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NASA NTRS1985

Seasonal changes in the structure of the stratospheric circulation

The seasonal evolution of the stratospheric circulation in both hemispheres is studied using a coordinate independent diagnostic tied to the vortex, wherever it lies, rather than to latitude circles. Zonally averaged quantities are highly variable in the winter stratosphere, as the vortex moves on and off the pole, masking systematic changes in the structure of the vortex. The quantities shown here are the areas A(Q), where Ertel's potential vorticity is greater than a specified value Q, for various Q. In these calculations, Q is evaluated on the 850K isentropic surface which lies near 10 mb in the middle of the stratosphere. The advantage of using contours of Q (rather than contours of geopotential height, say) is that an area enclosed by such contours is approximately constant for quasi nondivergent, adiabatic, inviscid motion. Changes in area will occur if any of the above restrictions on the motion are invalid, and also if scales of motions are generated below those that can be adequately resolved. The evolution of area shows the systematic change in the average structure of the vortex. At a given time, the rate of change of Q with A(Q) gives a measure of the average gradient of Q. The gradient of Q is relevant for the propagation of large-scale disturbances into the stratosphere. Experience has also shown that winds tend to be strong (weak) when the gradient of Q is strong (weak).

Oneill, A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

High-Resolution Rotary-To-Linear Motion Converter

Compact rotary-to-linear motion converter combines high load-carrying ability with finely resolvable movement. Simple and inexpensive to manufacture. Helical coil of metal ribbon wrapped around spool. Bearing supports spool on fixed base. Restraining bar prevents collar from rotating, but allows it to rise and fall. 1,000-turn coil of ribbon 0.010 in. thick provides for translation of collar over distance of 10 inches. Coil made from flattened roll-formed wire. Material inexpensive, strong, and resistant to fatigue.

Millam, M. Bruce↗

NASA NTRS1979

Evaluation of the navigation performance of shipboard-VTOL-landing guidance systems

The objective of this study was to explore the performance of a VTOL aircraft landing approach navigation system that receives data (1) from either a microwave scanning beam (MSB) or a radar-transponder (R-T) landing guidance system, and (2) information data-linked from an aviation facility ship. State-of-the-art low-cost-aided inertial techniques and variable gain filters were used in the assumed navigation system. Compensation for ship motion was accomplished by a landing pad deviation vector concept that is a measure of the landing pad's deviation from its calm sea location. The results show that the landing guidance concepts were successful in meeting all of the current Navy navigation error specifications, provided that vector magnitude of the allowable error, rather than the error in each axis, is a permissible interpretation of acceptable performance. The success of these concepts, however, is strongly dependent on the distance measuring equipment bias. In addition, the 'best possible' closed-loop tracking performance achievable with the assumed point-mass VTOL aircraft guidance concept is demonstrated.

Mcgee, L. A.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Analysis of time dependent phenomena observed with the LPSP OSO-8 instrument

Data obtained by the Laboratoire de Physique Stellaire et Planetaire's ultraviolet spectrometer onboard the OSO-8 spacecraft were analyzed in an effort to dynamically model the solar chromosphere as an aid in enhancing knowledge of the dynamical processes themselves and of spectral line formation in the dynamic chromosphere. Repeated spectral scans of strong, optically thick resonance lines formed in the solar chromosphere were examined for indications of oscillatory velocities and intensities among other indications of velocity which were studied, the blue peak is reasonably well defined, and the position of a parabolic filter fitted by the least squares method was used to define it. Observed chromospheric oscillation periods are discussed as well as the variations in altitude of the emitting region which result primarily from the motion up and down during the oscillation.

Leibacher, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Numerical studies of 2-dimensional flows

A formulation of the lambda scheme for the analysis of two dimensional inviscid, compressible, unsteady transonic flows is presented. The scheme uses generalized Riemann variables to determine the appropriate two point, one sided finite difference approximation for each derivative in the unsteady Euler equations. These finite differences are applied at the predictor and corrector levels with shock updating at each level. The weaker oblique shocks are captured, but strong near normal shocks are fitted into the flow using the Rankine-Hugoniot relations. This code is demonstrated with a numerical example of a duct flow problem with developing normal and oblique shock waves. The technique is implemented in a code which has been made efficient by streamlining to a minimal number of operations and by eliminating branch statements. The scheme is shown to provide an accurate analysis of the flow, including formation, motions, and interactions of shocks; the results obtained on a relatively coarse mesh are comparable to those obtained by other methods on much finer meshes.

Moretti, G.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Plate motion controls on back-arc spreading

The motions of the subducting and the overriding plates influence the spatial and temporal distribution of back-arc spreading. Cenozoic plate motions in hot spot-fixed and no-net-rotation reference frames were studied with attention to correlations between changes in motion and episodes of back-arc spreading in the western Pacific. The results suggest that major back-arc opening occurs when both the overriding plate retreats from the trench in an absolute sense and the subducting plate undergoes a significant speed-up. Neither phenomenon alone is sufficient to initiate spreading. Three major plate velocity increases can be identified in the Cenozoic: (1) the Pacific plate 5-9 Ma; (2) the Indian plate at 27 Ma; and (3) the Pacific plate at 43 Ma, due to its shift from northerly to more westerly motion. At the present time, the Indian and Philippine are the only overriding plates that are retreating from their Pacific trenches and back-arc spreading occurs only on these two retreating plates. Although the Indian plate has been retreating for at least 25 Ma, back-arc spreading began only following the Pacific plate speed-up 5-9 Ma. Earlier, during the Indian plate speed-up, no overriding plates were retreating strongly and no back-arc spreading epsiodes are preserved from this time. For the earliest Pacific plate shift at 43 Ma, the Eurasian plate was not advancing, thus creating the only favorable plate kinematic conditions in the Cenozoic for back-arc basin formation in this region. It is unclear whether extension in the Japan Sea is a result of these conditions.

Fein, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Termination shock - Solar cycle variations of location and speed

Plasma and magnetic field data from Voyagers 1 and 2 over an 11-year period (1978-1988) together with a one-fluid MHD model are used to study the motion of the termination shock. The observed large fluctuations in solar wind parameters cause variations in the speed, in the jump conditions, and in the location of the termination shock. If the interstellar stagnation pressure is equivalent to a magnetic field of 0.5 nT plus draping enhancements, the termination shock moves between 88 AU and 102 AU. The location of the termination shock is anticorrelated with the sunspot number. The termination shock is very strong with pressure ratios of a few thousands, the fast Mach number is about 12, and the plasma beta ratio jumps from about 0.1 to about 14. During the declining phase of the solar cycle, the shock speed is often greater than or comparable to the spacecraft speed. If the crossing of the termination shock by a spacecraft occurs during the declining phase, the spacecraft will cross the termination shock 3 or more times over a period of about 4 years.

Whang, Y. C.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Processes of Equatorial Thermal Structure: An Analysis of Galileo Temperature Profile with 3-D Model

The Jupiter Thermosphere General Circulation Model (JTGCM) calculates the global dynamical structure of Jupiter's thermosphere self-consistently with its global thermal structure and composition. The main heat source that drives the thermospheric flow is high-latitude Joule heating. A secondary source of heating is the auroral process of particle precipitation. Global simulations of Jovian thermospheric dynamics indicate strong neutral outflows from the auroral ovals with velocities up to approximately 2 kilometers per second and subsequent convergence and downwelling at the Jovian equator. Such circulation is shown to be an important process for transporting significant amounts of auroral energy to equatorial latitudes and for regulating the global heat budget in a manner consistent with the high thermospheric temperatures observed by the Galileo probe. Adiabatic compression of the neutral atmosphere resulting from downward motion is an important source of equatorial heating (less than 0.06 microbar). The adiabatic heating continues to dominate between 0.06 and 0.2 microbar, but with an addition of comparable heating due to horizontal advection induced by the meridional flow. Thermal conduction plays an important role in transporting heat down to lower altitudes (greater than 0.2microbar) where it is balanced by the cooling associated with the wind transport processes. Interestingly, we find that radiative cooling caused by H3(+), CH4, and C2H2 emissions does not play a significant role in interpreting the Galileo temperature profile.

Majeed, T.↗

NASA NTRS2022

Quantifying Structural Relationships of Metal-Binding Sites Suggests Origins of Biological Electron Transfer

Biological redox reactions drive planetary biogeochemical cycles. Using a novel, structure-guided sequence analysis of proteins, we explored the patterns of evolution of enzymes responsible for these reactions. Our analysis reveals that the folds that bind transition metal–containing ligands have similar structural geometry and amino acid sequences across the full diversity of proteins. Similarity across folds reflects the availability of key transition metals over geological time and strongly suggests that transition metal–ligand binding had a small number of common peptide origins. We observe that structures central to our similarity network come primarily from oxidoreductases, suggesting that ancestral peptides may have also facilitated electron transfer reactions. Last, our results reveal that the earliest biologically functional peptides were likely available before the assembly of fully functional protein domains over 3.8 billion years ago. Thus, life is a special, very complex form of motion of matter, but this form did not always exist, and it is not separated from inorganic nature by an impassable abyss; rather, it arose from inorganic nature as a new property in the process of evolution of the world. We must study the history of this evolution if we want to solve the problem of the origin of life.

Yana Bromberg↗

NASA NTRS2022

Machine learning for Deep Space Network antenna motions detection

Highly stable frequency and timing standards are essential for deep-space missions and radio science. At the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), these standards are distributed through a network of underground fiber cables to support several Goldstone antennas. Independently developed frequency-measuring instruments generate tremendous quantities of data to monitor and validate the antennas’ stringent frequency requirements. In this paper, we propose a lightweight processing tool capable of detecting disturbances on the frequency signal caused by DSN antenna motions. Our training data is sampled from the movement log of the antenna of interest and the generated data from the fiber optic metrology instrument linked to the antenna. We demonstrate that a convolutional neural network (CNN) model can achieve high accuracies on classifying instances of antenna movements and is an effective predictor when used iteratively on longer, variable stretches of metrology data. The simplicity, low training cost, and high accuracies of our model strongly suggest its efficacy in identifying and troubleshooting frequency disturbances caused by the antenna.

Yi, Lin↗

NASA NTRS1985

Neutral motions in the polar thermosphere for northward Interplanetary Magnetic Field

During the rare occurrence of November 24, 1982, when the north-south B(z) component of the IMF became positive for a period of about 11 hours and reached a steady value of about 25 nT, the DE-2 spacecraft simultaneously measured the ionic and neutral species of the high latitude F-region along the track of the polar-orbiting satellite. Data from two northern winter polar passes of DE-2 illustrate the response of the neutral F-region to ion drag forcing that arises from a configuration of ion convection characteristics of strongly northward IMF. The multicellular ion drift pattern associated with positive B(z) is observed to drive a similar, but less structured and weaker, neutral wind configuration in the winter polar cap. While major features of the ion drift pattern are mimicked by the neutral circulation, smaller scale ion flow structures are not. These results demonstrate that the sunward flow of neutral gas can be established and maintained by ion drag in the central polar cap, for positive B(z).

Killeen, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS1980

The formation of a T Tauri star: Observations of the infrared source in L 1551

The 5 to 25 micron observations show that an object previously discovered at 2.2 microns (IRS 5) within the densest part of the L1551 dark cloud is a strong source of radiation from grains as cool as 230 K. The energy distribution resembles that of infrared objects embedded within other molecular cloud cores, but implies a total solar luminosity of only 30. The luminosity of the source and its proximity to other T Tauri stars suggests that it is a 1 to 2 solar mass pre-main sequence star still swaddled within the L1551 cloud. The radio and optical evidence for mass motions around IRS 5 may mean that IRS 5 has been flaring in FU Ori-type eruptions within the last 1000 years.

Harris, S.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Rotational velocities of newly discovered, low-mass members of the Alpha Persei cluster

About 30 new, low-mass members of the young open cluster Alpha Persei are identified via a proper-motion study and subsequent photometric and spectroscopic observations. Membership in the cluster is confirmed for a number of the fainter proper-motion candidates from Heckman, Dieckvoss, and Kox (1956). Coordinates, finding charts, BVRI photometry, and rotational velocities are provided for most of the stars. At least two of the stars show peculiar H-alpha emission profiles, with weak but very broad emission wings, and relatively narrow absorption reversals. The rotational velocity distribution for low-mass stars in the Alpha Per cluster are compared with recently derived rotational velocity distributions for T Tauri stars, placing strong constraints on the mechanisms for angular momentum loss during pre-main-sequence evolution.

Stauffer, John R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Reionization and the cosmic microwave background in an open universe

If the universe was reionized at high reshift (z greater than or approximately equal to 30) or never recombined, then photon-electron scattering can erase fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background at scales less than or approximately equal to 1 deg. Peculiar motion at the surface of last scattering will then have given rise to new anisotropy at the 1 min level through the Vishniac effect. Here the observed fluctuations in galaxy counts are extrapolated to high redshifts using linear theory, and the expected anisotropy is computed. The predicted level of anisotropies is a function of Omega(sub 0) and the ratio of the density in ionized baryons to the critical density and is shown to depend strongly on the large- and small-scale power. It is not possible to make general statements about the viability of all reionized models based on current observations, but it is possible to rule out specific models for structure formation, particularly those with high baryonic content or small-scale power. The induced fluctuations are shown to scale with cosmological parameters and optical depth.

Persi, Fred M.↗

NASA NTRS1981

The formation of a T Tauri star - Observations of the infrared source in L1551

Observations at 5 to 25 microns show that the object discovered by Strom et al. (1976) at 2.2 microns within the densest part of the L1551 dark cloud is a strong source of radiation from grains as cool as 130 K. The energy distribution resembles that of infrared objects embedded within other molecular cloud cores, but implies a total luminosity of only 30 solar luminosities. The luminosity of the source and its proximity to the other T Tauri stars suggests that it is a 1-2 solar-mass premain-sequences star still swaddled within the L1551 cloud. The radio and optical evidence for mass motions around IRS 5 may mean that IRS 5 has been flaring in FU Ori-type eruptions within the last 1000 years.

Beichman, C.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Subcritical transition to turbulence in planar shear flows

The two-dimensional steady and time dependent properties of plane Poiseuille and plane Couette flows are analyzed using iterative techniques and full numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. It is shown that the finite-amplitude two-dimensional states investigated are strongly unstable to very small three-dimensional perturbations. It is also shown, through full numerical simulation, that this explosive secondary instability can explain the subcritical transitions that occur in real flows. Finally, it is shown that the three-dimensional instability can be analyzed by a linear stability analysis of a two-dimensional flow consisting of the basic parallel flow and a steady (or quasi-steady) finite-amplitude two-dimensional cellular motion.

Orszag, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Global transport calculations with an equivalent barotropic system

Transport properties of the two-dimensional equations governing equivalent barotropic motion are investigated on the sphere. This system has ingredients such as forcing, equivalent depth, and thermal dissipation explicitly represented, and takes into account compression effects associated with vertical motion along isentropic surfaces. Horizontal transport properties of this system are investigated under adiabatic and diabatic conditions for different forms of dissipation, and over a range of resolutions. It is shown that forcing represetative of time-mean and amplified conditions at 10 mb leads to the behavior typical of observations at this level. The displacement of the polar night vortex and its distortion into a comma shape are evident, as is irreversible mixing under sufficiently strong forcing amplitude. It is shown that thermal dissipation influences the behavior significantly by inhibiting the amplification of unstable eddies and thereby the horizontal stirring of air.

Salby, Murry L.↗

NASA NTRS2015

The Structure, Anharmonic Vibrational Frequencies, and Intensities of NNHNN+

A semi-global potential energy surface (PES) and quartic force field (QFF) based on fitting high-level electronic structure energies are presented to describe the structures and spectroscopic properties of NNHNN+. The equilibrium structure of NNHNN+ is linear with the proton equidistant between the two nitrogen groups and thus of D(sub ∞h) symmetry. Vibrational second-order perturbation theory (VPT2) calculations based on the QFF fails to describe the proton “rattle” motion, i.e., the antisymmetric proton stretch, due to the very flat nature of PES around the global minimum, but performs properly for other modes with sharper potential wells. Vibrational self-consistent field/virtual state configuration interaction (VSCF/VCI) calculations using a version of MULTIMODE without angular momentum terms successfully describe this motion and predict the fundamental to be at 759 cm(exp -1). This is in good agreement with the value of 746 cm(exp -1) from a fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo calculation and the experimental Ar-tagged result of 743 cm(exp -1). Other VSCF/VCI energies are in good agreement with other experimentally reported ones. Both double-harmonic intensity and rigorous MULTIMODE intensity calculations show the proton transfer fundamental has a very strong intensity.

Astrochemistry↗