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NASA NTRS1990

Toward mapping the UV circumstellar shells of late-type stars

Detection of spatially resolved circumstellar matter surrounding selected cool stars, using off-source observations made with the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, is reported. The data demonstrate that: (1) the instrumental scattered light profile of IUE appears to depend on the ultraviolet color temperature of the star observed, and (2) certain red stars show signal in excess of the instrumental levels, at spatial offsets of 10 to 20 arc-seconds from the star.

Stencel, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Spatially Complete Global Surface Albedos Derived from Terra/MODIS Data

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent production of land surface anisotropy, diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) albedo and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky) albedo from observations acquired by the MODIS instruments aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal information on the land surface's radiative characteristics. Cloud cover, which cutails retrievals, and the presence of ephemeral and seasonal snow limit the snow-free data to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis. This precludes the MOD43B3 albedo products from being used in some remote sensing and ground-based applications, climate models, and global change research projects. An ecosystem-dependent temporal interpolation technique is described that has been developed to fill missing or seasonally snow-covered data in the official MOD43B3 albedo product. The method imposes pixel-level and local regional ecosystem-dependent phenological behavior onto retrieved pixel temporal data in such a way as to maintain pixel-level spatial and spectral detail and integrity. The phenological curves are derived from statistics based on the MODIS MOD12Q1 IGBP land cover classification product geolocated with the MOD43B3 data. The resulting snow-free value-added products provide the scientific community with spatially and temporally complete global white- and black-sky surface albedo maps and statistics. These products are stored on 1'(approximately 10 km) and coarser resolution equal-angle grids, and are computed for the first seven MODIS wavelengths, ranging from 0.47 through 2.1 microns, and for three broadband wavelengths, 0.3-0.7,0.3-5.0 and 0.7-5.0 microns.

King, Michael D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Time-dependent convection with non-Newtonian viscosity

A numerical model of bottom-heated, two-dimensional convection in boxes of aspect ratios 2.5 and 4.0 was used to study the differences in time-dependent convection between Newtonian and stress-dependent viscosity. The onset of time dependence due to boundary layer instability is found at approximately the same effective Rayleigh number for both rheologies. However, with increasing Rayleigh number, the temporal and spatial fluctuations in the flow field become much more pronounced with non-Newtonian rheology; also, the tendency for breakup of long cells into smaller ones is stronger. The presence of stress-dependent rheology can cause long-wavelength lateral viscosity variations up to an order of magnitude; this result could have strong implications for the interpretation of mantle viscosity from postglacial rebound.

Christensen, Ulrich R.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The connection between coronal bright points and the variability of the quiet-sun extreme-ultraviolet emission

An analysis of the EUV/Skylab data recorded at six wavelengths simultaneously and scanning the chromosphere to the corona is reported. The results show that, whether in a coronal hole or a quiet region, the significant variable emission in the quiet sun is preferentially localized in the enhanced emission produced by EUV bright points in the boundaries of network cells. The spatial density of the variable and enhanced emission varies with temperature, with a minimum at 3 x 10 exp 5 K which indicates two favored temperature distributions of small-scale loops in the quiet sun, one below 3 x 10 exp 5 K and one at coronal temperatures. The enhanced emission occupies between 10 and 25 percent of the solar surface, depending on the temperature, while the variable emission covers between 5 and 15 percent. For a given region, the spatial density at a given temperature does not vary in time by more than 10 percent about its mean value.

Habbal, Shadia R.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Detection of Multi-Layer and Vertically-Extended Clouds Using A-Train Sensors

The detection of mUltiple cloud layers using satellite observations is important for retrieval algorithms as well as climate applications. In this paper, we describe a relatively simple algorithm to detect multiple cloud layers and distinguish them from vertically-extended clouds. The algorithm can be applied to coincident passive sensors that derive both cloud-top pressure from the thermal infrared observations and an estimate of solar photon pathlength from UV, visible, or near-IR measurements. Here, we use data from the A-train afternoon constellation of satellites: cloud-top pressure, cloud optical thickness, the multi-layer flag from the Aqua MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the optical centroid cloud pressure from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). For the first time, we use data from the CloudSat radar to evaluate the results of a multi-layer cloud detection scheme. The cloud classification algorithms applied with different passive sensor configurations compare well with each other as well as with data from CloudSat. We compute monthly mean fractions of pixels containing multi-layer and vertically-extended clouds for January and July 2007 at the OMI spatial resolution (l2kmx24km at nadir) and at the 5kmx5km MODIS resolution used for infrared cloud retrievals. There are seasonal variations in the spatial distribution of the different cloud types. The fraction of cloudy pixels containing distinct multi-layer cloud is a strong function of the pixel size. Globally averaged, these fractions are approximately 20% and 10% for OMI and MODIS, respectively. These fractions may be significantly higher or lower depending upon location. There is a much smaller resolution dependence for fractions of pixels containing vertically-extended clouds (approx.20% for OMI and slightly less for MODIS globally), suggesting larger spatial scales for these clouds. We also find higher fractions of vertically-extended clouds over land as compared with ocean, particularly in the tropics and summer hemisphere.

Joiner, J.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Solar limb emission lines near Ca II H & K and their spatial intensity variations

The paper employs solar observations of high spatial and spectral resolution to identify emission lines seen in the extended wings of Ca II H & K near the solar limb. Emission lines in the wings of H & K represent valuable diagnostics of the atmospheres of cool stars, with a varying information content which depends on their particular formation mechanism. In solar spectrograms different emission line formation mechanisms can be distinguished by the character of the spatial intensity variation (SIV) apparent in the lines. Various classes of H & K emission features, their spatial intensity variations and their formation mechanisms (of which some pose further problems) are discussed. A new extended list of line identifications is compiled based on their formation class and compared with other line lists. Evidence is found that stellar luminosity-sensitive lines tend to show large spatial intensity variation on the sun.

Rutten, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

High-resolution observations of the Evershed effect in sunspots

High spatial resolution movies of sunspots taken at the Swedish Solar Observatory on La Palma reveal that the Evershed effect is time dependent. Outward proper motions are visible in both the continuum and Dopplergrams. These can be tracked over most of the width of the penumbra and overlap regions that show inward moving penubral grains. The radial spacing between the moving structures is about 2000 km, and they exhibit irregular repetitive behavior with a typical interval of 10 minutes. These are probably the cause of 10 minutes oscillations sometimes seen in a penumbral power spectra. Higher velocities are spatially correlated with the relatively darker regions between bright filaments. Regions with a strong variation in the Doppler signal show peak-to-peak modulations of 1 km/s on an average velocity of about 3-4 km/s. The proper motion velocity is approximately constant from the iner penumbra and generally larger than the Doppler velocity when both are interpreted as projections of horizontal motion. Regions where thay are consistent suggest a typical horizontal velocity of 3.5 km/s. Some proper motion velocites as high as 7 km/s are seen, but these are less certain. The temporal behavoir shows a correlation between increased Doppler signal and increased continuum intensity, the opposite of the spatial correlation. When spatially averaged across filaments and over time, the averaged Evershed effect has a peak horizontal component near the outer edge of the penumbra of 2.0 km/s with evidence for a 200-400 m/s upward component. The latter depends on an uncertain absolute velocity calibration. If real it could be an actual upward component or a penumbral analogue of the convective blueshift seen in the quiet Sun.

Shine, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Spatial analysis of IRAS observations of nearby spirals

The unbiased survey of the infrared sky carried out by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) satellite has greatly accelerated advances in understanding the dust component of our own and external galaxies. However, most extragalactic studies to date have been based on the IRAS Point Source Catalog (PSC), which has two serious limitations. First, in sources where a significant fraction of the flux is extended, significant errors may result from using PSC fluxes in comparative studies, and these errors could be systematic if the tendency to be non-pointlike depends on physical properties of the galaxy. Additionally, use of PSC fluxes rules out any direct investigation of the spatial distribution of the IRAS emission from disks in external galaxies. Since work on the Galactic IRAS results has shown that very different physical processes can make varying contributions to the observed flux, it is important to look at a wide sample of galaxies with some spatial resolution to study the relative dominance of these processes under a variety of conditions. Here, researchers report on work they are doing to carry out this program for many nearby spirals, using an analysis package that was developed for this purpose. Researchers carried out analysis for a sample of 121 nearby spirals. The fraction of the flux contained in a point source varies from 0 to 1 across the sample, all of which are well resolved at their nominal optical diameters. There is no evidence that the galaxies of smaller angular size are less likely to be resolved by IRAS at this level. The program gives results which are quite repeatable from scan to scan; the fraction f (point source flux over total flux) at 60 microns has typical errors of 0.03 when different scans are combined. Approximately two-thirds of the sample have more flux in the extended than in the nuclear component. There is a tendency for earlier-type spirals to be less centrally concentrated, but this effect is slight and the degree of variation is large for all types. Barred spirals are also found across the spectrum of f, but are much more likely to have little or no nuclear emission.

Ball, Roger↗

NASA NTRS2007

A Non-Radiative Transfer Approach to Radiometric Vicarious Calibration

TOA (top-of-atmosphere) radiance from high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery systems is important for a wide variety of research and applications. Many research initiatives require data with absolute radiometric accuracy better than a few percent. The conversion of satellite digital numbers to radiance depends on accurate radiometric calibration. A common method for determining and validating radiometric calibrations is to rely upon vicarious calibration approaches. Historically, vicarious calibration methods use radiative transfer codes with ground-based atmosphere and surface reflectance or radiance inputs for estimating TOA radiance values. These TOA radiance values are compared against the satellite digital numbers to determine the radiometric calibration. However, the radiative transfer codes used depend on many assumptions about the aerosol properties and the atmospheric point spread function. A measurement-based atmospheric radiance estimation approach for high-spatial-resolution, multispectral, visible/near-infrared sensors is presented that eliminates the use of radiative transfer codes and many of the underlying assumptions. A comparison between the radiative transfer and non-radiative transfer approaches is made.

Ryan, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1985

Cometary atmospheres: Modeling the spatial distribution of observed neutral radicals

Progress on modeling the spatial distributions of cometary radicals is described. The Monte Carlo particle-trajectory model was generalized to include the full time dependencies of initial comet expansion velocities, nucleus vaporization rates, photochemical lifetimes and photon emission rates which enter the problem through the comet's changing heliocentric distance and velocity. The effect of multiple collisions in the transition zone from collisional coupling to true free flow were also included. Currently available observations of the spatial distributions of the neutral radicals, as well as the latest available photochemical data were re-evaluated. Preliminary exploratory model results testing the effects of various processes on observable spatial distributions are also discussed.

Combi, M. R.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Optical Signal Processing: Poisson Image Restoration and Shearing Interferometry

Optical signal processing can be performed in either digital or analog systems. Digital computers and coherent optical systems are discussed as they are used in optical signal processing. Topics include: image restoration; phase-object visualization; image contrast reversal; optical computation; image multiplexing; and fabrication of spatial filters. Digital optical data processing deals with restoration of images degraded by signal-dependent noise. When the input data of an image restoration system are the numbers of photoelectrons received from various areas of a photosensitive surface, the data are Poisson distributed with mean values proportional to the illuminance of the incoherently radiating object and background light. Optical signal processing using coherent optical systems is also discussed. Following a brief review of the pertinent details of Ronchi's diffraction grating interferometer, moire effect, carrier-frequency photography, and achromatic holography, two new shearing interferometers based on them are presented. Both interferometers can produce variable shear.

Hong, Yie-Ming↗

NASA NTRS1980

Numerical simulation of shear flows over wavy boundaries

The full time-dependent two dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved using spectral methods to achieve high spatial accuracy and high order time-splitting methods together with conformal mapping methods to allow simulation of flow over steep waves, including general turbulent Reynolds stresses. The programs are used to study the properties of laminar and turbulent flow over a flat plate and in various wavy geometries. Results are compared with both available theory and experiment. For laminar flow, good agreement is achieved. For turbulent flow, the agreement is less satisfactory and may be explained by the simplified turbulent modelling use in the calculations.

Orszag, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Proportional drift tubes for large area muon detectors

A proportional drift chamber which consists of eight rectangular drift tubes with cross section of 10 cm x 5 cm, a sense wire of 100 micron phi gold-plated tungsten wire and the length of 6 m, was tested using cosmic ray muons. Spatial resolution (rms) is between 0.5 and 1 mm over drift space of 50 mm, depending on incident angle and distance from sense wire.

Cho, C.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Thermosolutal convection during directional solidification

During solidification of a binary alloy at constant velocity vertically upward, thermosolutal convection can occur if the solute rejected at the crystal-melt interface decreases the density of the melt. We assume that the crystal-melt interface remains planar and that the flow field is periodic in the horizontal direction. The time-dependent nonlinear differential equations for fluid flow, concentration, and temperature are solved numerically in two spatial dimensions for small Prandtl numbers and moderately large Schmidt numbers. For slow solidification velocities, the thermal field has an important stabilizing influence: near the onset of instability the flow is confined to the vicinity of the crystal-melt interface. Further, for slow velocities, as the concentration increases, the horizontal wavelength of the flow decreases rapidly - a phenomenon also indicated by linear stability analysis. The lateral inhomogeneity in solute concentration due to convection is obtained from the calculations. For a narrow range of solutal Rayleigh numbers and wavelengths, the flow is periodic in time.

Mcfadden, G. B.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Modeled F region response to auroral dynamics based upon Dynamics Explorer auroral observations

Auroral images from the Dynamics Explorer 1 (DE 1) scanning auroral imager have been combined with in situ auroral precipitation data from the DE 2 low-altitude plasma instrument, to form a time-dependent global auroral energy flux model. This model has both good time (12 min) and spatial (100 km) resolution compared to that currently available for global-scale ionospheric and thermospheric modeling. The development and comparison of this model with others are discussed. Data from an aurorally active period, November 25, 1981, are presented and used as a case study for this model. Using a global ionospheric model, the effect of the DE auroral model is contrasted with that of a conventional empirical auroral energy flux model. Major differences in the modeled F region ionosphere are predicted from this comparative study.

Sojka, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Half-Tone Video Images Of Drifting Sinusoidal Gratings

Digital technique for generation of slowly moving video image of sinusoidal grating avoids difficulty of transferring full image data from disk storage to image memory at conventional frame rates. Depends partly on trigonometric identity by which moving sinusoidal grating decomposed into two stationary patterns spatially and temporally modulated in quadrature. Makes motion appear smooth, even at speeds much less than one-tenth picture element per frame period. Applicable to digital video system in which image memory consists of at least 2 bits per picture element, and final brightness of picture element determined by contents of "lookup-table" memory programmed anew each frame period and indexed by coordinates of each picture element.

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Numerical simulation of spatially-evolving instability in plane channel flow

The spatial stability of plane channel flow is analyzed using a three-dimensional, time-dependent spectral/finite difference code (Danabasoglu et al., 1990) which integrates numerically the Navier-Stokes equations. The study centers on inflow disturbance amplitudes effects on the secondary instability. The resolution requirements along the spacewise direction, which become critical before the breakdown stage, are of particular interest. A direct comparison is made with the experiments of Nishioka et al. (1980).

Danabasoglu, G.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Studies for the Loss of Atomic and Molecular Species from Io

The general objective of this project is to advance our theoretical understanding of Io's atmosphere by studying how various atomic and molecular species are lost from this atmosphere and are distributed near the satellite and in the circumplanetary environment of Jupiter. The project is divided into well-defined studies described for the likely dominant atmospheric gases involving species of the SO2 family (SO2, SO, 02, 0, S) and for the trace atmospheric gas atomic sodium. The relative abundance of the members of the S02 family and Na (and its parent Na(x)) at the satellite exobase and their relative spatial densities beyond in the extended corona of lo are not well known but will depend upon a number of factors including the upward transport rate of gases from below, the velocity distribution and corresponding escape rate of gases at the exobase, and the operative magnetospheric/solar-photon driven chemistry for the different gases. This question of relative abundance will be studied in this project.

Smyth, William H.↗