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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

Solar modulation of galactic cosmic rays: Contemporary observations and theories

The flux of galactic cosmic rays inside the solar system is modulated by the action of the complex magnetic fields carried from the Sun by the solar wind. This is apparent from the recurrent decrease of about 20% in the intensity of relativistic cosmic rays during sunspot maximum compared to sunspot minimum, from transient decreases due to solar flares and many other more subtle effects observed by ground stations for the last 50 years. Spacecraft observations of the spatial and temporal variations of cosmic ray flux during the last ten years have shown that the solar wind and cosmic-ray modulation extend to at least 30 astronomical units in the ecliptic plane. Present best guesses are that it goes out to 100 or 200 AU, perhaps less over the poles. Theories describing the mechanism of solar modulation are outlined and the importance of having a firm understanding of this mechanism to the study of other astrophysical phenomena is discussed.

Forman, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Surface deformation associated with the November 23, 1977, Caucete, Argentina, earthquake sequence

The 1977 Caucete (San Juan) earthquake considered in the present paper occurred near the Sierra Pie de Palo in the Sierras Pampeanas tectonic province of western Argentina. In the study reported, coseismic surface deformation is combined with seismic observations (main shock and aftershocks, both teleseismic and local data) to place constraints on the geometry and slip of the main fault responsible for the 1977 earthquake. The implications of the 1977 event for long-term crustal shortening and earthquake recurrence rates in this region are also discussed. It is concluded that the 1977 Caucete earthquake was accompanied by more than 1 m of vertical uplift.

Kadinsky-Cade, K.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Persistent anomalies of the extratropical Northern Hemisphere wintertime circulation - Structure

A study identifying horizontal and vertical structures of low patterns occurring with persistent 500 mb height anomalies in the central North Pacific, eastern North Atlantic, and northern Soviet Union regions is presented. The flow patterns of positive and negative anomalies are compared. The relationship between persistent anomalies and small recurrent anomaly patterns is examined. The temporal fluctuations of the persistent patterns are analyzed.

Dole, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Some implications of mass extinction for the evolution of complex life

Extinction has the destructive effect of eliminating established lineages from an evolutionary system, and the constructive effect of vacating ecospace into which new lineages can evolve. Mass extinctions, which are times of unusually intense extinction, have been consistently followed by major radiations of new lineages. Extraterrestrial impacts associated with extinction events and a periodic recurrence of these events implicates an extraterrestrial forcing mechanism as the ultimate cause of mass extinction. This suggests that the extraplanetary environment has played an important, active role in the development of complex life on earth.

Sepkoski, J. J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Sensor technology for advanced space missions

The capability and applications of two sensors, Spatial, High-Accuracy, Position-Encoding Sensor (SHAPES) and Fiber Optics Rotation Sensor (FORS), for advanced missions are discussed. The multiple target, 3-D position sensing capability of SHAPES meets a critical technology need for many developing applications. A major milestone of the SHAPES task was completed on schedule on May 30, 1986, by demonstrating simultaneous ranging to eight moving targets at a rate of 10 measurements per second. The range resolution to static target was shown to be 25 microns. SHAPES scheduled technology readiness will support the sensor needs of a number of early users. The next phase in the development of SHAPES is to incorporate an angular measurement CCD to provide the full 3-dimensional sensing. A flight unit design and fabrication can be complete by FY89. FORS, with its significant improvement over present technology in lifetime, performance, weight, power, and recurrent cost, will be an important technology for future space systems. Technology readiness will be demonstrated with a FORS brassboard with fully integrated IO chips by FY88. The unique capability of miniature remote sensing heads, connected to a central system, will open up new areas in control and stability of large space structures. This application requires additional study.

Nerheim, N. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

On the Theory of Type 1 X-Ray Bursts: The Energetics of Bursts and the Nuclear Fuel Reservoir in the Envelope

The observed properties of type 1 X-ray bursts from 4U/MXB 1636-53 and those of models of thermonuclear flashes on accreting neutron stars are compared. Ways to explain variations in the burst recurrence properties without an apparent correlation with the accretion rate, including the rapid succession of bursts at intervals 10 min are discussed. The strongest X-ray bursts, which occur after a very long interval, are well described by thermonuclear flash models with simple accumulation of accreted fuel, and a spherically symmetric structure in the burning shell. The majority of observed bursts, however, occur after much shorter intervals, and radiate much smaller amounts of energy, by a factor of up to 10 times that predicted by the spherical models. An ignition mechanism of the bursts is proposed in terms of elemental mixing and dissipative heating associated with hydrodynamical instabilities in the neutron star envelope caused by angular momentum carried inward by accreted gas.

Fujimoto, Masayuki Y.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Cockpit Resource Management (CRM): A tool for improved flight safety (United Airlines CRM training)

The approach and methodology used in developing cockpit management skills is effective because of the following features: (1) A comparative method of learning is used enabling crewmembers to study different forms of teamwork. (2) The learning comes about as a result of crewmembers learning from one another instead of from an expert instructor. (3) Key elements of cockpit teamwork and effective management are studied so that crewmembers can determine how these elements can improve safety and problem solving. (4) Critique among the crewmembers themselves rather than from outsiders is used as a common focusing point for crews to provide feedback to one another on how each can be a more effective crewmember. (5) The training is continuous in the sense that it becomes part of recurrent, upgrade, and other forms of crewmember training and development. And (6) the training results in sound and genuine insights that come about through solid education as opposed to tutoring, coaching, or telling crewmembers how to behave more effectively.

Carroll, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Ten year change in forest succession and composition measured by remote sensing

Vegetation dynamics and changes in ecological patterns were measured by remote sensing over a 10 year period (1973 to 1983) for 148,406 landscape elements, covering more than 500 sq km in a protected forested wilderness. Quantitative measurements were made possible by methods to detect ecologically meaningful landscape units; these allowed measurement of ecological transition frequencies and calculation of expected recurrence times. Measured ecological transition frequencies reveal boreal forest wilderness as spatially heterogeneous and highly dynamic, with one-sixth of the area in clearings and early successional stages, consistent with recent postulates about the spatial and temporal patterns of natural ecosystems. Differences between managed forest areas and a protected wilderness allow assessment of different management regimes.

Hall, Forrest G.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Simulations of the gross solar magnetic field during sunspot cycle 21

Regarding new bipolar magnetic regions as sources of flux, the evolution of the radial component of the solar photospheric magnetic field during 1976-1984 has been simulated with a spatial resolution of about 34,000 km, and the corresponding evolution of its absolute value averaged over the visible disk is derived. For nominal values of the transport parameters, this simulated gross field is in close, though imperfect, agreement with the observed gross field and its associated indices of solar activity. By analyzing the response of the simulated gross field to variations in the transport parameters and the source properties, it is found that the simulated field originates in newly erupted bipolar regions. The lifetimes of these regions are almost always less than three mo. Consequently, the strength of the simulated gross field is a measure of the current level of solar activity, and any recurrent patterns with lifetimes in excess of six mo must reflect the continuing eruption of new flux at 'active longitudes' rather than the persistence of old flux in long-lived magnetic structures.

Sheeley, Neil R., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Statistics and dynamics of persistent anomalies

Persistent anomalies with recurrent spatial patterns play an important role in the atmosphere's low-frequency variability. A connection between statistical and dynamical methods of description and prediction of persistent anomalies is established by computing and analyzing the empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) in a simple deterministic model, on the one hand, and in Southern Hemisphere geopotential heights, on the other. The dynamical model is governed by the fully nonlinear, equivalent-barotropic vorticity equation on the sphere, with simplified forcing, dissipation and topography. The Southern Hemisphere data consist in gridded daily maps of 500 mb heights from June 1972 to July 1983. Two types of persistent anomalies appear in this time series, both having a strong wavenumber-three component; they differ by the value of the constant phase of this wave and by the strength of the wavenumber-one component. The first two EOFs bear a striking resemblance to these two patterns. It is concluded that the dynamical interpretation of EOFs is their pointing from the time mean to the most populated regions of the system's phase space. Pursuing this interpretation, a Markov-chain formulation of transitions from one persistent anomaly regime to another is introduced, and the implications for long-range forecasting are discussed.

Mo, Kingtse C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Gravitational microlensing and gamma-ray bursts

Models of gravitational microlensing at small and large optical depth are presented, with a special emphasis on the time delays between microimages. The time distribution of microimage arrival times is random when the microobjects responsible for the lensing are randomly distributed. If the microobjects are clustered in space, then microimages are clustered in time. In some models there are many pairs of microimages with a very small time separation. It is proposed that the recently discovered recurrent soft gamma-ray burster GB 790107, for which more than 50 bursts were detected, is a single event multiply imaged due to gravitational microlensing by an ensemble of nonrandomly distributed microobjects, perhaps a rich cluster of galaxies. Some observational tests of this hypothesis are proposed. If correct, the hypothesis requires the burster to be at a cosmological distance, perhaps farther away than the most distant quasars.

Paczynski, Bohdan↗
NASA NTRS1987

On the theory of type I X-ray bursts - The energetics of bursts and the nuclear fuel reservoir in the envelope

A comparison is made between the observed properties of type I X-ray bursts from 4U/MXB 1636-53 and those of models of thermonuclear flashes on accreting neutron stars. Possible explanations of variations in the burst recurrence properties without an apparent correlation with accretion rate are discussed. The strongest bursts with photospheric expansion are described well by current spherically symmetric models. The observed weak bursts suggest a mechanism that can promote the inward propagation and heating of accreted fuel so as to give rise to thermonuclear runaways much earlier than expected from spherical models. A sufficient amount of fuel to feed the weak bursts can be stored in the outer layers for neutron stars with radii greater than 8 km. The proposed mechanism and fuel storage can resolve the longstanding problem of bursts in rapid succession with intervals shorter than about 10 minutes. The proposed model explains the variation of burst peak fluxes observed from 4U/MSB 1636-53.

Fujimoto, Masayuki Y.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An O(N squared) method for computing the eigensystem of N by N symmetric tridiagonal matrices by the divide and conquer approach

An efficient method is proposed to solve the eigenproblem of N by N Symmetric Tridiagonal (ST) matrices. Unlike the standard eigensolvers which necessitate O(N cubed) operations to compute the eigenvectors of such ST matrices, the proposed method computes both the eigenvalues and eigenvectors with only O(N squared) operations. The method is based on serial implementation of the recently introduced Divide and Conquer (DC) algorithm. It exploits the fact that by O(N squared) of DC operations, one can compute the eigenvalues of N by N ST matrix and a finite number of pairs of successive rows of its eigenvector matrix. The rest of the eigenvectors--all of them or one at a time--are computed by linear three-term recurrence relations. Numerical examples are presented which demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method by saving an order of magnitude in execution time at the expense of sacrificing a few orders of accuracy.

Gill, Doron↗
NASA NTRS1988

Parafrase restructuring of FORTRAN code for parallel processing

Parafrase transforms a FORTRAN code, subroutine by subroutine, into a parallel code for a vector and/or shared-memory multiprocessor system. Parafrase is not a compiler; it transforms a code and provides information for a vector or concurrent process. Parafrase uses a data dependency to reveal parallelism among instructions. The data dependency test distinguishes between recurrences and statements that can be directly vectorized or parallelized. A number of transformations are required to build a data dependency graph.

Wadhwa, Atul↗
NASA NTRS1987

Effect of possible passage through Halley's magnetic tail on geomagnetic activity

It is found that there occurred a geomagnetic storm on May 18/19, 1910 that cannot be dismissed as a recurrent storm. The period of storminess is close to the period of time at which the magnetic and plasma tail of Halley should have passed over the earth. The signature is worldwide and of the form and magnitude expected if the solar wind were shielded from the earth by the comet. Comparison with computer simulations applicable closer to the comet suggests that this interpretation is feasible. If this interpretation is correct, the 'lobes' of the Halley tail have deeper lows at 24 x 10 to the 6th km than in the present model at 7 x 10 to the 6th km downstream and are at least twice as wide.

Russell, C. T.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Super-Zip separation joint performance investigation

Following functional failures of two of five Lockheed Super-Zip spacecraft separation joints in a development test series to quantify thermal effects, an investigation program was initiated on this and related systems to assist in preventing recurrence. The Super-Zip joint, applied in a ring configuration, utilizes an explosively expanded tube to fracture surrounding prenotched aluminum plates to achieve planar separation. A unique test method was developed and more than 300 individual test firings were conducted to provide an understanding of severance mechanisms, the functional performance effects of system variables, and the most likely cause of system failure. An approach for defining functional margin was developed, as well as specific recommendations for improving existing and future systems.

Bement, Laurence J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A model El Nino-Southern Oscillation

A coupled atmosphere-ocean model is developed and used to study the ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation) phenomenon. With no anomalous external forcing, the coupled model reproduces certain key features of the observed phenomenon, including the recurrence of warm events at irregular intervals with a preference for three to four years. It is shown that the mean sea surface temperature, wind and ocean current fields determine the characteristic spatial structure of ENSO anomalies. The tendency for phase-locking of anomalies is explained in terms of a variation in coupling strength associated with the annual cycle in the mean fields. Sensitivity studies reveal that both the amplitude and the time scale of the oscillation are sensitive to several parameters that affect the strength of the atmosphere-ocean coupling. Stronger coupling implies larger oscillations with a longer timescale. A critical element of the model oscillation is the variability in the equatorial heat content of the upper ocean. Equatorial heat content increases prior to warm events and decreases sharply during the events. A theory for this variability and the associated transitions between non-El Nino and El Nino states is presented. Implications of the model results for the prediction of El Nino events are discussed.

Zebiak, Stephen E.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Composite climatology of Florida summer thunderstorms

An attempt is made to produce a more comprehensive peninsular Florida summer thunderstorm climatology using composites based upon the longest available time series of best-resolution manually digitized radar (MDR) return. The MDR composites are compared to a more limited set of satellite composites, and temporal variation in the radar composites is related to synoptic-scale variability. The results objectively demonstrate the dominance of recurrent convective patterns over south Florida, even at scales as small as local coastline variation.

Michaels, Patrick J.↗