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At least 523 records · Page 29

Correlation of microthermal turbulence data with meteorological soundings in the troposphere.

Recent measurements of vertical profiles of microthermal turbulence structure are reported. Data obtained by balloon-borne temperature sensors are presented in terms of the temperature structure coefficient. Free-floating balloon flights allowed this type of measurement to be extended to an altitude of 15 km above sea level. This series of flights was accompanied by vertical profiles of wind speed and temperature that permitted calculation of wind shear and gradient Richardson number profiles. The observed correlations found to exist between microthermal turbulence layers and the standard meteorological data are discussed briefly in light of the theory.

Bufton, J. L.↗

The peculiar O6f star HD 148937 and the symmetrically surrounding nebulae

The ultraviolet continuum of the star is observed and, after standard reddening corrections are applied, it is found to be hotter than a model 05 V star. The Of star and its two companions are photometered around wavelength 4640, 4686, and 4861 A. The results confirm Westerlund's (1960) absolute visual magnitude of about -6 for the Of star and confirm his rejection of NGC 6164-5 as a planetary nebula. Peculiarities of the system of nebular shells around HD 148937, of which NGC 6164-5 are the innermost, are discussed with reference to radiofrequency data. A standard extrapolation from the optical flux density of NGC 6164-5 predicts a detectable radio source but it does not appear in the relevant surveys.

Johnson, H. M.↗

L-Band System Engineering - Concepts of Use, Systems Performance Requirements, and Architecture

This document is being provided as part of ITT s NASA Glenn Research Center Aerospace Communication Systems Technical Support (ACSTS) contract NNC05CA85C, Task 7: New ATM Requirements-Future Communications, C-band and L-band Communications Standard Development. Task 7 was motivated by the five year technology assessment performed for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under the joint FAA-EUROCONTROL cooperative research Action Plan (AP-17), also known as the Future Communications Study (FCS). It was based on direction provided by the FAA project-level agreement (PLA FY09_G1M.02-02v1) for "New ATM Requirements-Future Communications." Task 7 was separated into two distinct subtasks, each aligned with specific work elements and deliverable items. Subtask 7-1 addressed C-band airport surface data communications standards development, systems engineering, test bed development, and tests/demonstrations to establish operational capability for what is now referred to as the Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS). Subtask 7-2, which is the subject of this report, focused on preliminary systems engineering and support of joint FAA/EUROCONTROL development and evaluation of a future L-band (960 to 1164 MHz) air/ground (A/G) communication system known as the L-band digital aeronautical communications system (L-DACS), which was defined during the FCS. The proposed L-DACS will be capable of providing ATM services in continental airspace in the 2020+ timeframe. Subtask 7-2 was performed in two phases. Phase I featured development of Concepts of Use, high level functional analyses, performance of initial L-band system safety and security risk assessments, and development of high level requirements and architectures. It also included the aforementioned support of joint L-DACS development and evaluation, including inputs to L-DACS design specifications. Phase II provided a refinement of the systems engineering activities performed during Phase I, along with continued joint FAA/EUROCONTROL L-DACS development and evaluation support.

Henriksen, Stephen↗

KSC's work flow assistant

The work flow assistant (WFA) is an advanced technology project under the shuttle processing data management system (SPDMS) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). It will be utilized for short range scheduling, controlling work flow on the floor, and providing near real-time status for all major space transportation systems (STS) work centers at KSC. It will increase personnel and STS safety and improve productivity through deeper active scheduling that includes tracking and correlation of STS and ground support equipment (GSE) configuration and work. It will also provide greater accessibility to this data. WFA defines a standards concept for scheduling data which permits both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) scheduling tools and WFA developed applications to be reused. WFA will utilize industry standard languages and workstations to achieve a scalable, adaptable, and portable architecture which may be used at other sites.

Wilkinson, John↗

Metadata Authoring with Versatility and Extensibility

NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) assists the scientific community in the discovery of and linkage to Earth science data sets and related services. The GCMD holds over 13,800 data set descriptions in Directory Interchange Format (DIF) and 700 data service descriptions in Service Entry Resource Format (SERF), encompassing the disciplines of geology, hydrology, oceanography, meteorology, and ecology. Data descriptions also contain geographic coverage information and direct links to the data, thus allowing researchers to discover data pertaining to a geographic location of interest, then quickly acquire those data. The GCMD strives to be the preferred data locator for world-wide directory-level metadata. In this vein, scientists and data providers must have access to intuitive and efficient metadata authoring tools. Existing GCMD tools are attracting widespread usage; however, a need for tools that are portable, customizable and versatile still exists. With tool usage directly influencing metadata population, it has become apparent that new tools are needed to fill these voids. As a result, the GCMD has released a new authoring tool allowing for both web-based and stand-alone authoring of descriptions. Furthermore, this tool incorporates the ability to plug-and-play the metadata format of choice, offering users options of DIF, SERF, FGDC, ISO or any other defined standard. Allowing data holders to work with their preferred format, as well as an option of a stand-alone application or web-based environment, docBUlLDER will assist the scientific community in efficiently creating quality data and services metadata.

Pollack, Janine↗

Use of Current 2010 Forest Disturbance Monitoring Products for the Conterminous United States in Aiding a National Forest Threat Early Warning System

This presentation discusses contributions of near real time (NRT) MODIS forest disturbance detection products for the conterminous United States to an emerging national forest threat early warning system (EWS). The latter is being developed by the USDA Forest Service s Eastern and Western Environmental Threat Centers with help from NASA Stennis Space Center and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Building off work done in 2009, this national and regional forest disturbance detection and viewing capability of the EWS employs NRT MODIS NDVI data from the USGS eMODIS group and historical NDVI data from standard MOD13 products. Disturbance detection products are being computed for 24 day composites that are refreshed every 8 days. Products for 2010 include 42 dates of the 24 day composites. For each compositing date, we computed % change in forest maximum NDVI products for 2010 with respect to each of three historical baselines of 2009, 2007-2009, and 2003-2009,. The three baselines enable one to view potential current, recent, and longer term forest disturbances. A rainbow color table was applied to each forest change product so that potential disturbances (NDVI drops) were identified in hot color tones and growth (NDVI gains) in cold color tones. Example products were provided to end-users responsible for forest health monitoring at the Federal and State levels. Large patches of potential forest disturbances were validated based on comparisons with available reference data, including Landsat and field survey data. Products were posted on two internet mapping systems for US Forest Service internal and collaborator use. MODIS forest disturbance detection products were computed and posted for use in as little as 1 day after the last input date of the compositing period. Such products were useful for aiding aerial disturbance detection surveys and for assessing disturbance persistence on both inter- and intra-annual scales. Multiple 2010 forest disturbance events were detected across the nation, including damage from ice storms, tornadoes, caterpillars, bark beetles, and wildfires. This effort enabled improved NRT forest disturbance monitoring capabilities for this nation-wide forest threat EWS.

Spruce, Joseph P.↗

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Project

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GP!v1) mission is an international cooperative effort to advance the understanding of the physics of the Earth's water and energy cycle. Accurate and timely knowledge of global precipitation is essential for understanding the weather/climate/ecological system, for improving our ability to manage freshwater resources, and for predicting high-impact natural hazard events including floods, droughts, extreme weather events, and landslides. The GPM Core Observatory will be a reference standard to uniformly calibrate data from a constellation of spacecraft with passive microwave sensors. GPM is being developed under a partnership between the United States (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in Greenbelt, MD is developing the Core Observatory, two GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instruments, Ground Validation System and Precipitation Processing System for the GPM mission. JAXA will provide a Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) for installation on the Core satellite and launch services for the Core Observatory. The second GMI instrument will be flown on a partner-provided spacecraft. Other US agencies and international partners contribute to the GPM mission by providing precipitation measurements obtained from their own spacecraft and/or providing ground-based precipitation measurements to support ground validation activities. The Precipitation Processing System will provide standard data products for the mission.

Azarbarzin, Ardeshir↗

Comparison of Satellite, Thermochron and Air Temperatures at Summit, Greenland, During the Winter of 2008/09

Current trends show rise in Arctic surface and air temperatures, including over the Greenland ice sheet where rising temperatures will contribute to increased sea-level rise through increased melt. We aim to establish the uncertainties in using satellite-derived surface temperature for measuring Arctic surface temperature, as satellite data are increasingly being used to assess temperature trends. To accomplish this, satellite-derived surface temperature, or land-surface temperature (LST), must be validated and limitations of the satellite data must he assessed quantitatively. During the 2008/09 boreal winter at Summit, Greenland, we employed data from standard US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) air-temperature instruments, button-sized temperature sensors called thermochrons and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument to (1) assess the accuracy and utility of thermochrons in an ice-sheet environment and (2) compare MODIS-derived LSTs with thermochron-derived surface and air temperatures. The thermochron-derived air temperatures were very accurate, within 0.1+/-0.3 C of the NOAA-derived air temperature, but thermochron-derived surface temperatures were approx. 3 C higher than MODIS-derived LSTs. Though the surface temperature is largely determined by air temperature, these variables can differ significantly. Furthermore, we show that the winter-time mean air temperature, adjusted to surface temperature was approx. 11 C higher than the winter-time mean MODIS-derived LST. This marked difference occurs largely because of satellite-derived LSTs cannot be measured through cloud cover, so caution must be exercised in using time series of satellite LST data to study seasonal temperature trends.

Koenig, Lora S.↗

Information Quality Cluster and Usability

The Information Quality Cluster (IQC) of the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) has been active since 2014 with membership from multiple organizations including NASA and NOAA. The purpose of this presentation is to foster collaboration between the IQC and the ESIP Usability Cluster. The IQC's activities are motivated partly by the guidelines on information quality from several federal agencies. The agencies developed the guidelines complying with a request in 2002 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB request resulted from a congressional mandate, namely, Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554; H.R. 5658). NASA's guidelines, for example, emphasize the need for high information quality indicating the various types of public users of information from NASA's missions and programs. The IQC's vision is to become an authoritative and responsive resource of information and guidance to data providers on how best to implement data quality standards and best practices, so that the implementations comply with the various agencies' guidelines, as well as provide users with the best quality of information possible. The IQC interacts with various national and international organizations and encourages collaboration for exchange of information. The IQC considers four aspects of information quality: Scientific Quality, Product Quality, Stewardship Quality and Service Quality. The IQC has considered several use cases to identify issues in capturing, describing, providing access to, and enabling use of information on quality. Several of these use cases point to issues about the usability of information. Collaboration between the IQC and Usability Cluster will be beneficial for arriving at solutions to such issues.

Remote Sensing; Data Systems; Information Quality;↗

Ice Surface Elevation Changes in East Antarctica from Satellite Altimetry

Estimates of the overall mass balance and seasonal and inter-annual variations in the surface mass balance are obtainable from time-series of ice surface elevations measured by satellite altimetry. Beginning in 2001, NASA's ICESat laser altimeter and lidar mission will significantly improve the range accuracy, the orbit accuracy, and the spatial coverage for measurement of ice sheet elevations (to 86 S) , as compared to previous radar altimeters designed for ocean measurements The radar altimeters on Seasat and Geosat provided ice sheet measurements to 72 S, and on ERS-1 and ERS-2 to 81 S. Although radar altimetry has significant limitations in coverage (due to loss of tracking) and accuracy over sloping surfaces, information on ice-sheet surface-elevation changes has been derived for parts of Antarctica. Recently, the accuracy of the ice measurements by Seasat (3 months of 1978) and Geosat (1985 to 1989) have been improved by new calculations of the satellite orbit heights and other altimeter corrections. Residual orbit errors and inter-satellite biases are evaluated by crossover analysis and by global adjustments to an ocean surface derived from altimeter data. The standard deviation of the orbit error is less than 9 cm, and the long-term trend in the error appears to be less than 1 cm/yr. Orbit errors can be further reduced by adjustment to the ocean surface, but false signals of several cm/yr may be also introduced by the adjustments. These false signals are caused mainly by residual errors in the altimeter corrections over the ocean, and secondary by real changes in the ocean surface elevation. Maps of ice sheet elevation changes north of 72 S are derived from Seasat-Geosat crossovers and from 4.5 years of Geosat crossovers. A notable ice thinning rate of about 50 cm/yr is found at elevations below 2200 meters between 70 and 72 S to the East of the Amery ice shelf, in both the Seasat-Geosat and Geosat-Geosat time intervals Above 2200 meters, to the ridge around 95 E, the thinning is about 10 to 20 cm/yr. For the Seasat/Geosat interval, a thickening is noted on the area East of the ridge between about 95 E and 115 E. Preliminary results from analysis of ERS-1 and ERS-2 radar altimeter data are also described.

Zwally, H. Jay↗

3D Drop Size Distribution Extrapolation Algorithm Using a Single Disdrometer

Determining the Z-R relationship (where Z is the radar reflectivity factor and R is rainfall rate) from disdrometer data has been and is a common goal of cloud physicists and radar meteorology researchers. The usefulness of this quantity has traditionally been limited since radar represents a volume measurement, while a disdrometer corresponds to a point measurement. To solve that problem, a 3D-DSD (drop-size distribution) method of determining an equivalent 3D Z-R was developed at the University of Central Florida and tested at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. Unfortunately, that method required a minimum of three disdrometers clustered together within a microscale network (.1-km separation). Since most commercial disdrometers used by the radar meteorology/cloud physics community are high-cost instruments, three disdrometers located within a microscale area is generally not a practical strategy due to the limitations of these kinds of research budgets. A relatively simple modification to the 3D-DSD algorithm provides an estimate of the 3D-DSD and therefore, a 3D Z-R measurement using a single disdrometer. The basis of the horizontal extrapolation is mass conservation of a drop size increment, employing the mass conservation equation. For vertical extrapolation, convolution of a drop size increment using raindrop terminal velocity is used. Together, these two independent extrapolation techniques provide a complete 3DDSD estimate in a volume around and above a single disdrometer. The estimation error is lowest along a vertical plane intersecting the disdrometer position in the direction of wind advection. This work demonstrates that multiple sensors are not required for successful implementation of the 3D interpolation/extrapolation algorithm. This is a great benefit since it is seldom that multiple sensors in the required spatial arrangement are available for this type of analysis. The original software (developed at the University of Central Florida, 1998.- 2000) has also been modified to read standardized disdrometer data format (Joss-Waldvogel format). Other modifications to the software involve accounting for vertical ambient wind motion, as well as evaporation of the raindrop during its flight time.

Lane, John↗

Elevating the Quality of Space Omics Sequencing Data: Innovations and Methodologies from NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory

NASA’s GeneLab, part of the NASA Open Science Data Repository, is a space-related database that hosts a diverse range of transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics and genomics data. The NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory (SPL) generates omics data from biological experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station, Space Shuttle and space related ground experiments, this omics data then hosted on the GeneLab repository. Samples generated such experiments pose numerous technical challenges such as small experimental sample size, variance in dissection times, limited tissue preservation methods, prolonged storage time, and more. GeneLab SPL team had developed specialized expertise in nucleic acid extraction, library preparation and sequencing of such biological samples via extensive training and years of experience. In order to ensure data accuracy and consistency across experiments, SPL has developed standardized protocols for each species and tissue type. These protocols in conjunction with quality control metrics and data standards are crucial in generating of high-quality data. SPL protocols and standards have been developed in collaboration with the scientific community and had been made publicly available on the GeneLab portal, guaranteeing comparability of datasets across spaceflight experiments. To ensure reliability of data generation, SPL leverages cutting-edge innovations in laboratory automation for sample processing. By leveraging these state-of-the-art platforms, SPL achieves high levels of data reproducibility while significantly minimizing sources of bias and variability, especially across experiments with large numbers of samples. Over the past few years, the space biology investigator community has accessed SPL-generated data from the Open Science Data Repository for a myriad of data re-analysis and re-use studies. We observe a trend that in-house SPL-generated data consistently outperforms outsourced sequencing data in terms of technical standards, quality control metrics, timeliness of data delivery, and sequencing and reagent efficiency. Superior data generation has and will continue to enable discoveries in disease, diagnostic tools, and the biological effects of long duration spaceflight.

GeneLab↗

Elevating the Quality of Space Omics Sequencing Data: Innovations and Methodologies from NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory

NASA’s GeneLab, part of the NASA Open Science Data Repository, is a space-related database that hosts a diverse range of transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics and genomics data. The NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory (SPL) generates omics data from biological experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station, Space Shuttle and space related ground experiments, this omics data then hosted on the GeneLab repository. Samples generated such experiments pose numerous technical challenges such as small experimental sample size, variance in dissection times, limited tissue preservation methods, prolonged storage time, and more. GeneLab SPL team had developed specialized expertise in nucleic acid extraction, library preparation and sequencing of such biological samples via extensive training and years of experience. In order to ensure data accuracy and consistency across experiments, SPL has developed standardized protocols for each species and tissue type. These protocols in conjunction with quality control metrics and data standards are crucial in generating of high-quality data. SPL protocols and standards have been developed in collaboration with the scientific community and had been made publicly available on the GeneLab portal, guaranteeing comparability of datasets across spaceflight experiments. To ensure reliability of data generation, SPL leverages cutting-edge innovations in laboratory automation for sample processing. By leveraging these state-of-the-art platforms, SPL achieves high levels of data reproducibility while significantly minimizing sources of bias and variability, especially across experiments with large numbers of samples. Over the past few years, the space biology investigator community has accessed SPL-generated data from the Open Science Data Repository for a myriad of data re-analysis and re-use studies. We observe a trend that in-house SPL-generated data consistently outperforms outsourced sequencing data in terms of technical standards, quality control metrics, timeliness of data delivery, and sequencing and reagent efficiency. Superior data generation has and will continue to enable discoveries in disease, diagnostic tools, and the biological effects of long duration spaceflight.

GeneLab↗

An approach to a real-time distribution system

The requirements of a real-time data distribution system are to provide fast, reliable delivery of data from source to destination with little or no impact to the data source. In this particular case, the data sources are inside an operational environment, the Mission Control Center (MCC), and any workstation receiving data directly from the operational computer must conform to the software standards of the MCC. In order to supply data to development workstations outside of the MCC, it is necessary to use gateway computers that prevent unauthorized data transfer back to the operational computers. Many software programs produced on the development workstations are targeted for real-time operation. Therefore, these programs must migrate from the development workstation to the operational workstation. It is yet another requirement for the Data Distribution System to ensure smooth transition of the data interfaces for the application developers. A standard data interface model has already been set up for the operational environment, so the interface between the distribution system and the application software was developed to match that model as closely as possible. The system as a whole therefore allows the rapid development of real-time applications without impacting the data sources. In summary, this approach to a real-time data distribution system provides development users outside of the MCC with an interface to MCC real-time data sources. In addition, the data interface was developed with a flexible and portable software design. This design allows for the smooth transition of new real-time applications to the MCC operational environment.

Kittle, Frank P., Jr.↗

Integrated flexible manufacturing program for manufacturing automation and rapid prototyping

The Kansas City Division of Allied Signal Inc., as part of the Integrated Flexible Manufacturing Program (IFMP), is developing an integrated manufacturing environment. Several systems are being developed to produce standards and automation tools for specific activities within the manufacturing environment. The Advanced Manufacturing Development System (AMDS) is concentrating on information standards (STEP) and product data transfer; the Expert Cut Planner system (XCUT) is concentrating on machining operation process planning standards and automation capabilities; the Advanced Numerical Control system (ANC) is concentrating on NC data preparation standards and NC data generation tools; the Inspection Planning and Programming Expert system (IPPEX) is concentrating on inspection process planning, coordinate measuring machine (CMM) inspection standards and CMM part program generation tools; and the Intelligent Scheduling and Planning System (ISAPS) is concentrating on planning and scheduling tools for a flexible manufacturing system environment. All of these projects are working together to address information exchange, standardization, and information sharing to support rapid prototyping in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) environment.

Brooks, S. L.↗

The BANDIT computer program for the reduction of matrix bandwidth for NASTRAN

A computer program, BANDIT, is described which was developed for use as a preprocessor to NASTRAN to automatically resequence the grid point numbers for reduced matrix bandwidth. The BANDIT program accepts a standard NASTRAN data deck as input, resequences the grid point numbers for reduced bandwidth, and generates a set of SEQGP cards for insertion into the NASTRAN bulk data deck. BANDIT uses the Cuthill-McKee strategy for resequencing grid points. The program is operational on the CDC 6000 series of computers, the IBM 360, and the Univac 1108.

Everstine, G. C.↗