the Fe XXIV emission region is deduced from the observational data, and the cooling rate is briefly discussed.

Widing, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Solar prominences in the extreme ultraviolet as observed from the Apollo Telescope Mount

Observations of quiescent solar prominences with the Harvard College Observatory spectrometer aboard Skylab show that prominence material is optically thick in the Lyman alpha line and the Lyman continuum. The color temperature of the Lyman continuum has a mean of 6600 K and an upward gradient toward the top of the prominence. The departure coefficient of the ground state of hydrogen is found to be of the order of unity, as expected from theory. The optical depth of the C III sheath region is determined directly from the observation of the limb through the prominence and is used to infer the mean electron density and the temperature gradient of the sheath. The result implies that the sheath density is about 0.4, and the temperature gradient about 1.4 times the respective value in the C III transition zone of the quiet sun. The C III triplet-singlet ratio for the prominence is found to give a density compatible, within the uncertainty of the atomic parameters, with the density obtained from the optical depth.

Schmahl, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

The Copernicus observations - Interstellar or circumstellar material

It is suggested that the sharp absorption lines observed in the ultraviolet spectra of early-type stars by the Copernicus satellite may be entirely accounted for by the circumstellar material in the H II regions and associated transition zones around the observed stars. If this interpretation is correct, the Copernicus results yield little information on the state of any interstellar (as opposed to circumstellar) gas and, in particular, shed little light on the degree of element depletion in interstellar space.

Steigman, G.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Natural resources inventory and land evaluation in Switzerland

The author has identified the following significant results. Using MSS channels 5 and 7 and a supervised classification system with a PPD classification algorithm, it was possible to map the exact areal extent of the snow cover and of the transition zone with melting snow patches and snow free parts of various sizes over a large area under different aspects such as relief, exposure, shadows etc. A correlation of the data from ground control, areal underflights and earth resources satellites provided a very accurate interpretation of the melting procedure of snow in high mountains.

Haefner, H.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A reduction in ag/residential signature conflict using principal components analysis of LANDSAT temporal data

Methods to accurately delineate the types of land cover in the urban-rural transition zone of metropolitan areas were considered. The application of principal components analysis to multidate LANDSAT imagery was investigated as a means of reducing the overlap between residential and agricultural spectral signatures. The statistical concepts of principal components analysis were discussed, as well as the results of this analysis when applied to multidate LANDSAT imagery of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Williams, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Circumstellar matter in the binary V Puppis

Results are reported for Copernicus observations of the double-lined binary V Puppis in the wavelength region from 1155 to 1310 A with a resolution of 0.2 A. The sharp-lined UV absorption spectrum is found to provide a line of sight dominated by an apparently 'textbook' H II region in a Stromgren sphere surrounding the stars. Several characteristics of this H II region are deduced by analyzing absorption features arising from excited fine-structure states of N II and Si II. Evidence is given for the presence of a normal interstellar H I region containing H2 and a separate H I region which could be the transition zone of the H II region. A possible blueshifted N V feature is noted in absorption. It is suggested that the H(+) emission measure and a characteristic size and shape for the H II region can probably be determined by optical observations of Balmer recombination lines within about 1 deg of V Puppis.

York, D. G.↗