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At least 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1996

The 27-28 October 1986 FIRE IFO Cirrus Case Study: Cloud Optical Properties Determined by High Spectral Resolution Lidar

During the First ISCCP Region Experiment (FIRE) cirrus intensive field observation (IFO) the High Spectral Resolution Lidar was operated from a roof top site on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Because the HSRL technique separately measures the molecular and cloud particle backscatter components of the lidar return, the optical thickness is determined independent of particle backscatter. This is accomplished by comparing the known molecular density distribution to the observed decrease in molecular backscatter signal with altitude. The particle to molecular backscatter ratio yields calibrated measurements of backscatter cross sections that can be plotted ro reveal cloud morphology without distortion due to attenuation. Changes in cloud particle size, shape, and phase affect the backscatter to extinction ratio (backscatter-phase function). The HSRL independently measures cloud particle backscatter phase function. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of the HSRL cirrus cloud data acquired over an approximate 33 hour period of continuous near zenith observations. Correlations between small scale wind structure and cirrus cloud morphology have been observed. These correlations can bias the range averaging inherent in wind profiling lidars of modest vertical resolution, leading to increased measurement errors at cirrus altitudes. Extended periods of low intensity backscatter were noted between more strongly organized cirrus cloud activity. Optical thicknesses ranging from 0.01-1.4, backscatter phase functions between 0.02-0.065 sr (exp -1) and backscatter cross sections spanning 4 orders of magnitude were observed. the altitude relationship between cloud top and bottom boundaries and the cloud optical center altitude was dependent on the type of formation observed Cirrus features were observed with characteristic wind drift estimated horizontal sizes of 5-400 km. The clouds frequently exhibited cellular structure with vertical to horizontal dimension ratios of 1:5-1:1.

Grund, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Oshkosh Logistic Management and Public Relations Responsibilities at NASA Langley

The central focus of my study for the summer of 1995 was to provide logistical support to Margaret Hunt, the logistics manager of the OSHKOSH airshow. In this capacity responsibilities included making arrangements for participants from NASA centers and SBIR companies for their stay in Wisconsin, while visiting the airshow, and managing staff for exhibits and the aerospace theater. A secondary purpose was to serve in other public service capacities by writing news releases, fact sheets, announcements, and articles for the Researcher News.

Beck, Danielle↗
NASA NTRS1996

The Diffuse Extreme Ultraviolet Background

Observations of the diffuse EUV background towards 138 different directions using the spectrometers aboard the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite (EUVE) have been combined into a spectrum from 150A to 730A and represent an effective exposure of 18 million seconds. There is no significant evidence of any non-local line flux in the resultant spectrum such as that from a hot coronal plasma. These results are inconsistent with the Wisconsin C and B broad-band surveys assuming the source is a logT = 5.8 - 6.1 hot plasma in ionization equilibrium with solar abundances, confirming the previous result of Jelinksy, Vallerga and Edelstein) (hereafter Paper 1) using an observation along the ecliptic with the same instrument. To make these results consistent with the previous broad-band surveys, the plasma responsible for the emission must either be depleted in Fe by a factor of approximately 6, be behind an absorbing slab of neutral H with a column of 2 x 10(exp 19)/sq cm, or not be in collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE). One such non-CIE model (Breitswerdt and Schmutzier) that explains the soft x-ray results is also inconsistent with this EUV data.

Vallerga, John↗
NASA NTRS1997

Investigation of Cloud Properties and Atmospheric Profiles with MODIS

The WINter Cloud Experiment (WINCE) was directed and supported by personnel from the University of Wisconsin in January and February. Data sets of good quality were collected by the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) and other instruments on the NASA ER2; they will be used to develop and validate cloud detection and cloud property retrievals over winter scenes (especially over snow). Software development focused on utilities needed for all of the UW product executables; preparations for Version 2 software deliveries were almost completed. A significant effort was made, in cooperation with SBRS and MCST, in characterizing and understanding MODIS PFM thermal infrared performance; crosstalk in the longwave infrared channels continues to get considerable attention.

Menzel, Paul↗
NASA NTRS1997

Analysis of Space Coherent LIDAR Wind Mission

An evaluation of the performance of a coherent Doppler lidar proposed by a team comprising the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Lockheed Martin Space Company, University of Wisconsin and Los Alamos National Laboratory to NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program was performed. The design went through several iterations and only the performance of the final design is summarized here.

Spiers, Gary D.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Plant Growth and Development in the ASTROCULTURE(trademark) Space-Based Growth Unit-Ground Based Experiments

The ASTROCULTURE(trademark) plant growth unit flown as part on the STS-63 mission in February 1995, represented the first time plants were flown in microgravity in a enclosed controlled environment plant growth facility. In addition to control of the major environmental parameters, nutrients were provided to the plants with the ZEOPONICS system developed by NASA Johnson Space Center scientists. Two plant species were included in this space experiment, dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum) and a unique mustard called "Wisconsin Fast Plants" (Brassica rapa). Extensive post-flight analyses have been performed on the plant material and it has been concluded that plant growth and development was normal during the period the plants were in the microgravity environment of space. However, adequate plant growth and development control data were not available for direct comparisons of plant responses to the microgravity environment with those of plants grown at 1 g. Such data would allow for a more complete interpretation of the extent that microgravity affects plant growth and development.

Bula, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Studies for the Loss of Atomic and Molecular Species from Io

The general objective of this project has been to advance our theoretical understanding of Io's atmosphere and how various atomic and molecular species are lost from this atmosphere and are distributed in the circumplanetary environment of Jupiter. The scientific objectives of the larger collaborative program between AER, Inc., and the University of Michigan have been to undertake theoretical modeling studies to simulate the distributions of the exospheric gases in Io's corona and extended clouds, to investigate the importance of the various physical processes that shape their relative abundances, and with these tools to analyze observations of O, S and Na obtained by four observers: M.A. McGrath of the Space Telescope Science Institute and G.E. Ballester of the University of Michigan who each have obtained Hubble Space Telescope observations of O and S near Io, F. Scherb who continues an effort to obtain 6300 A OI observations as part of the University of Wisconsin Fabry-Perot program, and N.M. Schneider of the University of Colorado who obtained an extensive set of spectral and spatial observations of the Na emission near Io in the D-lines.

Combi, Michael R.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Investigation of Cloud Properties and Atmospheric Profiles with Modis

A major milestone was accomplished with the delivery of all five University of Wisconsin MODIS Level 2 science production software packages to the Science Data Support Team (SDST) for integration. These deliveries were the culmination of months of design and testing, with most of the work focused on tasks peripheral to the actual science contained in the code. LTW hosted a MODIS infrared calibration workshop in September. Considerable progress has been made by MCST, with help from LTW, in refining the calibration algorithm, and in identifying and characterization outstanding problems. Work continues on characterizing the effects of non-blackbody earth surfaces on atmospheric profile retrievals and modeling radiative transfer through cirrus clouds.

Menzel, Paul↗
NASA NTRS1998

Assessing the Geomorphic Evolution and Hydrographic Changes Induced by Winter Storms along the Louisiana Coast

The influence that cold front passages have on Louisiana coastal environments, including land loss and land building processes, has been the primary topic of this multidisciplinary research. This research has combined meteorological, remote sensing, and coastal expertise from the University of Wisconsin (UW) and Louisiana State University (LSU). Analyzed data sets include remotely sensed radiometric data (AVHRR on NOAA-12,13,14, Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) and MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) on NASA ER-2), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) water level data, water quality data from the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) at LSU, USACE river discharge data, National Weather Service (NWS) and CSI wind in sitzi measurements, geomorphic measurements from aerial photography (NASA ER-2 and Learjet), and CSI ground based sediment burial pipes (for monitoring topographic change along the Louisiana coast) and sediment cores. The work reported here-in is a continuation of an initial investigation into coastal Louisiana landform modification by cold front systems. That initial effort demonstrated the importance of cold front winds in the Atchafalaya Bay sediment plume distribution (Moeller et al.), documented the sediment transport and deposition process of the western Louisiana coast (Huh et al.) and developed tools (e.g. water types identification, suspended solids estimation) from multispectral radiometric data for application to the current study. This study has extended that work, developing a Geomorphic Impact Index (GI(sup 2)) for relating atmospheric forcing to coastal response and new tools to measure water motion and sediment transport.

Menzel, W. Paul↗
NASA NTRS1999

Differences Between ERBE and CERES Tropical Means Fluxes: ENSO, Climate Change of Calibration?

Verner E. Soumi was the father of radiation budget measurements from space. He directed the team at the University of Wisconsin that developed the first radiation budget measurements on the Iota (Explorer VII) coverage) spacecraft in 1959. The first data published was from hand calculations of night-time long-wave fluxes, with absolute accuracy estimated as better than 10 percent, and the data shown as hand drawn maps with lines of equal "long-wave radiation loss, in Langleys per minute X 10(exp -3) (isolangleys)". The first comparisons of the new radiation data with nephanalyses showed that clouds dominated the radiation patterns. Soumi immediately proposed using the radiation fields to help understand the atmospheric heat sources necessary to drive the atmospheric circulation. This early work already pointed to the relationship between the outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere and the vertical flux divergence of infrared radiation within the atmosphere. In the next 30 years, global satellite observations of the radiation balance of the planet have advanced both in accuracy, stability, and in their ability to address cause and effect in the climate system. The purpose of the present paper is to examine early results of the new Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data on Tropical Rainfall Measuring System (TRMM) which started data collection in January, 1998. CERES is a direct descendant of the legacy of Soumi's foresight on understanding the global energetics using satellite observations of broadband radiation.

Wielicki, Bruce A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Remote Sensing of Forest Fires from Space

Forest fires, and fires used for deforestation and agriculture are sporadic. Some may last an hour others several days. It is difficult to find the fires or to estimate their effect on atmospheric pollution without an "eye in the sky" a satellite or an array of satellites that monitors them routinely from space. Since fires have a significant effect on the quality of air that we breath, on the surface vegetation, on clouds and precipitation and even on climate, NASA and other space agencies try to develop fire monitoring capability from space. Presently satellites were not designed to monitor fires. But the AVHRR and GOES satellites were used for fire monitoring. AVHRR is an orbiter that passes over the same area twice a day with detailed observations of fires from a distance of 800 km, GOES is a stationary satellite located above the equator, and observes the larger fires from a distance of 20,000 km. Field experiments, such as the "SCAR-B" experiment in Brazil conducted in 1995 by INPE, NASA and Universities of Sao Paulo, Washington and Wisconsin, were used to determine the ability of satellites to observe fires and the emitted pollution. They are the basis of a new system of satellites designed by NASA to observe fires and pollution, the Earth Observing System AM1 and PM1. NASA plans to use the information for four observations a day of the fires and the emitted smoke. The information can be used to determine the location of the fires, to distinguish between small and large fires and monitor their development. The satellites will measure the emitted smoke and with trajectory models can be used to predict the density and spread of the smoke.

Kaufman, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Intercomparison, Visualization, and Analysis Testbed System for EOS Global Assimilated Datasets and Satellite Data

The Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) of the University of Wisconsin - Madison had two primary goals for NASA grant NAG5-2906. (1) Collaborate with scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to integrate SSEC's Vis5D software into NASA's Interactive Image Spread Sheet (IISS). Vis5D provides environmental modelers with interactive three-dimensional visualization of their model output. Integration of Vis5D with the IISS would give 3-D graphics capability to the iiss. (2) Make improvements in Vis5D as required by scientists at the NASA Data Assimilation Office (DAO). We were successful in both of these goals. Furthermore, the generic approach taken to achieving the first goal has enabled Vis5D to be integrated into many other software systems.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1998

Burst Arcsecond Imaging and Spectroscopy

in collaboration with the teams at the Goddard Space Flight center, the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and Yale University the scientific objectives of the mission, and the instrumental requirements following from these objectives were defined. These included in particular (apart from gamma-ray bursts), soft gamma repeaters, black-hole X-ray transients, and X-ray binaries. A crucial parameter of the mission was its low- energy sensitivity, which strongly impacts on the possibility to measure low-energy cut- offs in the spectra of gamma-ray bursts, and perhaps even allow the measurement of redshifts. The mission concept, and the detector technological developments were discussed at several meetings at Goddard Space Flight Center. As a result of these discussions a proposal for funding the BASIS mission was submitted to NASA, but BASIS was not selected.

VanParadijs, J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Modeling and Analysis of Global and Regional Climate Change in Relation to Atmospheric Hydrologic Processes

The goal of this research is the continued development and application of global isentropic modeling and analysis capabilities to describe hydrologic processes and energy exchange in the climate system, and discern regional climate change. This work involves a combination of modeling and analysis efforts involving 4DDA datasets and simulations from the University of Wisconsin (UW) hybrid isentropic-sigma (theta-sigma) coordinate model and the GEOS GCM.

Johnson, Donald R.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Documenting, Understanding, and Predicting the Aggregate Surface Radiation Fluxes for SHEBA

This document serves as a final report for NASA grant NAG5-4903 at Boston University. The report covers the first two years of the three-year project. The third year's funding and tasks have been transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) where the Principal Investigator (J. Key) is now stationed. The new UW grant number is NAG5-8625. Plans for the final project year at UW were detailed in the Request to Transfer document, submitted to NASA in July 1999. This is a group project with the University of Colorado (CU) as the lead institution, where Judith Curry is the Principal Investigator. The overall project is jointly funded by NASA and NSF. The progress reported herein is that specific to Boston University, but no attempt has been made to separate NASA and NSF activities.

Key, Jeffrey R.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Cloud Statistics for NASA Climate Change Studies

The Principal Investigator participated in two field experiments and developed a global data set on cirrus cloud frequency and optical depth to aid the development of numerical models of climate. Four papers were published under this grant. The accomplishments are summarized: (1) In SUCCESS (SUbsonic aircraft: Contrail & Cloud Effects Special Study) the Principal Investigator aided weather forecasters in the start of the field program. A paper also was published on the clouds studied in SUCCESS and the use of the satellite stereographic technique to distinguish cloud forms and heights of clouds. (2) In SHEBA (Surface Heat Budget in the Arctic) FIRE/ACE (Arctic Cloud Experiment) the Principal Investigator provided daily weather and cloud forecasts for four research aircraft crews, NASA's ER-2, UCAR's C-130, University of Washington's Convert 580, and the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service's Convert 580. Approximately 105 forecasts were written. The Principal Investigator also made daily weather summaries with calculations of air trajectories for 54 flight days in the experiment. The trajectories show where the air sampled during the flights came from and will be used in future publications to discuss the origin and history of the air and clouds sampled by the aircraft. A paper discussing how well the FIRE/ACE data represent normal climatic conditions in the arctic is being prepared. (3) The Principal Investigator's web page became the source of information for weather forecasting by the scientists on the SHEBA ship. (4) Global Cirrus frequency and optical depth is a continuing analysis of global cloud cover and frequency distribution are being made from the NOAA polar orbiting weather satellites. This analysis is sensitive to cirrus clouds because of the radiative channels used. During this grant three papers were published which describe cloud frequencies, their optical properties and compare the Wisconsin FM Cloud Analysis to other global cloud data such as the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE). A summary of eight years of HIRS data will be published in late 1998. Important information from this study are: 1) cirrus clouds cover most of the earth, 2) they are found about 40% of the time globally, 3) in the tropics cirrus cloud frequencies are even higher, from 80-100%, 4) there is slight evidence that cirnis cloud cover is increasing in the northern hemisphere at about 0.5% per year, and 5) cirrus clouds have an average infrared transmittance of about 40% of the terrestrial radiation. (5) Global Cloud Frequency Statistics published on the Principal Investigator's web page have been used in the planning of the future CRYSTAL experiment and have been used for refinements of a global numerical model operated at the Colorado State University.

Wylie, Donald P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

STS-35: Astro-1 BBXRT Problem Area

The primary objective of STS-35 was to conduct observations in ultraviolet and X-ray astronomy with the ASTRO-1 observatory. ASTRO-1 consisted of four telescopes: Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT); Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE); Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT); and Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT). This videotape shows work on the BBXRT in the clean room. Two days before a scheduled September 1 launch date, the avionics box on the BBXRT malfunctioned and had to be changed and retested.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Natural Thermoluminescence Survey of Antarctic Meteorites: Ordinary Chondrites at the Grosvenor Mountains, Macalpine Hills, Pecora Escarpment and Queen Alexandra Range, and New Data for the Elephant Moraine, Ice Fields

The natural TL (Thermoluminescence) survey of Antarctic meteorites was started in 1987 at the request of the Antarctic Meteorite Working Group in order to provide an initial description of radiation and thermal histories. It was intended to be a complement to the mineralogical and petrographic surveys performed at the Johnson Space Center and the Smithsonian Institution. All ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) samples recovered since then, besides those that were heated throughout by atmospheric passage, have been measured. To date this amounts to about 1200 samples. As the data for each ice field reaches a significant level, we have been conducting a thorough examination of the data for that field with a view to identifying pairing, providing an estimate of terrestrial age and residence time on the ice surface, looking for differences in natural TL between ice fields, looking for variations in natural TL level with location on the ice, looking for meteorites with natural TL levels outside the normal range. Pairing is a necessary first step in ensuring the most productive use of the collection, while geographical variations could perhaps provide clues to concentration mechanisms. Samples with natural TL values outside the normal range are usually inferred to have had either small perihelia or recent changes in orbital elements. In addition, induced TL data have enabled us to look for evidence for secular variation in the nature of the flux of meteorites to Earth, and look for petrologically unusual meteorites, such as particularly primitive ordinary chondrites, heavily shocked meteorites, or otherwise anomalous meteorites. To date we have published studies of the TL properties of 167 ordinary chondrites from Allan Hills, 107 from Elephant Moraine and 302 from Lewis Cliff and we have discussed the TL properties of fifteen H chondrites collected at the Allan Hills by Euromet after a storm during the 1988 season. We now have additional databases for a reasonable number of ordinary chondrites from Grosvenor Mountains (39 meteorites), MacAlpine Hills (70 meteorites), Pecora Escarpment (60 meteorites), and Queen Alexandra Range (173 meteorites) and we have data for a further 101 samples from Elephant Moraine. The results are summarized. We also have fairly minimal databases (10-15 meteorites) for Dominion Range, Graves Nunataks, Reckling Peak and Wisconsin Range that will not be discussed here.

Benoit, Paul H.↗