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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Global atmospheric temperature monitoring with satellite microwave measurements - Method and results 1979-84

This paper describes a method for determining global atmospheric-temperature anomalies by means of satellite microwave radiometry. It is shown that microwave measurements of molecular oxygen thermal emission by the Microwave Sounding Units (MSUs) flying aboard the NOAA-6 and NOAA-7 can be used to monitor tropospheric temperature anomalies on global basis to a high level of precision. Comparisons between monthly MSU-derived hemispheric temperature anomalies with those computed from surface thermometer data show a very good agreement over the United States, although not for the hemispheres, especially the Southern Hemisphere. In this latter case, the poor agreement is ascribed to weaker thermal coupling between the ocean and the deep troposphere than that over the U.S. Annual anomalies for the hemispheres exhibit better correlations than do monthly anomalies.

Spencer, Roy W.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Remote Measurement of Atmospheric Temperatures By Raman Lidar

The Raman shifted return of a lidar, or optical radar, system has been utilized to make atmospheric temperature measurements. These measurements were made along a horizontal path at temperatures between -20 C and +30 C and at ranges of about 100 meters. The temperature data were acquired by recording the intensity ratio of two portions of the Raman spectrum which were simultaneously sampled from a preset range. The lidar unit employed in this testing consisted of a 4 joule-10ppm laser operating at 694.3 nm, a 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and a system of time-gated detection and signal processing electronics. The detection system processed three return signal wavelength intervals - two intervals along the rotational Raman scattered spectrum and one interval centered at the Rayleigh-Mie scattered wavelength. The wavelength intervals were resolved by using a pellicle beam splitter and three optical interference filters. Raman return samples were taken from one discrete range segment during each test shot and the signal intensities were displayed in digital format. The Rayleigh-Mie techniques. The test site utilized to evaluate this measurement technique encompassed a total path length of 200 meters. Major components of the test site included a trailer-van housing the lidar unit, a controlled environment test zone, and a beam terminator. The control zone which was located about 100 meters from the trailer was 12 meters in length, 2.4 meters in diameter, and was equipped with hinged doors at each end. The temperature of the air inside the zone could be either raised or lowered with respect to ambient air through the use of infrared heaters or a liquid-nitrogen cooling system. Conditions inside the zone were continuously monitored with a thermocouple rake assembly. The test path length was terminated by a 1.2 meter square array of energy absorbing cones and a flat black screen. Tests were initially conducted at strictly ambient conditions utilizing the normal outside air temperatures as a test parameter. These tests provided a calibration of the Raman intensity ratio as a function of' temperature for the particular optical-filter arrangement used in this system while also providing a test of' the theoretical prediction formulated in the design of the system. Later tests utilized zone temperatures above and below ambient to provide temperature gradient data. These tests indicate that ten shots, or one minute of' data acquisition, from a 100 meter range can provide absolute temperature measurements with an accuracy of + 30 C and a range resolution of about 5 meters. Because this measurement accuracy compares well with that predicted for this particular unit, it is suggested that a field-application system could be built with signif'icant improvements in both absolute accuracy and range.

Salzman, Jack A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Neutral-particle wake method for measuring the atmospheric temperature from a satellite.

Description of a method that would permit a satellite-borne neutral mass spectrometer to measure the atmospheric temperature. The spectrometer examines the partial pressure variations that occur as the wake of a small rectangular baffle is swept across the entrance orifice of the spectrometer. For a given baffle size and for a mounting distance from the orifice, the depth of the resulting pressure minimum depends only on the thermal velocity or temperature of the observed species. The validity of the method can be checked by measuring the wake characteristics of more than one species and/or by employing each of several baffle sizes. The theory includes the effect of a finite orifice size, finite baffle length, and the backscattering of particles from the baffle into the orifice. It is found that a suitable baffle arrangement can be achieved that will permit the temperature to be measured over at least the range normally encountered in the thermosphere (200 to 2000 K) and, depending on the sensitivity and background pressure of the spectrometer, over an altitude range of about 140 to 600 km.

Brace, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Rayleigh/raman Greenland Lidar Observations of Atmospheric Temperature During a Major Arctic Stratospheric Warming Event

Between Jan. 22 1991 to Feb. 5 1991, we made numerous observations of atmospheric temperature profiles between 10 and 70 km by using the combination of Rayleigh and Raman lidar systems contained in the PL Mobile Lidar Facility located at the National Science Foundation Incoherent Radar Facility of Sondrestrom in Greenland. The purpose of these measurements was to observe the dynamics of the winter Arctic stratosphere and mesosphere regions during a winter period from the succession of temperature profiles obtained in our campaign observations. Various aspects of this investigation are presented.

Meriwether, John W.↗
NASA NTRS1971

A neutral particle wake method for measuring the atmospheric temperature from a satellite

A method is described that permits a satellite-borne neutral mass spectrometer to perform measurements of the atmospheric temperature. The method employs the spectrometer to examine the partial pressure variations that occur as the wake of a small rectangular baffle is swept across the entrance orifice of the spectrometer. For a given baffle size and mounting distance from the orifice the depth of the resulting pressure minimum depends only upon the thermal velocity, or temperature, of the observed species. A check upon the validity of the method is obtained by measuring the wake characteristics of more than one species and/or by employing each of several baffle sizes.

Brace, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Simultaneous retrieval of atmospheric temperatures and ray paths from occultation spectra

Simulated equivalent width data of weak lines in solar occultation spectra were analyzed to retrieve both the solar atmospheric temperature profile and the tangent heights of the rays. It was assumed that the mixing ratio of the absorbing gas was known, but it is not necessary to know the satellite height. By analyzing lines with temperature dependent and temperature independent intensities, temperatures accurate to 1 K and tangent heights to 0.25 km were determined over the range 20 to 90 km.

Hoke, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Atmospheric temperature profiles and ray paths from occultation spectra

Simulated equivalent width data of weak lines in occultation spectra have been analyzed to retrieve both the atmospheric temperature profile and the tangent heights of the rays. The SNR of these widths varied from 5 to 100. The mixing ratio of the absorbing gas and sea level pressure were assumed but not the satellite position. Temperature and tangent heights with accuracies of 1 K and 0.25 km, respectively, were determined from lines with temperature-dependent and temperature-independent intensities.

Hoke, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A theoretical study of a two-wavelength lidar technique for the measurement of atmospheric temperature profiles

The theory of differential absorption lidar measurements for lines with a Voigt profile is given and applied to a two-wavelength technique for measuring the atmospheric temperature profile using a high J line in the oxygen A band. Explicit expressions for the temperature and pressure dependence of the absorption coefficient are developed for lines with a Voigt profile. An iteration procedure for calculating the temperature for narrow laser bandwidths is described which has an accuracy better than 0.2 K for bandwidths less than 0.01/cm. To reduce the errors in lidar measurements due to uncertainties in pressure, a method for estimating the pressure from the temperature profile is described. A procedure for extending the differential absorption technique to the case of finite laser bandwidth with good accuracy is also described. Simulation results show that a knowledge of the laser frequency is needed to 0.005/cm for accurate temperature measurements. Evaluation of the sensitivity for both ground- and Shuttle-based measurements shows accuracies generally better than 1 K. This technique allows up to an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to other differential absorption lidar techniques.

Korb, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Assessment of Mars Atmospheric Temperature Retrievals from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer Radiances

Motivated by the needs of Mars data assimilation. particularly quantification of measurement errors and generation of averaging kernels. we have evaluated atmospheric temperature retrievals from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) radiances. Multiple sets of retrievals have been considered in this study; (1) retrievals available from the Planetary Data System (PDS), (2) retrievals based on variants of the retrieval algorithm used to generate the PDS retrievals, and (3) retrievals produced using the Mars 1-Dimensional Retrieval (M1R) algorithm based on the Optimal Spectral Sampling (OSS ) forward model. The retrieved temperature profiles are compared to the MGS Radio Science (RS) temperature profiles. For the samples tested, the M1R temperature profiles can be made to agree within 2 K with the RS temperature profiles, but only after tuning the prior and error statistics. Use of a global prior that does not take into account the seasonal dependence leads errors of up 6 K. In polar samples. errors relative to the RS temperature profiles are even larger. In these samples, the PDS temperature profiles also exhibit a poor fit with RS temperatures. This fit is worse than reported in previous studies, indicating that the lack of fit is due to a bias correction to TES radiances implemented after 2004. To explain the differences between the PDS and Ml R temperatures, the algorithms are compared directly, with the OSS forward model inserted into the PDS algorithm. Factors such as the filtering parameter, the use of linear versus nonlinear constrained inversion, and the choice of the forward model, are found to contribute heavily to the differences in the temperature profiles retrieved in the polar regions, resulting in uncertainties of up to 6 K. Even outside the poles, changes in the a priori statistics result in different profile shapes which all fit the radiances within the specified error. The importance of the a priori statistics prevents reliable global retrievals based a single a priori and strongly implies that a robust science analysis must instead rely on retrievals employing localized a priori information, for example from an ensemble based data assimilation system such as the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF).

Hoffman, Matthew J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) Observations: Atmospheric Temperatures During Aerobraking and Science Phasing

Between September 1997, when the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft arrived at Mars, and September 1998 when the final aerobraking phase of the mission began, the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) has acquired an extensive data set spanning approximately half of a Martian year. Nadir-viewing spectral measurements from this data set within the 15-micrometers CO2 absorption band are inverted to obtain atmospheric temperature profiles from the surface up to about the 0.1 mbar level. The computational procedure used to retrieve the temperatures is presented. Mean meridional cross sections of thermal structure are calculated for periods of time near northern hemisphere fall equinox, winter solstice, and spring equinox, as well as for a time interval immediately following the onset of the Noachis Terra dust storm. Gradient thermal wind cross sections are calculated from the thermal structure. Regions of possible wave activity are identified using cross sections of rms temperature deviations from the mean. Results from both near-equinox periods show some hemispheric asymmetry with peak eastward thermal winds in the north about twice the magnitude of those in the south. The results near solstice show an intense circumpolar vortex at high northern latitudes and waves associated with the vortex jet core. Warming of the atmosphere aloft at mid-northern latitudes suggests the presence of a strong cross-equatorial Hadley circulation. Although the Noachis dust storm did not become global in scale, strong perturbations to the atmospheric structure are found, including an enhanced temperature maximum aloft at high northern latitudes resulting from intensification of the Hadley circulation. TES results for the various seasonal conditions are compared with published results from Mars general circulation models, and generally good qualitative agreement is found.

Conrath, Barney J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Atmospheric temperature profiles of Uranus and Neptune

Far-infrared spectrophotometry of Uranus and Neptune in the 30-55 micron spectral range is presented. The measurements in the present six independent spectral bands allow the derivation of atmospheric temperature profiles for these planets. Both planets are found to have tropopause temperatures near 53 K, with Neptune having a stronger stratospheric temperature inversion than Uranus. Effective temperatures of 57.7 + or - 1.8 K and 58.2 + or - 1.9 K are obtained for Uranus and Neptune, respectively, confirming the large internal heat source in Neptune.

Moseley, H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Titan's atmosphere - Temperature and dynamics

In the lower atmosphere of Titan IR brightness temperatures exhibit meridional contrast less than approximately 3 K. Seasonal variations are absent because of the large radiative time constant. In the upper stratosphere meridional contrasts are approximately 20 K, consistent with 100 m/s cyclostrophic zonal winds, and the radiative time constant is short, implying a large seasonal variation in the temperature and wind field. The absence of longitudinal thermal structure implies that zonally symmetric flows effect the meridional transport of heat. A simple model yields meridional velocities approximately 0.04 cm/s and vertical eddy viscosities approximately 1,000 sq cm/s in the lower troposphere, and meridional velocities approximately 5 cm/s in the upper stratosphere.

Flasar, F. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Middle Atmosphere Temperature and Dynamics as Revealed from D-region Observations

The concept of so-called meteorological control of the ionospheric D-region is presently undergoing development. According to this concept the electron concentration in this region is governed not only by solar and geomagnetic parameters but strongly depends on the temperature and dynamical regime of the mesosphere and stratosphere. How this connection between D-region and meteorological parameters can be used to obtain some information about middle atmosphere temperature and dynamics is examined. The essential points of the meteorological control concept are reviewed and the influence of turbulence on nitric oxide distribution and thus the ion production rate is discussed.

Danilov, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Microwave sensing of atmospheric temperature and humidity from satellites

A 5-channel microwave spectrometer (NEMS) carried on the Nimbus 5 satellite has been taking scans near the 22.235 GHz water vapor resonance and 60 GHz oxygen absorption complex for over 2 years; spectral measurement techniques are described at length. NEMS determinations of atmospheric temperature profiles over 0 to 20 km, and of precipitable water vapor and liquid water over oceans, are compared to relevant radiosonde data and to data reported in analyses by the U.S.A. National Meteorological Center. Some discrepancies between theoretical prediction and empirical evidence are reconciled by examining effects of atmospheric fluctuations. The radiosonde data respond to local fluctuations and do not yield true averages over the large areas sensed remotely by the NEMS.

Staelin, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A multichannel passive microwave atmospheric temperature sounding system

The development of a small, lightweight, low-power, seven channel passive microwave radiometer system for use on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) was described. The 50-60 GHz sensor system operates in the region of an intense atmospheric oxygen absorption band to provide atmospheric temperature profiles to 30 kilometer altitudes on a global basis.

Louappe, M. E.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reaction Pathways and Energy Consumption in NH 3 Decomposition for H 2 Production by Low Temperature, Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Pathways for NH 3 decomposition to N 2 and N 2 H 4 by atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma are analyzed using a combination of molecular beam mass spectrometry measurements and zero-dimensional kinetic modeling. Experimental measurements show that NH 3 conversion and selectivity towards N 2 formation scale monotonically with the specific energy input into the plasma with ~ 100% selectivity to N 2 formation achieved at specific energy inputs above 0.12 J cm −3 (3.1 eV (molecule NH 3 ) −1 ). The kinetic model recovers these trends, although it underpredicts N 2 selectivity at low specific energy input. These discrepancies can be explained by the underestimation of reaction rate coefficients for reactions that consume N 2 H x species in collisions with H radicals and/or radial nonuniformities in power deposition, gas temperature, and species concentrations that are not represented by the plug flow approximation used in the model. The kinetic model shows that N 2 formation proceeds through N 2 H x decomposition pathways rather than NH x decomposition pathways in low temperature, atmospheric pressure plasma. Higher selectivity toward N 2 production can be achieved by operating at higher NH 3 conversion and with a higher gas temperature. Furthermore, the high energy cost of NH 3 decomposition by atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma found in this work (25–50 eV (molecule NH 3 converted) −1 ; 17–33 eV (molecule H 2 formed) −1 ) is a result of the energy requirement for electron-impact dissociation of NH 3 and the significant re-formation of NH 3 by three-body recombination reactions between NH 2 and H.

Nonthermal plasma↗
NASA NTRS1992

Implications of solar irradiance variability upon long-term changes in the Earth's atmospheric temperatures

From 1979 through 1987, it is believed that variability in the incoming solar energy played a significant role in changing the Earth's climate. Using high-precision spacecraft radiometric measurements, the incoming total solar irradiance (total amount of solar power per unit area) and the Earth's mean, global atmospheric temperatures were found to vary in phase with each other. The observed irradiance and temperature changes appeared to be correlated with the 11-year cycle of solar magnetic activity. During the period from 1979 through 1985, both the irradiance and temperature decreased. From 1985 to 1987, they increased. The irradiance changed approximately 0.1 percent, while the temperature varied as much as 0.6 C. During the 1979-1987 period, the temperatures were forecasted to rise linearly because of the anthropogenic build-up of carbon dioxide and the hypothesized 'global warming', 'greenhouse effect', scenarios. Contrary to these scenarios, the temperatures were found to vary in a periodic manner in phase with the solar irradiance changes. The observed correlations between irradiance and temperature variabilily suggest that the mean, global temperature of the Earth may decline between 1990 and 1997 as solar magnetic activity decreases.

Lee, Robert B., III↗