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Optical-fiber interferometer measures wave amplitude without contacting specimen surface. System contains remote detector head. Head includes beam splitter that divides input beam and recombines output beams, while spatial filter filters interference pattern at beam-splitter output; and lens focuses this on detector. Beams focused on specimen surface to record acoustic signals.
In the time composite sounding mode, the Vertical Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) data is collected in a series of images of one spin each rather than in the dwell sound mode where single lines are repeatedly scanned. A drawback of the time composite method is temporal smearing of the data, but to compensate this there is also the chance that shifting cloud patterns will permit better spatial coverage. Time composite sounding was performed for a single case study, June 14, 1984. Four, ten minute single spin swaths were processed. The principal conclusion was that the time composite results were at least equivalent to the conventional dwell sounding results, despite the fact that compositing was done in a less than optimum way because of software limitations.
Separate objects moving independently tracked simultaneously. System uses coherent optical techniques to obtain correlation between each object and reference image. Moving objects monitored by charge-coupled-device television camera, output fed to liquid-crystal television (LCTV) display. Acting as spatial light modulator, LCTV impresses images of moving objects on collimated laser beam. Beam spatially low-pass filtered to remove high-spatial-frequency television grid pattern.
It is shown that satellite-derived imagery can be used to measure subresolution horizontal terrain displacements associated with present-day earthquakes, sand dune migration, glacial motion, coastal sediment transport, and pre-eruptive volcanic processes. This use of these data allows the detection of change and the determination of rates of many environmental processes worldwide. The premise of the method is that areally extensive, subresolution spatial differences in ground patterns between images acquired at different times can be accurately measured to high precision and can be distinguished from systematic image differences, such as those due to sensing-system attitude variations. Thus far, a preliminary algorithm has been tested that shows that the approach is reasonable.
The time series of the potential vorticity (PV) index, defined as a measure of the zonally averaged midlatitude PV gradient on the 30 K isentropic surface in the Northern Hemisphere, is studied. The time series and other indices, their variations, and their correlations in the frequency domain are investigated. Teleconnection patterns based on the spatial representation of cross-correlation functions between the PV index and 500 mb geopotential-height anomaly are presented. The rhythm of atmospheric motion organized by the PV dynamics is shown.
The first velocity measurements for Thwaites Glacier were made by R. J. Allen in 1977. He compared features of Thwaites Glacier and Iceberg Tongue on aerial photography from 1947 and 1967 with 1972 Landsat images, and measured average annual displacements of 3.7 and 2.3 km/a. Using his photogrammetric experience and taking into consideration the lack of definable features and the poor control in the area, he estimated an average velocity of 2.0 to 2.9 km/a to be more accurate. In 1985, Lindstrom and Tyler also made velocity estimates for Thwaites Glacier. Using Landsat imagery from 1972 and 1983, their estimates of the velocities of 33 points ranged from 2.99 to 4.02 km/a, with an average of 3.6 km/a. The accuracy of their estimates is uncertain, however, because in the absence of fixed control points, they assumed that the velocities of icebergs in the fast ice were uniform. Using additional Landsat imagery in 1984 and 1990, accurate coregistration with the 1972 image was achieved based on fixed rock points. For the period 1972 to 1984, 25 points on the glacier surface ranged in average velocity from 2.47 to 2.76 km/a, with an overall average velocity of 2.62 +/- 0.02 km/a. For the period 1984 to 1990, 101 points ranged in velocity from 2.54 to 3.15 km/a, with an overall average of 2.84 km/a. During both time periods, the velocity pattern showed the same spatial relationship for three longitudinal paths. The 8-percent acceleration in a decade is significant. This recent acceleration may be associated with changes observed in this region since 1986. Fast ice melted and several icebergs calved from the base of the Iceberg Tongue and the terminus of Thwaites Glacier. However, as early as 1972, the Iceberg Tongue had very little contact with the glacier.
We study the coarsening of the interfacial pattern separating two coexisting phases after the pattern becomes morphologically unstable. Shortly after the instability, the scale of the structure is given by the most unstable wave number in the linear regime. At later times, nonlinear interactions cause the structure to coarsen. Coarsening is studied by monitoring the time dependence of the two-dimensional power spectrum of the pattern, especially for wave vectors transverse to the direction of growth. Characteristic length scales of the pattern obtained from moments of the power spectrum are asymptotically linear in time. Furthermore, the power spectrum is seen to satisfy a scaling relation, in agreement with previous studies. A normal-velocity autocorrelation function is calculated and found to decay substantially over length scales that are of the order of the scale of the pattern. The issue of spatial anisotropy in the correlation functions is also discussed.
A feature-extraction-based optoelectronic neural network is introduced. The system implementation approach applies the principle of the neocognitron paradigm first introduced by Fukushima et al. (1983). A multichannel correlator is used as a building block of a generic single layer of the neocognitron for shift-invariant feature correlation. Multilayer processing is achieved by iteratively feeding back the output of the feature correlator to the input spatial light modulator. Successful pattern recognition with intraclass fault tolerance and interclass discrimination is achieved using this optoelectronic neocognitron. Detailed system analysis is described. Experimental demonstration of radar signature processing is also provided.
Two years beyond the initial mapping by the Magellan spacecraft, hypotheses for the magmatic and tectonic evolution of Venus have become refined and focused. We present our view of these processes, attempting to synthesize aspects of a model for the tectonic and magmatic behavior of the planet. The ideas presented should be taken collectively as an hypothesis subject to further testing. The quintessence of our model is that shear and buoyancy forces in the upper boundary layer of mantle convection give rise to a spatially and temporally complex pattern of strain in a one-plate Venusian lithosphere and modulate the timing and occurrence of magmatism on a global basis.
Savanna fires and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) detection and estimating burned area using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer_(AVHRR) reflectance data are investigated in this two part research project. The first part involves carbon dioxide flux estimates and a three-dimensional transport model to quantify the effect of north African savanna fires on atmospheric CO2 concentration, including CO2 spatial and temporal variability patterns and their significance to global emissions. The second article describes two methods used to determine burned area from AVHRR data. The article discusses the relationship between the percentage of burned area and AVHRR channel 2 reflectance (the linear method) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) (the nonlinear method). A comparative performance analysis of each method is described.
The objective of this project is to determine: 1) how do normal subjects adjust postural movements in response to changing or altered otolith input, for example, due to aging? and 2) how do patients adapt postural control after altered unilateral or bilateral vestibular sensory inputs such as ablative inner ear surgery or ototoxicity, respectively? The following hypotheses are under investigation: 1) selective alteration of otolith input or abnormalities of otolith receptor function will result in distinctive spatial, frequency, and temporal patterns of head movements and body postural sway dynamics. 2) subjects with reduced, altered, or absent vertical semicircular canal receptor sensitivity but normal otolith receptor function or vice versa, should show predictable alterations of body and head movement strategies essential for the control of postural sway and movement. The effect of altered postural movement control upon compensation and/or adaptation will be determined. These experiments provide data for the development of computational models of postural control in normals, vestibular deficient subjects and normal humans exposed to unusual force environments, including orbital space flight.
Polygenetic soils are those that record multiple morphological, mineralogical, and chemical imprints as the geographical pattern of climates shifts spatially and new boundaries are established. Optimal conditions for interpreting paleoclimates from polygenetic soils occur when precipitation and/or temperature changes are great enough to produce new soil properties without obliterating existing properties.
Focal-plane speckles set important sensitivity limits on ground- or space-based imagers and coronagraphs that may be used to search for faint companions, perhaps ultimately including exoplanets, around stars. As speckles vary with atmospheric fluctuations or with drifting beamtrain aberrations, they contribute speckle noise proportional to their full amplitude. Schemes to suppress speckles are thus of great interest. At high adaptive correction, speckles organize into species, represented by algebraic terms in the expansion of the phase exponential, that have distinct spatial symmetry, even or odd, under spatial inversion. Filtering speckle patterns by symmetry may eliminate a disproportionate fraction of the speckle noise while blocking (only) half of the image signal from the off-axis companion being sought. The fraction of speckle power and hence of speckle noise in each term will vary with degree of correction, and so also will the net symmetry in the speckle pattern.
In a system for optimizing crop growth, vegetation is cultivated in a contained environment, such as a greenhouse, an underground cavern or other enclosed space. Imaging equipment is positioned within or about the contained environment, to acquire spatially distributed crop growth information, and environmental sensors are provided to acquire data regarding multiple environmental conditions that can affect crop development. Illumination within the contained environment, and the addition of essential nutrients and chemicals are in turn controlled in response to data acquired by the imaging apparatus and environmental sensors, by an ''expert system'' which is trained to analyze and evaluate crop conditions. The expert system controls the spatial and temporal lighting pattern within the contained area, and the timing and allocation of nutrients and chemicals to achieve optimized crop development. A user can access the ''expert system'' remotely, to assess activity within the growth chamber, and can override the ''expert system''.
In a system for optimizing crop growth, vegetation is cultivated in a contained environment, such as a greenhouse, an underground cavern or other enclosed space. Imaging equipment is positioned within or about the contained environment, to acquire spatially distributed crop growth information, and environmental sensors are provided to acquire data regarding multiple environmental conditions that can affect crop development. Illumination within the contained environment, and the addition of essential nutrients and chemicals are in turn controlled in response to data acquired by the imaging apparatus and environmental sensors, by an "expert system" which is trained to analyze and evaluate crop conditions. The expert system controls the spatial and temporal lighting pattern within the contained area, and the timing and allocation of nutrients and chemicals to achieve optimized crop development. A user can access the "expert system" remotely, to assess activity within the growth chamber, and can override the "expert system".
Global warming is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of droughts in the twenty-first century, but the relative contributions from changes in moisture supply (precipitation) versus evaporative demand (potential evapotranspiration; PET) have not been comprehensively assessed. Using output from a suite of general circulation model (GCM) simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, projected twentyfirst century drying and wetting trends are investigated using two offline indices of surface moisture balance: the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). PDSI and SPEI projections using precipitation and Penman- Monteith based PET changes from the GCMs generally agree, showing robust cross-model drying in western North America, Central America, the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and the Amazon and robust wetting occurring in the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes and east Africa (PDSI only). The SPEI is more sensitive to PET changes than the PDSI, especially in arid regions such as the Sahara and Middle East. Regional drying and wetting patterns largely mirror the spatially heterogeneous response of precipitation in the models, although drying in the PDSI and SPEI calculations extends beyond the regions of reduced precipitation. This expansion of drying areas is attributed to globally widespread increases in PET, caused by increases in surface net radiation and the vapor pressure deficit. Increased PET not only intensifies drying in areas where precipitation is already reduced, it also drives areas into drought that would otherwise experience little drying or even wetting from precipitation trends alone. This PET amplification effect is largest in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, and is especially pronounced in western North America, Europe, and southeast China. Compared to PDSI projections using precipitation changes only, the projections incorporating both precipitation and PET changes increase the percentage of global land area projected to experience at least moderate drying (PDSI standard deviation of < or = -1) by the end of the twenty-first century from 12 to 30 %. PET induced moderate drying is even more severe in the SPEI projections (SPEI standard deviation of > or = -1; 11 to 44 %), although this is likely less meaningful because much of the PET induced drying in the SPEI occurs in the aforementioned arid regions. Integrated accounting of both the supply and demand sides of the surface moisture balance is therefore critical for characterizing the full range of projected drought risks tied to increasing greenhouse gases and associated warming of the climate system.
While planning for future space-borne sensors will increase the quality, quantity, and duration of ocean observations in the years to come, efforts to extend the limits of sensors currently in orbit can help shed light on future scientific gains as well as associated uncertainties. Here, we present several applications that are unique to the polar orbiting Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), each of which challenge the threshold capabilities of the sensor and provide lessons for future missions. For instance, while moderate resolution polar orbiters typically have a one day revisit time, we are able to obtain multiple looks of the same area by focusing on the extreme zenith angles where orbital views overlap, and pair these observations with those from other sensors to create pseudo-geostationary data sets. Or, by exploiting high spatial resolution (imaging) channels and analyzing patterns of synoptic covariance across the visible spectrum, we can obtain higher spatial resolution bio-optical products. Alternatively, non-traditional products can illuminate important biological interactions in the ocean, such as the use of the Day-Night-Band to provide some quantification of phototactic behavior of marine life along light polluted beaches, as well as track the location of marine fishing vessel fleets along ocean fronts. In this talk, we explore ways to take full advantage of the capabilities of existing sensors in order to maximize insights for future missions.
Simulated inter-annual to decadal variability and trends in the North Atlantic for the 1958−2007 period from twenty global ocean - sea-ice coupled models are presented. These simulations are performed as contributions to the second phase of the Coordinated Ocean-ice Reference Experiments (CORE-II). The study is Part II of our companion paper (Danabasoglu et al., 2014) which documented the mean states in the North Atlantic from the same models. A major focus of the present study is the representation of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) variability in the participating models. Relationships between AMOC variability and those of some other related variables, such as subpolar mixed layer depths, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Labrador Sea upper-ocean hydrographic properties, are also investigated. In general, AMOC variability shows three distinct stages. During the first stage that lasts until the mid- to late-1970s, AMOC is relatively steady, remaining lower than its long-term (1958−2007) mean. Thereafter, AMOC intensifies with maximum transports achieved in the mid- to late-1990s. This enhancement is then followed by a weakening trend until the end of our integration period. This sequence of low frequency AMOC variability is consistent with previous studies. Regarding strengthening of AMOC between about the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, our results support a previously identified variability mechanism where AMOC intensification is connected to increased deep water formation in the subpolar North Atlantic, driven by NAO-related surface fluxes. The simulations tend to show general agreement in their representations of, for example, AMOC, sea surface temperature (SST), and subpolar mixed layer depth variabilities. In particular, the observed variability of the North Atlantic SSTs is captured well by all models. These findings indicate that simulated variability and trends are primarily dictated by the atmospheric datasets which include the influence of ocean dynamics from nature superimposed onto anthropogenic effects. Despite these general agreements, there are many differences among the model solutions, particularly in the spatial structures of variability patterns. For example, the location of the maximum AMOC variability differs among the models between Northern and Southern Hemispheres.