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The power and intrinsic efficiency of a small N2-CO2 fluid mixing transfer laser has been measured. Powers of 1.4 watts and intrinsic efficiencies for 0.7 percent were found for N2 oven temperatures of 1473 K. Laser output was optimized for He, CO2 and N2 partial pressures, output mirror reflectivity, nozzle diameter and oven temperature.
Yields based on carbon are usually reported in prebiotic experiments, while energy yields (moles/cal) are more useful in estimating the yields of products that would have been obtained from the primitive atmosphere of the earth. Energy yields for the synthesis of HCN and H2CO from a spark discharge were determined for various mixtures of CH4, CO, CO2, H2, H2O, N2 an NH3. The maximum yields of HCN and H2CO from CH4, CO, and CO2 as carbon sources are about 4 x 10 to the -8th moles/cal.
Work on the following tasks is reported briefly: (1) to investigate the effect of aerosol microphysical processes, occurring in an aerosol plume which undergoes transport in the atmosphere, on its beta sub CO2 value and (2) to examine experimentally measured size distributions for the free troposphere, fit bimodal log-normal models with different retractive indices for the two modes, and calculate beta sub CO2.
The consequences of the hypothesis that the evolution of CO2 is directly linked to the occurrence of at least transitory pockets of moisture were exposed. The current conditions preclude the existence of open bodies of liquid water and the formation of moisture in disequilibrium is not excluded by any known constraints. The water evaporation rate is inversely proportional to PCO2, and the existence of a limiting value (P*) for which liquid water can form in the Mars environment is postulated. The evolution of PCO2 is controlled largely by relatively rapid aqueous chemistry forming carbon-containing sedimentary rocks, perhaps during early history in open water, but more recently in transitory pockets of moisture in the soil. Once the total atmospheric pressure is reduced to near P*, the occurrence of transitory moisture is inhibited, and atmospheric CO2 is no longer depleted by an efficient mechanism. The role of the carbonate reservoir in the current overall carbon budget on Mars, according to this scheme, is illustrated.
The Wu-Kaplan radiation parameterization (Krishnamurthy, 1982) used in the GLA Global Circulation Model (GCM) was improved by replacing its fixed tables of CO2 transmittance in the 15 micron band with models developed by regression on line-by-line transmittances. The transmittances between layers are modeled as products of effective sublayer transmittances. The GLA GCM was integrated for 20 days starting at OZ, January 21, 1979, using the transmittance model. In the control run the fixed table of 15 micron CO2 transmittances is used. The effect of the change of initial cooling rate is illustrated by a map of the difference of 50 mb temperature after 6 hours. The cooling is reduced over high topography, where the fixed table underestimates the transmittance, and is reduced slightly throughout the tropics and the north polar area where the stratosphere is relatively cold. Over elevated topography the surface cooling increases, also as expected. The stratospheric temperature increases over a degree in the arctic and smaller amounts over Antarctica and elsewhere. Tropospheric equilibrium temperature response is obscured by time dependent differences in synoptic disturbances.
The piston velocity for the tropical Atlantic Ocean has been determined from 29 radon profiles measured during the TTO Tropical Atlantic Study. By combining these data with the pCO2 data measured in the surface water and air samples, the net flux of CO2 across the sea-air interface has been calculated for the tropical Atlantic. The dependence of the piston velocity on wind speed is discussed, and possible causes for the high sea-to-air CO2 flux observed in the equatorial zone are examined.
A CO2 differential-absorption lidar system has been used for the remote sensing of ammonia in the atmosphere. For CO2 lidar returns backscattered from topographic targets at ranges up to 2.7 km, the path-averaged sensitivity of the DIAL system was 5 ppb of NH3. Concentrations of atmospheric ammonia were found to vary during the day from undetectable levels (less than 5 ppb) to as high as 20 ppb, depending on temperature and humidity conditions.
Several generations of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown axenically from seed to seed on nutrient agar medium. The Arabidopsis plants produce seeds within 30 days after seeding, when grown either in containers open to the ambient atmosphere or in large sealed jars, but not in sealed test tubes. Moreover, the plant height was directly proportional to the size of the sealed container. Periodic analyses of the CO2 levels in the sealed containers has shown a decrease during the first week, but a tenfold increase in the following weeks. It is speculated that, by the end of the second week, the cotyledons entering the senescence stage would release ethylene into the culture atmosphere with a concomitant release of CO2, which in turn would induce further release of ethylene, hastening the senescence process in other tissues. Thus, in a controlled ecological life-support system of a space station, various components of the plant atmosphere may have to be maintained within the prescribed limits.
It has been reported by SEKIHARA (1981), that the circumpolar measurement from a commercial airliner reported by PRATT and FALCONER (1979) was subjected to a strong influence of a geomagnetic storm, specifically at the beginning stage through the North Pole. The main point of interest was the increase of CO concentration by the order of 10 ppb that took place simultaneously with a temperature decrease of several degrees, which was regarded as a result of enhanced cooling to space due to CO2 decomposition. Later inspection of the original magnetogram of eleven auroral zone stations revealed that the observation started 13 hours after the main phase of a geomagnetic storm, which lasted for 22 hours. A quantitative estimation is made of CO2 decomposition due to auroral X-rays that should take place during the degradation of photoelectrons injected into the lower stratospheres.
The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite-borne sensor is presently used, together with field data, to determine the geographic distributions of the seasonal exchange of CO2 between the earth's atmosphere and the terrestrial biota. The exchange functions thus obtained are validated in virtue of the ability to reproduce the observed annual cycle of atmospheric CO2 in a three-dimensional tracer transport model. The AVHRR is carried by the TIROS-N series of polar-orbiting satellites.
Absolute intensities for 726 unblended lines in 20 bands of C-12(O-16)2, C-13(O-16)2, O-16C-12O-18, and O-16C-12O-17 in the 4.8-micron spectral region have been determined using a natural sample of ultrahigh-purity CO2. Spectral data were recorded at low pressure (less than 10 torr) and room temperature with the Fourier transform spectrometer in the McMath solar telescope complex on Kitt Peak. Derived vibrational band intensities and coefficients of the F factor for each band were compared to values of the 1982 Air Force Geophysics Laboratory line parameters compilation. The present work fills out the CO2 lines in the 5-micron band systems. Lines in the strongest of these measured bands are being used to infer atmospheric pressure from high-resolution stratospheric spectra recorded during the Spacelab 3 Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy experiment.
The dissociative photoionization excitation process in CO2 is studied. In contrast to previous studies, attention is focused on the vibrational and rotational levels produced in fragment ions, partial cross-section measurements for producing such fragment ions in a specific quantum state, and the mechanisms that govern the dissociative ionization excitation processes. The partial fluorescence cross section for the production of CO(+) (B2Sigma +) from CO2 over a wide wavelength range was measured. It is concluded that the production of the CO(+) (B2Sigma +) fragment near the threshold is through a direct dissociative photoionization process.
There is general agreement that certain surface features on Mars are indicative of the presence of liquid water at various times in the geologic past. In particular, the valley networks are difficult to explain by a mechanism other than the flow of liquid water. It has been suggested in several studies that a thick CO2 atmosphere on Mars early in its history could have provided a greenhouse warming that would have allowed the flow of water either on the surface or just below the surface. However, this effect was examined with a detailed radiation model, and it was found that if reduced solar luminosity early in the history of the solar system is taken into account, even three bars of CO2 will not provide sufficient greeenhouse warming. The addition of water vapor and sulflur dioxide (both plausible gases that may have been emitted by Martian volcanoes) to the atmosphere also fail to warm the surface above 273 K for reduced solar luminosity conditions. The increase in temperature may be large enough, however, for the formation of these features by brines.
It is important to measure regional distributions of ozone concentrations in a short time for understanding a mechanism of photo-chemical smog development. An airborne Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system with two low-power mini-TEA CO2 lasers was developed for measuring three-dimensional distributions of ozone in the lower troposphere. The CO2 DIAL is a nadir-looking system and is designed to measure ozone profiles between ground and airplane by using atmospheric aerosols as a distributed radar target. First flight test with a single laser were conducted in February 1985 over the Tokyo area. The system was operated at an altitude of 5000 ft. Results of the first flight tests show that the height profiles of the received power in the boundary layer were different between over land and ocean. The received power has to be inverted to an expression of a single optical parameter to see real aerosol distributions. Inversion of the lidar signal to the aerosol extinction was performed by using Klett's solution.
The results of field measurements of concentration of some gaseous components of the atmosphere along the paths, in Sofia, Bulgaria, using a gas analyzer based on the use of a CO2 laser radiation frequency-doubled with ZnGeP2 monocrystals are presented. The gas analyzer is a traditional long path absorption meter. Radiation from the tunable CO2 laser of low pressure and from an additional He-Ne laser is directed to a colliminating hundredfold Gregori telescope with a 300 mm diameter of the principal mirror. The dimensions of the mirrors of a retroreflector 500 x 500 mm and a receiving telescope allow one to totally intercept the beam passed through the atmospheric layer under study and back.
Possible scenarios for the evolution of the Martian climate are discussed. In the interest of determining an upper limit on the absorptive capacity of the Martian regolith, researchers examined the results of Fanale and Cannon (1971, 1974) for CO2 adsorption on nontronite and basalt. There appeared to be a strong proportionality between the capacity of the absorbent and its specific surface area. A model of the Martian climate is given that allows the researchers to make some estimates of exchangeable CO2 abundances.
A number of different, RF-excited 3-W CW CO2 waveguide lasers have been built. Four of these lasers, after continuously working for 15,000-30,000 h, still yield about 70 percent of their original power output. The design variations cover N2and CO-bearing gas mixtures, as well as internal- and external-capacitively coupled excitation electrodes. A similar laser survived 50,000 5-min-ON/5-min-OFF cycles without significant mirror damage. It was not possible to find suitable cold cathodes that allow the building of longitudinally dc-excited CW CO2 waveguide lasers that work for such extended periods of time.
Spectroscopic data from the IUE are reported which show a strong correlation between a visible outburst from the near-nuclear region of comet Halley on 18.8 March 1986 and the sudden appearance of a large column abundance of CO2(+) ions in the tail. These data suggest that CO2 may play a significant role in the outburst process. This outburst may have been the source of the detached clumps of CO(+) emission recorded by ground-based observers on 19 and 20 March, 1986.