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At least 631 records · Page 35

Examination of the use of narrowband radiances for earth radiation budget studies

The relationship between narrowband and broadband thermal radiances is explored to determine the accuracy of outgoing longwave radiation derived from narrowband data. Infrared window (11.5 microns) data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite are correlated with longwave (5.0 - 50.0 microns) data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment. A simple quadratic fit between the narrowband and longwave fluxes results in a standard error of the estimate of 4.5-5.3 percent for data which are matched closely in time and space. Use of matched regional flux data with temporal differences up to a half hour yield standard errors of 4.6-5.9 percent. About one fourth of the magnitude of the error may be attributed to limb-darkening and temporal differences in the matched fluxes. The relationship shows a significant dependence on the relative humidity of the atmosphere above the radiating surface. Although this dependency accounts for only about 2 percent of the standard error, it reduces the monthly mean regional errors by more than 10 percent. Data taken over land produced a slightly different relationship than data taken over water. The differences appear to be due to the higher altitudes of the land radiating surfaces. Cloud amount and height also influence the narrowband-broadband relationship. Inclusion of these parameters does not affect the standard errors but it reduces the montly mean regional errors by another 10 percent. Better humidity and temperature data and knowledge of cloud microphysics may be required to further improve the relationship. Using the best fits, it is concluded that the monthly mean outgoing flux may be determined with an rms uncertainty of 1.7 percent using a single infrared window channel with coincident cloud and humidity data. Regional concentrations of the errors, however, make the use of narrowband data too unreliable for monitoring the longwave flux for climate change studies.

Young, David F.↗

Relationships between Optical Extinction, Backscatter and Aerosol Surface and Volume in the Stratosphere following the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

The eruption of the Mt. Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in June 1991 has resulted in increases in the surface and mass concentrations of aerosol particles in the lower stratosphere. Airborne measurements made at midlatitudes between 15 and 21 km from August 1991 to March 1992 show that, prior to December 1991, the Pinatubo aerosol cloud varied widely in microphysical properties such as size distribution, number, surface and volume concentrations and was also spatially variable. Aerosol surface area concentration was found to be highly correlated to extinction at visible and near-infrared wavelengths throughout the measurement period. Similarly, backscatter at common lidar wavelengths was a good predictor of aerosol volume concentrations. These results support the use of satellite extinction measurements to estimate aerosol surface and of lidar measurements to estimate aerosol volume or mass if temporal changes in the relationships between the variables are considered.

Brock, Charles A.↗

Persistence of Space Radiation-Induced Cytogenetic Damage in the Blood Lymphocytes of Astronauts and the Effects of Repeat Long Duration Space Missions

The yield of chromosome damage in astronauts blood lymphocytes has been shown to increase after long duration space missions of a few months or more. This provides a useful in vivo measurement of space radiation induced damage that takes into account individual radiosensitivity and considers the influence of microgravity and other stress conditions. We present our latest follow-up analyses of chromosome damage in astronauts blood lymphocytes assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) chromosome painting and collected at various times, from directly after return from space to several years after flight. For most individuals the analysis of individual time-courses for translocations revealed a temporal decline of yields with different half-lives. Dose was derived from frequencies of chromosome exchanges using preflight calibration curves, and estimates derived from samples collected a few days after return to earth lie within the range expected from physical dosimetry. However, a temporal decline in yields may indicate complications with the use of stable aberrations for retrospective dose reconstruction, and the differences in the decay time may reflect individual variability in risk from space radiation exposure. Limited data on three individuals who have participated in repeat long duration space flights indicates a lack of correlation between time in space and translocation yields, and show a possible adaptive response to space radiation exposure.

George, Kerry A.↗

Analysis of Air-Sea Interactions in the NASA MERRA Product

Interactions between the ocean and atmosphere influence the global energy and water balance through the exchange of heat, moisture and momentum. These interactions occur over a wide range of space and time scales and need to be properly represented in climate and reanalysis simulations. This study focuses on the representation of the turbulent latent and sensible heat fluxes in the newly developed NASA Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). It is shown that MERRA achieves realistic estimates of the turbulent fluxes for many space and time scales although some deficiencies are noted. Comparisons are made at high resolution temporal scales with measurements from several research vessels while long term comparisons are made with moored buoys. These results are contrasted with those from several other currently available reanalysis and satellite based products. The representation of feedbacks between the atmosphere and ocean area also examined through the use of simultaneous and lagged correlation analyses with particular focus on precipitation and sea surface temperature relationships. Together, these results demonstrate the consistency of the NASA MERRA product and its applicability for process studies across wide ranging scales of variability.

Roberts, J. Brent↗

Ten Years of Cloud Properties from MODIS: Global Statistics and Use in Climate Model Evaluation

The NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), launched onboard the Terra and Aqua spacecrafts, began Earth observations on February 24, 2000 and June 24,2002, respectively. Among the algorithms developed and applied to this sensor, a suite of cloud products includes cloud masking/detection, cloud-top properties (temperature, pressure), and optical properties (optical thickness, effective particle radius, water path, and thermodynamic phase). All cloud algorithms underwent numerous changes and enhancements between for the latest Collection 5 production version; this process continues with the current Collection 6 development. We will show example MODIS Collection 5 cloud climatologies derived from global spatial . and temporal aggregations provided in the archived gridded Level-3 MODIS atmosphere team product (product names MOD08 and MYD08 for MODIS Terra and Aqua, respectively). Data sets in this Level-3 product include scalar statistics as well as 1- and 2-D histograms of many cloud properties, allowing for higher order information and correlation studies. In addition to these statistics, we will show trends and statistical significance in annual and seasonal means for a variety of the MODIS cloud properties, as well as the time required for detection given assumed trends. To assist in climate model evaluation, we have developed a MODIS cloud simulator with an accompanying netCDF file containing subsetted monthly Level-3 statistical data sets that correspond to the simulator output. Correlations of cloud properties with ENSO offer the potential to evaluate model cloud sensitivity; initial results will be discussed.

Platnick, Steven E.↗

Towards the 1 mm/y Stability of the Radial Orbit Error at Regional Scales

An estimated orbit error budget for the Jason-1 and Jason-2 GDR-D solutions is constructed, using several measures of orbit error. The focus is on the long-term stability of the orbit time series for mean sea level applications on a regional scale. We discuss various issues related to the assessment of radial orbit error trends; in particular this study reviews orbit errors dependent on the tracking technique, with an aim to monitoring the long-term stability of all available tracking systems operating on Jason-1 and Jason-2 (GPS, DORIS, SLR). The reference frame accuracy and its effect on Jason orbit is assessed. We also examine the impact of analysis method on the inference of Geographically Correlated Errors as well as the significance of estimated radial orbit error trends versus the time span of the analysis. Thus a long-term error budget of the 10-year Jason-1 and Envisat GDR-D orbit time series is provided for two time scales: interannual and decadal. As the temporal variations of the geopotential remain one of the primary limitations in the Precision Orbit Determination modeling, the overall accuracy of the Jason-1 and Jason-2 GDR-D solutions is evaluated through comparison with external orbits based on different time-variable gravity models. This contribution is limited to an East-West "order-1" pattern at the 2 mm/y level (secular) and 4 mm level (seasonal), over the Jason-2 lifetime. The possibility of achieving sub-mm/y radial orbit stability over interannual and decadal periods at regional scales and the challenge of evaluating such an improvement using in situ independent data is discussed.

Precision Orbit Determination (POD)↗

Temporal spectral measurements of corn and soybean crops

A ground-based, hand-held radiometer, configured to measure red and photographic infrared spectral radiances, was successfully used to collect in situ temporal spectral measurements of corn and soybean crops. Significant relationships were found between the radiance data and the biomass, plant height, percentage crop cover, percentage crop chlorosis, and percentage leaf loss. The results of this experiment show conclusively that hand-held radiometers can be used to collect spectral data that are highly correlated to several agronomic variables. These findings suggest approaches for agronomic research, and confirm the value of remote sensing of agricultural targets.

Tucker, C. J.↗

Correlation and Trend Studies of the Sea Ice Cover and Surface Temperatures in the Arctic

Co-registered and continuous satellite data of sea ice concentrations and surface ice temperatures from 1981 to 1999 are analyzed to evaluate relationships between these two critical climate parameters and what they reveal in tandem about the changing Arctic environment. During the 18-year period, the actual Arctic ice area is shown to be declining at a rate of 3.1 +/- 0.4 % /decade while the surface ice temperature has been increasing at 0.4 +/- 0.2 K /decade. Yearly anomaly maps also show that the ice concentration anomalies are predominantly positive in the 1980s and negative in the 1990s while surface temperature anomalies were mainly negative in the 1980s and positive in the 1990s. The yearly ice concentration and surface temperature anomalies are shown to be highly correlated indicating a strong link especially in the seasonal region and around the periphery of the perennial ice cover. The surface temperature data are also especially useful in providing the real spatial scope of each warming (or cooling) phenomenon that usually extends beyond the boundaries of the sea ice cover. Studies of the temporal variability of the summer ice minimum also reveal that the perennial ice cover has been declining at the rate of 6.6% /decade while the summer surface ice temperature has been increasing at the rate of 1.3 K /decade. Moreover, high year-to-year fluctuations in the minimum ice cover in the 1990s may have caused reductions in average thickness of the Arctic sea ice cover.

Comiso, Josefino C.↗

Modeling the pressure-dilatation correlation

It is generally accepted that pressure dilatation, which is an additional compressibility term in turbulence transport equations, may be important for high speed flows. Recent direct simulations of homogeneous shear turbulence have given concrete evidence that the pressure dilatation is important insofar that it contributes to the reduced growth of turbulent kinetic energy due to compressibility effects. The problem of modeling pressure dilatation is addressed. A component of the pressure dilatation is isolated which exhibits temporal oscillations and, using direct numerical simulations of homogeneous shear turbulence and isotropic turbulence, show that it has a negligible contribution to the evolution of turbulent kinetic energy. Then, an analysis for the case of homogeneous turbulence is performed to obtain a model for the nonoscillatory pressure dilatation. This model algebraically relates the pressure dilatation to quantities traditionally obtained in incompressible turbulence closures. The model is validated by direct comparison with the pressure dilatation data obtained from the simulations.

Sarkar, S.↗

Shock-associated kilometric radio emission and solar metric type II bursts

New criteria are used here to select and study the properties of shock-associated (SA) kilometric bursts. Nearly half of all intense metric type II bursts were temporally associated with 1980 kHz emission which was not attributable to metric type III bursts. A quarter of all intense type II bursts are not associated with any significant 1980 kHz emission and another quarter are accompanied by 1980 kHz emission presumed due to type II bursts. The SA bursts are generally not well correlated with microwave flux-density profiles but compare more closely with the most intense and structured parts of the profiles of metric type II bursts. These results imply that the SA emission is due primarily to energetic electrons accelerated at the associated shock.

Kahler, S. W.↗

The internal plasma state of the high speed solar wind at 1 AU

The character of particle velocity distributions in the high speed solar wind is described. It is found that electron distribution shapes differ from simple bi-Maxwellians in that a hot strongly beamed high energy electron component is always present, and is observed to move relative to a distinct low energy electron component along the magnetic field direction away from the sun. The velocity difference between hot and cold electron components appears, at times, to be strongly correlated with the local Alfven speed. Proton velocity distributions are also best represented by two relatively convecting unresolved components. Evidence is presented which supports the idea that the two-component proton structure observed in high speed regions is intimately related to fine scale velocity variations at 1 AU, and probably to prominent spatial and/or temporal structures present throughout that part of the corona from which the solar wind evolves.

Feldman, W. C.↗

An analysis of the first two years of GASP data

Distributions of mean ozone levels from the first two years of data from the NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) show spatial and temporal variations in agreement with previous measurements. The standard deviations of these distributions reflect the large natural variability of ozone levels in the altitude range of the GASP measurements. Monthly mean levels of ozone below the tropopause show an annual cycle with a spring maximum which is believed to result from transport from the stratosphere. Correlations of ozone with independent meteorological parameters, and meteorological parameters obtained by the GASP systems show that this transport occurs primarily through cyclogenesis at mid-latitudes.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

An analysis of the first two years of GASP data

Distributions of mean ozone levels from the first two years of data from the NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) show spatial and temporal variations in agreement with previous measurements. The standard deviations of these distributions reflect the large natural variability of ozone levels in the altitude range of the GASP measurements. Monthly mean levels of ozone below the tropopause show an annual cycle with a spring maximum which is believed to result from transport from the stratosphere. Correlations of ozone with independent meteorological parameters, and meteorological parameters obtained by the GASP systems show that this transport occurs primarily through cyclogenesis at mid-latitudes. The GASP water vapor data, analyzed with respect to the location of the tropopause, correlates well with the simultaneously obtained ozone and cloud data.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

Quantifying spatial and temporal variabilities of microwave brightness temperature over the U.S. Southern Great Plains

Spatial and temporal variabilities of microwave brightness temperature over the U.S. Southern Great Plains are quantified in terms of vegetation and soil wetness. The brightness temperatures (TB) are the daytime observations from April to October for five years (1979 to 1983) obtained by the Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer at 6.6 GHz frequency, horizontal polarization. The spatial and temporal variabilities of vegetation are assessed using visible and near-infrared observations by the NOAA-7 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), while an Antecedent Precipitation Index (API) model is used for soil wetness. The API model was able to account for more than 50 percent of the observed variability in TB, although linear correlations between TB and API were generally significant at the 1 percent level. The slope of the linear regression between TB and API is found to correlate linearly with an index for vegetation density derived from AVHRR data.

Choudhury, B. J.↗

Surface Temperature Data Analysis

Small global mean temperature changes may have significant to disastrous consequences for the Earth's climate if they persist for an extended period. Obtaining global means from local weather reports is hampered by the uneven spatial distribution of the reliably reporting weather stations. Methods had to be developed that minimize as far as possible the impact of that situation. This software is a method of combining temperature data of individual stations to obtain a global mean trend, overcoming/estimating the uncertainty introduced by the spatial and temporal gaps in the available data. Useful estimates were obtained by the introduction of a special grid, subdividing the Earth's surface into 8,000 equal-area boxes, using the existing data to create virtual stations at the center of each of these boxes, and combining temperature anomalies (after assessing the radius of high correlation) rather than temperatures.

Hansen, James↗

Temporal Evolution of Solar Wind Ion Composition and Their Source Coronal Holes During the Declining Phase of Cycle 23. I. Low-Latitude Extension of Polar Coronal Holes

We analyzed 27 solar wind (SW) intervals during the declining phase of cycle 23, whose source coronal holes (CHs) can be unambiguously identified and are associated with one of the polar CHs. We found that the SW ions have a temporal trend of decreasing ionization state, and such a trend is different between the slow and fast SW. The photospheric magnetic field, both inside and at the outside boundary of the CH, also exhibits a trend of decrease with time. However, EUV line emissions from different layers of the atmosphere exhibit different temporal trends. The coronal emission inside the CH generally increases toward the CH boundary as the underlying field increases in strength and becomes less unipolar. In contrast, this relationship is not seen in the coronal emission averaged over the entire CH. For C and O SW ions that freeze-in at lower altitude, stronger correlation between their ionization states and field strength (both signed and unsigned) appears in the slow SW, while for Fe ions that freeze-in at higher altitude, stronger correlation appears in the fast SW. Such correlations are seen both inside the CH and at its boundary region. On the other hand, the coronal electron temperature correlates well with the SW ion composition only in the boundary region. Our analyses, although not able to determine the likely footpoint locations of the SW of different speeds, raise many outstanding questions for how the SW is heated and accelerated in response to the long-term evolution of the solar magnetic field.

MAGNETIC FIELDS↗

Development of a multi-disciplinary ERTS user program in the state of Ohio

The author has identified the following significant results. A preliminary comparison of the land use maps derived from high altitude photography and imagery generated from land use CCT's shows considerable correlation of data. Most land use features are best identified on LANDSAT data taken over a full year, showing the effects of the four seasons. It appears that the most cost effective and timely way of providing land use data is to use LANDSAT data for identifying 75 to 90 percent of land use categories, using temporal data. For surface mining, close examination of LANDSAT, Skylab, and aircraft data covering the same area where linears were found seems to indicate that the type of resolution characteristic of LANDSAT data results in a better definition of linears of one or more miles. Long line linears were found in the vicinity of known gas production areas in Ohio.

Baldridge, P. E.↗

Observation of chromospheric evaporation during the Solar Maximum Mission

A study is presented of the upward motions of part of the soft X-ray emitting plasma using data for flares collected in 1980 by the Bent Crystal Spectrometer and the Hard X-ray Burst Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. Results show that upward motions of the soft X-ray plasma are temporally associated with the build up of the thermal phase of flares and with the period of energy deposition as indicated by the hard X-ray emission. In addition, it is found that the hardness of the hard X-ray spectrum, the evaporation velocity, and the rate of increase of the gradual phase are correlated. It is also possible that the total electron energy deposited in the chromosphere, the peak emission measure of the evaporating plasma, and the peak emission measure of the thermal coronal plasma may also be correlated.

Antonucci, E.↗