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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Tropical Atlantic Dust and Smoke Aerosol Variations Related to the Madden-Julian Oscillation in MODIS and MISR Observations

In this study, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fine mode fraction and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) nonspherical fraction data are used to derive dust and smoke aerosol optical thickness (T(sub dust) and T(sub smoke)) over the tropical Atlantic in a complementary way: due to its wider swath, MODIS has 3-4 times greater sampling than MISR, but MISR dust discrimination is based on particle shape retrievals, whereas an empirical scheme is used for MODIS. MODIS and MISR show very similar dust and smoke winter climatologies. T(sub dust) is the dominant aerosol component over the tropical Atlantic, accounting for 40-70 percent of the total aerosol optical thickness (AOT), whereas T(sub smoke) is significantly smaller than T(sub dust). The consistency and high correlation between these climatologies and their daily variations lends confidence to their use for investigating the relative dust and smoke contributions to the total AOT variation associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The temporal evolution and spatial patterns of the τdus anomalies associated with the MJO are consistent between MODIS and MISR: the magnitude of MJO-realted T(sub dust) anomalies is comparable to or even larger than that of the total T, while the T(sub smoke) anomaly represents about 15 percent compared to the total, which is quite different from their relative magnitudes to the total T on the climatological time scale. This suggests that dust and smoke are not influenced by the MJO in the same way. Based on correlation analysis, dust is strongly influenced by the MJO-modulated trade wind and precipitation anomalies, and can last as long as one MJO phase, whereas smoke is less affected.

Madden-Julian Oscillation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Predicting Team Functioning in Long Term Space Missions Using Acoustic and Linguistic Measures

Maintaining optimal team functioning is critical for long-duration space exploration missions, yet traditional monitoring methods, such as self-reports and wearable sensors, often impose operational burdens or suffer from bias. This paper investigates a non-intrusive speech-based artificial intelligence (AI) framework to predict degradations in team functioning using data from the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Using acoustic features, linguistic descriptors, and semantic embeddings, we evaluate static non-linear and temporal machine learning models to predict both objective (task accuracy) and subjective (self-reported efficacy and cohesion) team functioning outcomes. Results indicate that temporal models outperform static approaches, with prediction of objective task accuracy in Team Interaction Battery (TIB) improving from near chance to 71%. Self-reported outcomes, including team efficacy and cohesion, are predicted more reliably than task performance, achieving balanced accuracies of up to 85.56% and 78.12%, respectively, and are found to be most strongly associated with acoustic features. In a second interdependent task, the MMSEV–EVA, accuracies of up to 78% are achieved using temporal models with acoustic features. Furthermore, incorporating just 1–2 days of team-specific historical data systematically improved performance, and acoustic markers from informal pre-task interactions provided modest predictive gains. Finally, while automated preprocessing yielded viable accuracy, humancorrected data provided moderate performance gains, though transcription error rates did not significantly correlate with model performance. These findings highlight the potential of speech as a passive, high-fidelity monitoring tool for autonomous habitats.

Temporal modeling↗
NASA NTRS1976

Low-energy electron intensities at large distances over the earth's polar cap

The eccentric-orbiting satellite Imp 5 penetrated the distant polar magnetosphere at positions corresponding to those for magnetic field lines which intersect the earth's northern polar cap. Measurements of electron intensities with E not less than 250 eV in these regions of extremely low plasma densities were gained with an electrostatic analyzer. The observational period was January-October 1970. Electron intensities within the energy range 250 eV-50 keV were less by orders of magnitude than those typically encountered within the plasma sheet and over the auroral oval. However, dramatic temporal variations of average electron intensities in the polar cap region were found for orbit-to-orbit comparisons. The observed intensity variations showed a remarkable correlation with the polarity of the magnetic sector structure in the interplanetary medium: high intensities for 'away from the sun' sectors and low intensities for 'toward' sectors.

Yeager, D. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Biasing errors and corrections

The dependence of laser velocimeter measurement rate on flow velocity is discussed. Investigations outlining that any dependence is purely statistical, and is nonstationary both spatially and temporally, are described. Main conclusions drawn are that the times between successive particle arrivals should be routinely measured and the calculation of the velocity data rate correlation coefficient should be performed to determine if a dependency exists. If none is found, accept the data ensemble as an independent sample of the flow. If a dependency is found, the data should be modified to obtain an independent sample. Universal correcting procedures should never be applied because their underlying assumptions are not valid.

Meyers, James F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Hourly observations of the jet stream - Wind shear, Richardson number and pilot reports of turbulence

Results are presented of observations of the jet stream made on the basis of over 400 hr of wind and temperature data taken during two prolonged jet stream passages above western and central Pennsylvania during mid-November 1986 and mid-January 1987. Wind profilers are found to be far better suited for the detailed examination of jet stream structure than are weather balloons. The combination of good vertical resolution with not previously obtained temporal resolution reveals structural details not seen before. Development of probability forecasts of turbulence based on wind profiler-derived shear values appears possible. A good correlation between pilot reports and turbulence and wind shear is found.

Syrett, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Low Luminosity States of the Black Hole Candidate GX 339-4: Timing Analysis - 2

Here we present timing analysis of a set of eight Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of the black hole candidate GX 339-4 that were taken during its hard/low state. On long time scales, the RXTE All Sky Monitor data reveal evidence of a 240 day periodicity, comparable to timescales expected from warped, precessing accretion disks. On short timescales all observations save one show evidence of a persistent f(qpo approximately equals 0.3 Hz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO)). The broad band (10 (exp -3) to 10 (exp2) Hz) power appears to be dominated by two independent processes that can be modeled as very broad Lorentzians with Q approximately less than - 1. The coherence function between soft and hard photon variability shows that if these are truly independent processes, then they are individually coherent, but they are incoherent with one another. This is evidenced by the fact that the coherence function between the hard and soft variability is near unity between 5 x 10 (exp -3) but shows evidence of a dip at f approximately equals 1 Hz. This is the region of overlap between the broad Lorentzian fits to the Power Spectral Density (PSD). Similar to Cyg X-1, the coherence also drops dramatically at frequencies approximately greater than 1O Hz. Also similar to Cyg X-1, the hard photon variability is seen to lag the soft photon variability with the lag time increasing with decreasing Fourier frequency. The magnitude of this time lag appears to be positively correlated with the flux of GX 339-4. We discuss all of these observations in light of current theoretical models of both black hole spectra and temporal variability.

Nowak, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Application of Satellite-Derived Land Surface Temperature to Minimum Temperature Forecasting

Satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) is studied for the purpose of understanding regional skin temperature dependency and variability, and its relationship to corresponding, site-specific air temperature. Skin temperature is highly correlated with surface-air temperature although it differs depending on land surface characteristics, terrain, and atmospheric conditions on a diurnal and seasonal scale. The high temporal resolution of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) -12 sounder is used to compare the diurnal cycles of LST and surface-air temperature. The minimum for both temperatures occurs near sunrise and LST is found to agree closely with surface-air temperatures a period of hours before sunrise on clear sky nights. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived LST renders more horizontal temperature structure - with its high spatial resolution (1 km at nadir) compared to the GOES-12 sounder (10 km). Nighttime MODIS-derived LST is extrapolated to the time of minimum temperature for a number of case study days and these are grouped by season and atmospheric conditions. These composites show that the variation in LST mirror the variation in minimum surface-air temperature under similar conditions.

Jones, P. R.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flow field Reconstruction for Inhomogeneous Turbulence using Data and Physics Driven Models

A methodology combining Large Eddy Simulation (LES) trained data and a physics driven wave packet model to obtain a reduced order reconstruction for broadband, three-dimensional, temporally stationary but spatially inhomogeneous, incompressible turbulence. Wake turbulence generated by an axisymmetric dragging disk with a turbulent co-flow serves as the benchmark test case. We begin by studying the proper-orthogonal decomposition of the turbulent fluctuations taken from a high-resolution LES to first identify whether the fields demonstrate a low-rank character. It is argued that the presence of the turbulent co-flow results in a largely broadband character lacking any tonal properties. This is especially true for Strouhal numbers greater than 1 and only a small fraction of energy is contained in the leading order Kelvin-Helmholtz modes. As such reconstructions and reduced order modeling purely relying on data from LES does not appear to be a lucrative solution - contrary to problems with strongly tonal character. To supplement the missing energy from a low order truncated mode expansion, we utilize a physics based super-resolution (enrichment) algorithm that relies on spatio-temporally localized Gabor wave packets whose time evolution is described using a set of ordinary differential equations. The reconstructed flow has single- and two-point correlations that are consistent with the reference high resolution simulation data.

SLS↗
NASA NTRS2023

Regional Analysis of the 2015–16 Lower Mekong River Basin Drought Using NASA Satellite Observations

Study region Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB) Study focus Satellite remote sensing products are widely used for monitoring droughts. Using NASA satellite sensors of precipitation (Global Measurement Mission, GPM), soil moisture (Soil Moisture Active and Passive, SMAP), and terrestrial water storage (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, GRACE), this study evaluates the historical drought in the LMRB during 2015–16. SMAP soil moisture was validated against in-situ soil moisture, and GPM precipitation and SMAP soil moisture were cross-validated with streamflow observations. The spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture were also examined in different ranges of catchment areas. In performing the analysis, we used lagged correlations between hydrological variables and the indices of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI). New hydrological insights for the regions Spatio-temporal patterns of drought in 2015–16 were examined from the entire basin to small watersheds. A mismatch occurs when using GRACE data to study droughts in small watersheds (many of the small watersheds would be a fraction of the few 100 km2 spatial resolutions of GRACE pixel). In smaller watersheds, hydrological drought (SSI) was closely defined with SMAP soil moisture downscaled to 1 km rather than the meteorological drought index (SPI). By leveraging satellite-based observations across a range of spatial scales, this study highlights the utility of Earth observations in informing water resources and land management decisions at the regional scale.

Mekong↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Provides for Disaster Management, Measurement of Soil Moisture, and Measurement of Earth-Surface Dynamics

A GEO-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) could provide daily coverage of basically all of North and South America with very good temporal coverage within the mapped area. This affords a key capability to disaster management, tectonic mapping and modeling, and vegetation mapping. The fine temporal sampling makes this system particularly useful for disaster management of flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes. By using a fairly long wavelength, changing water boundaries caused by storms or flooding could be monitored in near real-time. This coverage would also provide revolutionary capabilities in the field of radar interferometry, including the capability to study the interferometric signature immediately before and after an earthquake, thus allowing unprecedented studies of Earth-surface dynamics. Preeruptive volcano dynamics could be studied as well as pre-seismic deformation, one of the most controversial and elusive aspects of earthquakes. Interferometric correlation would similarly allow near real-time mapping of surface changes caused by volcanic eruptions, mud slides, or fires. Finally, a GEO SAR provides an optimum configuration for soil moisture measurement that requires a high temporal sampling rate (1-2 days) with a moderate spatial resolution (1 km or better). From a technological point of view, the largest challenges involved in developing a geosynchronous SAR capability relate to the very large slant range distance from the radar to the mapped area. This leads to requirements for large power or alternatively very large antenna, the ability to steer the mapping area to the left and right of the satellite, and control of the elevation and azimuth angles. The weight of this system is estimated to be 2750 kg and it would require 20 kW of DC-power. Such a system would provide up to a 600 km ground swath in a strip-mapping mode and 4000 km dual-sided mapping in a scan-SAR mode.

Madsen, Soren↗
NASA NTRS1986

Geomagnetic temporal change: 1903-1982 - A spline representation

The secular variation of the earth's magnetic field is itself subject to temporal variations. These are investigated with the aid of the coefficients of a series of spherical harmonic models of secular variation deduced from data for the interval 1903-1982 from the worldwide network of magnetic observatories. For some studies it is convenient to approximate the time variation of the spherical harmonic coefficients with a smooth, continuous, function; for this a spline fitting is used. The phenomena that are investigated include periodicities, discontinuities, and correlation with the length of day. The numerical data presented will be of use for further investigations and for the synthesis of secular variation at any place and at any time within the interval of the data - they are not appropriate for temporal extrapolations.

Langel, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Daily Rainfall Estimate by Emissivity Temporal Variation from 10 Satellites

Rainfall retrieval algorithms for passive microwave radiometers often exploit the brightness temperature depression due to ice scattering at high-frequency channels (≥85 GHz) over land. This study presents an alternate method to estimate the daily rainfall amount using the emissivity temporal variation (i.e., Δe) under rain-free conditions at low-frequency channels (19, 24, and 37 GHz). Emissivity is derived from 10 passive microwave radiometers, including the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), three Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounders (SSMIS), the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), and four Advanced Microwave Sounding Units-A (AMSU-A). Four different satellite combination schemes are used to derive the Δe for daily rainfall estimates. They are all 10 satellites, 5 imagers, 6 satellites with very different equator crossing times, and GMI only. Results show that Δe from all 10 satellites has the best performance with a correlation of 0.60 and RMSE of 6.52 mm, compared with the Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) Final run product. The 6-satellites scheme has comparable performance with the all-10-satellites scheme. The 5-imagers scheme performs noticeably worse with a correlation of 0.49 and RMSE of 7.28 mm, while the GMI-only scheme performs the worst with a correlation of 0.25 and RMSE of 11.36 mm. The inferior performance from the 5-imagers and GMI-only schemes can be explained by the much longer revisit time, which cannot accurately capture the emissivity temporal variation.

Yalei You↗
NASA NTRS2024

Evaluation of a Combined Drought Indicator Against Crop Yield Estimations and Simulations Over the Argentine Humid Pampas

Droughts pose serious threats to the agricultural sector, especially in rainfed-dominated agricultural regions like those in Argentina’s Humid Pampas. This region was recently impacted by slow-evolving and long-lasting droughts as well as by flash droughts, resulting in losses reaching thousands of millions of US dollars. Improvements of drought early warning systems are essential, particularly given the projected increase in drought frequency and severity over southern South America. The spatial and temporal relationship between precipitation deficits, soil moisture and vegetation health anomalies are crucial for better understanding and representation of the agricultural droughts and their impacts. In this context, the Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) considers the causal and time-lagged relationship of these three variables. The study’s objective is twofold: (1) Analyze the time-lagged response between precipitation deficits, soil moisture and satellite fAPAR anomalies; and (2) Evaluate the CDI’s capability to characterize the severity of drought events on the Humid Pampas against agricultural yield estimations and simulations, as well as agricultural emergency declarations. The correlation among the variables shows strong spatial variability. The highest Pearson correlation values (r > 0.42) are observed over parts of the Humid Pampas for time lags of 0, 10, and 20 days between the variables. Although the CDI has limitations, such as its coarse spatial resolution and monthly temporal resolution of precipitation data, it effectively tracks the progression of major drought events in the region. The CDI’s performance aligns well with estimations and simulations of soybean and corn yields, as well as official declarations of agricultural emergencies. Insights from this study also provide a basis for discussing potential improvements to the CDI. This study highlights the global and regional significance of evaluating and enhancing the CDI for effective drought monitoring, emphasizing the role of collaborative efforts for future advancements in drought early warning systems.

Combined Drought Indicator↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Net Decay Time of Anomalies in Concentrations of Atmospheric Pollutants

This paper introduces a new parameter to characterize the random component in temporal variability of atmospheric pollutants and proposes a simple statistical technique for its evaluation. That parameter is the net decay time (or the time scale) of the local anomalies in concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, rather than the traditionally used chemical lifetimes of total amounts of the species. Using widely available data of hourly multi-year surface trace gas pollutant concentrations we demonstrate a simplified way to estimate the net decay time with an exponential approximation of lag-correlation functions. We assessed the decay times of fluctuations in observations of eight atmospheric pollutants (SO2, NO, NO2, NOy, O3, CO, NH3, and HNO3) at two urban sites and one cleaner rural site in the Eastern US. The time scales of temporal fluctuations (net decay times) vary from about one hour to slightly more than one day. These scales are generally much shorter in urban environments than in remote regions. We also compared day- and night-time observations in warm and cold seasons. At night in the cold season, time scales of fluctuations in atmospheric pollutants are usually the longest. Such estimates should be useful to air quality prediction, public health, and satellite remote sensing research communities.

air quality prediction↗
NASA NTRS1972

Two substorm studies of relations between westward electric fields in the outer plasmasphere, auroral activity, and geomagnetic perturbations

Temporal variations of the westward component of the magnetospheric convection electric field in the outer plasmasphere were compared to auroral activity near L = 7, and to variations in the geomagnetic field at middle and high latitudes. The substorms occurred on July 29, 1965 near 0530 UT and on August 20, 1965 near 0730 UT. The results on westward electric field E(w) were obtained by the whistler method using data from Eights, Antarctica (L is approximately 4). All sky camera records were obtained from Byrd, Antarctica, (L is approximately 7), located within about 1 hour of Eights in magnetic local time. It was found that E(w) within the outer plasmasphere increased rapidly to substorm levels about the time of auroral expansion at nearby longitudes. This behavior is shown to differ from results on E(w) from balloons, which show E(w) reaching enhanced levels prior to the expansion. A close temporal relation was found between the rapid, substorm associated increases in E(w) and a well known type of nightside geomagnetic perturbation. Particularly well defined was the correlation of E(w) rise and a large deviation of the D component at middle latitudes.

Carpenter, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Plate motion controls on back-arc spreading

The motions of the subducting and the overriding plates influence the spatial and temporal distribution of back-arc spreading. Cenozoic plate motions in hot spot-fixed and no-net-rotation reference frames were studied with attention to correlations between changes in motion and episodes of back-arc spreading in the western Pacific. The results suggest that major back-arc opening occurs when both the overriding plate retreats from the trench in an absolute sense and the subducting plate undergoes a significant speed-up. Neither phenomenon alone is sufficient to initiate spreading. Three major plate velocity increases can be identified in the Cenozoic: (1) the Pacific plate 5-9 Ma; (2) the Indian plate at 27 Ma; and (3) the Pacific plate at 43 Ma, due to its shift from northerly to more westerly motion. At the present time, the Indian and Philippine are the only overriding plates that are retreating from their Pacific trenches and back-arc spreading occurs only on these two retreating plates. Although the Indian plate has been retreating for at least 25 Ma, back-arc spreading began only following the Pacific plate speed-up 5-9 Ma. Earlier, during the Indian plate speed-up, no overriding plates were retreating strongly and no back-arc spreading epsiodes are preserved from this time. For the earliest Pacific plate shift at 43 Ma, the Eurasian plate was not advancing, thus creating the only favorable plate kinematic conditions in the Cenozoic for back-arc basin formation in this region. It is unclear whether extension in the Japan Sea is a result of these conditions.

Fein, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Observations on the long-period variability of the Gulf Stream downstream of Cape Hatteras

To examine the long-period variability of the Gulf Stream, sea level residuals relative to a 2-year mean sea level in the Gulf Stream downstream of Cape Hatteras (between 75 deg W and 60 deg W longitude) are used. Residuals, as derived from Geosat altimetry between November 1986 and December 1988, were gridded in space and time at a temporal resolution of 10 days and spatial resolution of 1/4 deg. Complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analysis was applied to the data set to extract the spatially correlated signal with the original data subsampled to 1/2 deg. In addition to determining the space-time scales and propagation characterisitics of the different modes, wavenumber-frequency spectral techniques were used to separate the variability into propagating and stationary components. The CEOF technique applied to the data set indicated that the first four CEOF modes accounted for 60% of the variability and were found to be above the noise leve 99% of the time. CEOF 1 was associated with westward propagation at 5 km/d at a wavelength of 2000 km and eastward propagation at 1-2 km/d centered at a 500-km wavelength. This first CEOF is in good agreement with thin-jet equivalent barotropic models which predict westward propagation for wavelengths greater than 1130 km. A deflection of the wavelike pattern at 65 deg W also indicates a possible topographic effect. A simple scaling of the effect of topography indicates that for length scales longer than the internal Rossby radius of deformation, the topographic term is at least of the same order of magnitude as the beta effect. The second CEOF was more broadbanded in wavenumber space, with eastward propagation occurring in a wavenumber-frequency band between 300 and 1400 km and 0.5 and 2.0 cycles/yr. The third CEOF is similar in structure to the first, but with less energy. CEOF 4 was clearly identifiable with higher frequencies than the first three with westward propagation at 4 km/d. The spatial location of this mode along with the westward propagation indicates possible influences from eddy-stream interactions. Thus topography, Rossby wave dynamics and eddy-stream interactions all appear to have a significant role in determining the space-time scales and propagation properties of the long-period response of sea level in the Gulf Stream.

Vazquez, Jorge↗
NASA NTRS1995

Temporal variation of meandering intensity and domain-wide lateral oscillations of the Gulf Stream

The path of the Gulf Stream exhibits two modes of variability: wavelike spatial meanders associated with instability processes and large-sale lateral shifts of the path presumably due to atmospheric forcing. The objectives of this study are to examine the temporal variation of the intensity of spatial meandering in the stream, to characterize large-scale lateral oscillations in the stream's path, and to study the correlation betwen these two dynamically distinct modes of variability. The data used for this analysis are path displacemets ofthe Gulf Stream between 75 deg and 60 deg W obtained from AVHRR-derived (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) infrared images for the period April 1982 through December 1989. Meandering intensity, measured by the spatial root-mean-sqaure displacement of the stream path, displays a 9-month dominant periodicity which is persistent through the study period. The 9-month fluctuation in meandering intensity may be related to the interaction of Rosseby waves with the stream. Interannual variation of meandering intensity is also found to be significant, with meandering being mich more intense during 1985 than it was in 1987. Annual variation, however,is weak and not well-defined.The spatially averaged position of the stream, which reflects nonmeandering large-scale lateral oscillations of the stream path, is dominated by an annual cycle. On average, the mean position is farthest north in November and farthest south in April. The first empirical orthogonal function mode of the space-time path displacements represents lateral oscillatins that are in-phase over the space-time domain. Interannual oscillations are also observed and are found to be weaker than the annual oscillation. The eigenvalue of the first mode indicates that about 21.5% of the total space-time variability of the stream path can be attibuted to domain-wide lateral oscillation. The correlation between meandering intensity and domain-wide lateral oscillations is very weak.

Lee, Tong↗